What Is Sweet Crude Oil?

Crude oils are classified into two categories based on their sulfur content. Low-sulfur oils are sweet oils (or sweet crude oils), while acid oils (or sour crude oils) are the opposite. Low-sulfur sweet crude oil is an important resource. In the early days of the petroleum era, crude oil was mainly used to produce kerosene lighting. High-sulfur kerosene would emit a significant odor in the room, so it could not be used at all until a certain Chemists have used better refining techniques, and sour crude has come into play.

Sweet oil

(Classification of crude oil used in the oil industry)

Sweet oil with a sulfur content of less than or equal to 0.5% is sweet oil. The lower the sulfur content, the better the quality; on the contrary, it is sour oil, and the higher the sulfur content, the more acidic.

Sweet oil is more widely used than sour oil. High-grade gasoline, diesel, and high-quality aviation fuel can only be produced from sweet oil for a long time. Plants using sour crude oil as raw materials not only have high production costs, but the quality of their products also lags behind sweet crude oil plants.

The US securities industry uses WTI for pricing, and WTI is Texas Light Sweet Oil.

In 2011, Libya's sweet oil affected global crude oil futures prices because of its status.