What Do We Get From a Barrel of Oil?

It’s known as “Black Gold” and “Texas Tea,” and it fuels our cars, airplanes, and ships so they can go, but what we get from an ordinary barrel of crude oil might be more than you probably think.

Let’s start by defining the kinds of oil because all oil is not created equal. Crude oil is described as being either “light” or “heavy.” Light oil has a low viscosity, it flows easily, and it has a light color. It also has a low sulfur content. Heavy crude oil is just the opposite. It has a higher sulfur and metal content, and it has to be heated up to become liquid. “Heavy” crude oils are often less expensive and a lower grade.

Crude oil is further broken down as either “sweet” or “sour,” and no, it has nothing to do with the taste, thank goodness. “Sweet” crude oil has a lower concentration of sulfur compounds, while “sour” crude oil has a higher concentration of sulfur compounds. But that isn’t where the classification of oil stops.

There are over 280 different crude oil names, types, and grades worldwide. Every place that pulls crude oil from the ground produces an oil with a different characteristic and different properties. Each type of oil, depending on where it’s from, has a different sulfur content and different API gravity, which is the American Petroleum Institute’s measure of how light or heavy a petroleum liquid is compared…