Crude oil: Characteristics
Light, heavy, sweet, sour: what makes crude valuable
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 4.6 billion t of petroleum (2024); 96.9 mb/d of crude, condensate and NGLs (2024) | The US, Russia and Saudi Arabia lead. The 2026 Iran war and the closure of Hormuz from 28 February 2026 cut OPEC output by more than 30%. | World Mining Data 2026; Energy Institute Statistical Review 2025; Brookings, June 2026 |
| Inventory and stock levels | IEA members hold at least 90 days of net imports; China about 1.4 billion bbl of strategic stocks; India 5.33 Mt (about 39 million bbl), under 10 days of imports | Stocks sit in commercial tanks, floating storage and government reserves. In March 2026 IEA members agreed their largest ever collective release, 400 million barrels, after Hormuz closed. That equals about 4 days of world use at roughly 100 mb/d. India's caverns at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur are small next to its import needs. | IEA via OGJ, July 2026; Brookings, June 2026; ISPRL; Energy Institute 2025 |
| Capacity utilisation | refineries about 79% (83.0 mb/d run through 104.5 mb/d of capacity, 2024); India about 103% | India ran 5.32 mb/d through 5.17 mb/d of nameplate capacity in 2024, above nameplate after debottlenecking. Upstream, spare capacity sits mainly in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which can open it in weeks. In 2026 much of that spare capacity sits behind Hormuz, so it could not reach the market. | Energy Institute Statistical Review 2025; Brookings, June 2026 |
| Geographic and producer concentration | US 20.6%, top-3 (US, Russia, Saudi Arabia) 43.1%, HHI 854 (production); Saudi Arabia 18.8% of crude export value | Output is not very concentrated, but OPEC+ coordinates quotas, which gives it power at the margin. The UAE left OPEC on 1 May 2026. Saudi Aramco alone produced 12.9 million boe/d of hydrocarbons in 2025, more than the next four listed majors combined. | World Mining Data 2026; UN Comtrade 2024; company reports 2025 |
| Supply elasticity | short run: low except US shale (6-12 months) and OPEC spare capacity (weeks); long run: 4-10 years from discovery to first oil | Demand barely responds to price in the short run, so small supply cuts move prices sharply. Conventional fields need years of appraisal and building, then plateau. US shale wells can be drilled and completed within months, which made shale the main swing supply after 2014 (indicative). | this tile's lessons (Radetzki and Warell); Energy Institute 2025; shale lead time indicative |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | upstream oil and gas investment about $570 billion in 2025 (IEA World Energy Investment 2025, indicative) | Non-OPEC growth comes mainly from the US, Brazil, Guyana and Canada. Guyana's Yellowtail FPSO (about 250 kb/d) started in 2025 and Uaru (about 250 kb/d) is due in 2026 (ExxonMobil, indicative). Brazil adds several FPSOs a year in the pre-salt (Petrobras, indicative). In India, ONGC's KG-DWN-98/2 deepwater block is ramping up (ONGC, indicative). | IEA World Energy Investment 2025 (indicative); company announcements (indicative) |
| Logistics and export flows | about 45% of crude output is traded across borders (indicative); crude exports worth $954 billion in 2024; about one fifth of world oil passed Hormuz before 2026 | VLCCs carry about 2 million barrels each. Key chokepoints are Hormuz, Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb with Suez, and the Turkish straits. The 2026 closure of Hormuz showed the risk: buyers in Asia, including India (10.8% of world import value), lost Gulf barrels and paid much higher freight and insurance. Inside India, IndianOil pipelines moved 105.6 Mt in FY2026. | UN Comtrade 2024; Brookings, June 2026; IOC FY2026; trade share derived from Energy Institute trade and production (indicative) |
Material characteristics Energy commodity
Crude is a mix of hydrocarbons, and its value depends on what a refinery can make from it. Light crude (high API gravity) yields more petrol, diesel and jet fuel. Sweet crude (low sulphur) needs less hydrotreating to meet fuel sulphur limits. Heavy, sour or acidic crudes sell at discounts and need complex refineries with cokers and hydrocrackers, such as Jamnagar.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| API gravity / density | Brent about 38 API (about 0.835 g/cm3); WTI about 40-42 API; Dubai about 31 API; Arab Light about 33 API. Light is above 31.1 API, heavy below 22.3 API | Lighter crude gives more high-value light products, so it earns a premium | API gravity definitions (API); Platts and Argus grade specifications (indicative) |
| Sulphur content | Sweet below 0.5% S; Brent about 0.4%, WTI about 0.3%, Dubai about 2%, Arab Light about 2% | Fuel standards (Bharat Stage VI: 10 ppm in road fuels; IMO 2020: 0.5% in ship fuel) mean sour crude needs costly desulphurisation | Platts/Argus grade specs (indicative); BS VI; IMO 2020 |
| Energy content | about 42-45 GJ per tonne; about 5.8 million Btu per barrel | Sets the conversion between barrels, tonnes and energy and the CO2 released on combustion | IPCC 2006 Guidelines (crude NCV 42.3 GJ/t); US EIA conversion (indicative) |
| Viscosity and pour point | light crudes flow freely; heavy Canadian and Venezuelan crude needs diluent or heating to move by pipeline | Determines pipeline and tanker handling costs and blending needs | Industry practice (indicative) |
| Acidity (TAN) | high-TAN crudes above about 1 mg KOH/g corrode refinery units | Many refineries limit TAN, so these crudes trade at discounts | Industry practice (indicative) |
| Metals and residue | nickel and vanadium in heavy crudes, often over 100 ppm; vacuum residue share | Metals poison cracking catalysts; high residue needs coking capacity | Industry practice (indicative) |