"Types" Of Crude Oil And Crude Oil Benchmarks

Locator: 47116OIL.

 This was posted years ago. At the time I knew less about crude oil so there may be errors, both content errors and typographical errors. I'm posting it again without changes, except for expanding on Mexico / Pemex. 

******************************
Original Post With Pemex Update

FAQ #88 over at the "FAQs Page."

Disclaimer: some/much/all of this could be wrong. I've put this together over the years, from different sources. Information is not always confirmed and often not updated. It's for my own personal interest to help me sort this out. This should not be used by folks who are seriously invested in this issue.

April 18, 2019: Argus announces two new benchmarks: WTL (West Texas Light) and NSD (North Sea Dated).

• From the first link;
• WTI: Cushing
• WTI Permian: 40-44°API
• WTI Midland: Midland terminals (light oil, 44.1-49.9°API)
• WTL: Houston (light oil, 44.1-49.9°API)

February 7, 2019: RBN Energy has nice update regarding this subject.

February 18, 2019: see heavy oil, a primer, here.

Types / Grades / API / Sweet / Sour

NYMEX:

• light crude oil for domestic U.S. oil as having an API gravity between 37° API and 42° API 
• light crude oil for non-U.S. oil as being between 32° API  and 42° API

Canadian National Energy Board:

• light crude oil as having a density API gravity greater than 30.1°

Alberta, government; Alberta process most of Canada's oil:

• API gravity greater than 35° API

Pemex, Mexican state oil company:

• light crude oil as being between 27° API and 38° API 

This variation in definition occurred because countries such as Canada and Mexico tend to have heavier crude oils than are commonly found in the United States, whose large oil fields historically produced lighter oils than are found in many other countries.

Loop Sour: see this post.

LOOP Sour comprises US Gulf of Mexico grades Mars and Poseidon and a crude blend called Segregation 17, named after a cavern into which the Middle Eastern grades Arab Medium, Basrah Light and Kuwait Export Crude can be delivered. The grade has been most similar to Mars in terms of API gravity over the past 12 months, averaging 0.33 degree off Mars’ typical 29.44; and from a sulfur standpoint, averaging 0.02 percentage point off Arab Medium’s typical 2.53%.

************************

Benchmarks

Much, but not all, information below comes from wiki.

WTI

• A wide variety of benchmark crude oils worldwide are considered to be light. The most prominent in North America is West Texas Intermediate (WTI):
• API gravity of 39.6° API; lighter than Brent, but not by much
• sulfur: 0.24% (sweet oil is defined as oil with sulfur content less than 0.5%)

Brent Crude

• "basket" changed in early 2017 due to older fields depleting
• Platts will add Norway's Troll to the basket of four British and Norwegian crude grades which is already uses to assess dated Brent from January 1, 2018
• this will join Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk, or BFOE as they are known
• Troll: a light, sweet crude; operated by Statoil (also contributes to the Oseberg, Statfjord, Gullfaks, Grane and Asgard streams)
• the most commonly referenced benchmark oil from Europe is Brent Crude, which is
• 38.06° API

Dubai Crude

• the third most commonly quoted benchmark is Dubai Crude, which is 31° API
• this is considered light by Arabian standards but would not be considered light if produced in the U.S.

Murban Crude:

• became a "thing" after sanctions on Russia cut Russia oil to the US
• light sour; very similar to Bakken (light) but much more sulfur content
  
• see blog entry here;
  

*******************

Others

Saudia Arabia's Ghawar field:

• the largest oil field in the world, Saudi Arabia's Ghawar field
• light crude oils ranging from 33° API to 40° API (see above; most would consider Saudi oil to be medium/heavy; and sour

Alaska North Slope: from XOM -- 

• 31.4°
• sulfur: 0.96%

Bakken:

36 to 44 degrees API. The quality of this oil is excellent, almost identical to WTI. The benchmark crude oil is West Texas Intermediate, which is 40 degrees API sweet crude. It is the benchmark because it requires the least amount of processing in a modern refinery to make the most valuable products, unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel.

North Dakota Spearfish: 36°

• presentation, Corinthian, undated, perhaps early 2014 
• sulfur content: 0.8% to 1%

Mexico: generally heavy to medium-light; sulfur content (chart added May 1, 2024 -- link:

Figure 1. Typical Qualities of Pemex Crude Oils. Source: Pemex

• Isthmus: 21.8°.3.3% sulfur
• Maya: 33.4°; 1.35% sulfur
• Olmeca: 37.3°; 0.84% sulfur

Iraqi: heavy oil

Crude oil found in Iraq varies significantly in quality, with API gravities generally ranging from 22° (heavy) to 35° (medium - light).

Over 70% of national oil reserves are below 28° API  and the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted in its 2012 report on Iraq that future production is likely to include a larger share of heavier crudes. However some of the crudes produced at the Taq Taq field in the norther semi-autonomous Kurdistan region are as light as 48° API, dubbed by Reuters as "champagne crude." See Taq Taq here.  

California: heavy oil; pdf here -- old data, from 2004, but type of oil probably has not changed

• Kern County: heavy oil with 1.2% sulfur; accounts for 75% of California's on-shore production
• Los Angeles Basin: heavy oil; sulfur content 1.7% to 2.0%
• Off-shore: intermediate for the most part, 18° (heavy) to 36° (medium-light)

Ecuador: heavy oil; 24.1°

Seeks low-sulphur, light oil, September 1, 2015:

Net crude exporter Petroecuador issued a tender to import 30 million barrels of light sweet crude over the course of a year in an attempt to maximize diesel and gasoline production when its Esmeraldas refinery comes back online in the fourth quarter, market sources said Tuesday.

Petroecuador is seeking 30 million barrels of low sulfur crude oil with an API gravity of 28 degrees to be delivered in a one-year period, according to a tender issued late Monday.

The state-owned oil company is seeking the barrels "in order to optimize the Esmeraldas refinery operations, once the revamping has been complete," the tender said. 

Venezuela: heavy oil, similar to Canadian oil sands.

Notes From All Over - Early Saturday Afternoon, Part 1 -- Juneteenth, 2021

Reminder: y'all with a joint income less than $150,000 and at least one child: a $600 check / child each month through the end of the year, six months. At a minimum: $3,600 for the last half of the year. If y'all three children, $1,800 / month. And with six kids, yes, it's a lottery -- $3,600/month. What a great country.

Iran: quality of its key crude grades, link here: 

The exodus: only one US city saw a bigger pandemic exodus than San Francisco. San Jose, across the bay. Link here.

While Seattle was the fastest-growing city in 2020, San Francisco’s population shrank by 1.39% between July of 2019, and 2020, U.S. Census data shows. Before that, San Francisco’s population had been growing modestly since 2010. Baltimore, meanwhile, declined by 1.42%.

Meanwhile, back in Baltimore:

• back in March, 2020: Baltimore population dropped below 600,000, the lowest total in a century; but it was bad even before the pandemic;
• back in April, 2019, a year earlier and before the pandemic: Baltimore notes the biggest population loss in a single year since 2001;
• it took awhile for folks to finally get the message, money, and move; it was several years earlier, April, 2015, when the Baltimore mayor famously said, "Give those who want to destroy space to do that."

On the way to zero:

• US 30-year yield falls to 2.002%; lowest since February, 2021;
• and just yesterday everyone was worried about hyperinflation;
• this story has not yet played out
• it seems about a week ago, the split was 80 - 20, steep inflation vs stagflation, on business talk show and in print media;
  
• now, the shift seems to have become 20 - 80.
  

******************************
Now Tesla

Quips:

• from social media: fantasy, Elon will sell twenty million cars a year; reality, Elon can't sell a single plant's worth of cars domestically in China, there's no need to talk of a second plant there, and he is already forced to export excess production to the EU, where he has 6% "BEV" market share.  
• BEV is dead -- look at the graphic carefully;
  it was reported earlier that US EV owners, to the tune of 20% or more, would not buy another EV, even to replace their first one;

Heavy Vs Light Oil -- A Primer -- February 15, 2018

This link was posted earlier today.

• https://t.co/nnJ6yljeHC -- a PDF will likely load on your desktop.

In the appendix of this 2018 ENI review are some incredible graphics of all the various crude oils produced in the world, "mapped" out based on daily volume production, sulfur content, and API (heavy vs light).

It is an incredible resource. This is one of the graphs which includes the "most important" crude oils from around the world. Because of the size of the graphic, it's hard to get a good screenshot. My recommendation: go to the link and and check it out for yourself.

Screenshot:

Zoom in on the low sulfur, light oil, upper left-hand corner of that graphic:

The legend for this table:

When you look at the graphic above, which country is most at risk? Link here.

I showed these graphics to Sophia last evening and her reaction! "Oh, now I get it!"

"Types" Of Crude Oil And Crude Oil Benchmarks

Locator: 10010API.

FAQ #88 over at the "FAQs Page."

Disclaimer: some/much/all of this could be wrong. I've put this together over the years, from different sources. Information is not always confirmed and often not updated. It's for my own personal interest to help me sort this out. This should not be used by folks who are seriously invested in this issue.

April 18, 2019: Argus announces two new benchmarks: WTL (West Texas Light) and NSD (North Sea Dated).

• From the first link;
• WTI: Cushing
• WTI Permian: 40-44°API
• WTI Midland: Midland terminals (light oil, 44.1-49.9°API)
• WTL: Houston (light oil, 44.1-49.9°API)

February 7, 2019: RBN Energy has nice update regarding this subject.

February 18, 2019: see heavy oil, a primer, here.

Types / Grades / API / Sweet / Sour

NYMEX:

• light crude oil for domestic U.S. oil as having an API gravity between 37° API and 42° API 
• light crude oil for non-U.S. oil as being between 32° API  and 42° API

Canadian National Energy Board:

• light crude oil as having a density API gravity greater than 30.1°

Alberta, government; Alberta process most of Canada's oil:

• API gravity greater than 35° API

Pemex, Mexican state oil company:

• light crude oil as being between 27° API and 38° API 

This variation in definition occurred because countries such as Canada and Mexico tend to have heavier crude oils than are commonly found in the United States, whose large oil fields historically produced lighter oils than are found in many other countries.

Loop Sour: see this post.

LOOP Sour comprises US Gulf of Mexico grades Mars and Poseidon and a crude blend called Segregation 17, named after a cavern into which the Middle Eastern grades Arab Medium, Basrah Light and Kuwait Export Crude can be delivered. The grade has been most similar to Mars in terms of API gravity over the past 12 months, averaging 0.33 degree off Mars’ typical 29.44; and from a sulfur standpoint, averaging 0.02 percentage point off Arab Medium’s typical 2.53%.

************************

Benchmarks

Much, but not all, information below comes from wiki.

WTI

• A wide variety of benchmark crude oils worldwide are considered to be light. The most prominent in North America is West Texas Intermediate (WTI):
• API gravity of 39.6° API; lighter than Brent, but not by much
• sulfur: 0.24% (sweet oil is defined as oil with sulfur content less than 0.5%)

Brent Crude

• "basket" changed in early 2017 due to older fields depleting
• Platts will add Norway's Troll to the basket of four British and Norwegian crude grades which is already uses to assess dated Brent from January 1, 2018
• this will join Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk, or BFOE as they are known
• Troll: a light, sweet crude; operated by Statoil (also contributes to the Oseberg, Statfjord, Gullfaks, Grane and Asgard streams)
• the most commonly referenced benchmark oil from Europe is Brent Crude, which is
• 38.06° API

Dubai Crude

• the third most commonly quoted benchmark is Dubai Crude, which is 31° API
• this is considered light by Arabian standards but would not be considered light if produced in the U.S.

Murban Crude:

• became a "thing" after sanctions on Russia cut Russia oil to the US
• light sour; very similar to Bakken (light) but much more sulfur content
  
• see blog entry here;
  

*******************

Others

Saudia Arabia's Ghawar field:

• the largest oil field in the world, Saudi Arabia's Ghawar field
• light crude oils ranging from 33° API to 40° API (see above; most would consider Saudi oil to be medium/heavy; and sour

Alaska North Slope: from XOM -- 

• 31.4°
• sulfur: 0.96%

Bakken:

36 to 44 degrees API. The quality of this oil is excellent, almost identical to WTI. The benchmark crude oil is West Texas Intermediate, which is 40 degrees API sweet crude. It is the benchmark because it requires the least amount of processing in a modern refinery to make the most valuable products, unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel.

North Dakota Spearfish: 36°

• presentation, Corinthian, undated, perhaps early 2014 
• sulfur content: 0.8% to 1%

Mexico: generally heavy to medium-light; sulfur content

• Isthmus: 21.8°.3.3% sulfur
• Maya: 33.4°; 1.35% sulfur
• Olmeca: 37.3°; 0.84% sulfur

Iraqi: heavy oil

Crude oil found in Iraq varies significantly in quality, with API gravities generally ranging from 22° (heavy) to 35° (medium - light).

Over 70% of national oil reserves are below 28° API  and the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted in its 2012 report on Iraq that future production is likely to include a larger share of heavier crudes. However some of the crudes produced at the Taq Taq field in the norther semi-autonomous Kurdistan region are as light as 48° API, dubbed by Reuters as "champagne crude." See Taq Taq here.  

Guyana: heavy oil; comparable to Mexico. Update here.

Guyana’s crude supply with a gravity ranging from 28-33.5 API might complement the current pool of heavier crudes that are available from other imports or the Gulf of Mexico.

California: heavy oil; pdf here -- old data, from 2004, but type of oil probably has not changed

• Kern County: heavy oil with 1.2% sulfur; accounts for 75% of California's on-shore production
• Los Angeles Basin: heavy oil; sulfur content 1.7% to 2.0%
• Off-shore: intermediate for the most part, 18° (heavy) to 36° (medium-light)

Ecuador: heavy oil; 24.1°

Seeks low-sulphur, light oil, September 1, 2015:

Net crude exporter Petroecuador issued a tender to import 30 million barrels of light sweet crude over the course of a year in an attempt to maximize diesel and gasoline production when its Esmeraldas refinery comes back online in the fourth quarter, market sources said Tuesday.

Petroecuador is seeking 30 million barrels of low sulfur crude oil with an API gravity of 28 degrees to be delivered in a one-year period, according to a tender issued late Monday.

The state-owned oil company is seeking the barrels "in order to optimize the Esmeraldas refinery operations, once the revamping has been complete," the tender said. 

Venezuela: heavy oil, similar to Canadian oil sands.

Eagle Ford TOC -- October 26, 2017

From: AAPG, posted May 8, 2017:

The source of the Cenomanian to Santonian petroleum systems across East and South Texas has been attributed to the Eagle Ford Shale play.

However, little effort has been made to distinguish the relationship between the depositional settings, organic facies, oil families, and lithostratigraphic characteristics of the source rock.

This study finds that there are significant variations in stratigraphy, reservoir type, and produced hydrocarbon chemistry between the South Texas Eagle Ford and the so-called East Texas Eagle Ford.

The South Texas Lower Eagle Ford Shale reservoir facies is dominated by organic-rich, relatively low clay, foraminfera-rich, coccolith mudstones/marlstones, whereas the superficially equivalent source rocks in East Texas have a much more dominant terrestrial influence.

In a regional reservoir modeling study at the confluence of East Texas and South Texas on the San Marcos Arch, the interplay of these depositional systems had to be accounted for to achieve reliable results. The model included analysis of cores from multiple counties combining detailed stratigraphic facies descriptions and petrophysical data from the base of the Austin Chalk to the Buda Formation.

Source rock data is available from approximately 118 wells throughout this interval between the Austin Chalk and Buda. The dataset includes TOC, pyrolysis, and vitrinite reflectance data.

Based on TOC analyses across the entire trend, the average TOC of the East Texas and South Texas Eagle Ford is 3.43%.

Pyrolysis data and visual kerogen descriptions clearly show the South Texas Eagle Ford contains primarily Type II algae-rich oil prone kerogen. In contrast, the East Texas Eagle Ford contains type II kerogen with terrestrially derived mixed kerogen from the northeast.

Thermal maturity in the Eagle Ford play area varies systematically with structure independent of the depositional systems from early oil generation to dry gas trending northwest to southeast. Produced oil geochemistry data from 70 oils include bulk molecular compositions, Pristane/nC17, Phytane/nC18, Pristane/Phytane, C13 to C20 isoprenoids, saturate and aromatic carbon isotope compositions, sterane and hopane ratios.

The geochemical data suggest that the oils from the South Texas Eagle Ford and East Texas Eagle Ford plays are generated from two distinct types of organofacies. One type is dominantly carbonate mudstone sourced in South Texas, and the other type is siliciclastic marine shale sourced in East Texas.

See also: researchgate, January 6, 2016. TOC varies across the region, from 2% to 12%. The TOC increases from northeast to southwest.

API of crude oil across the US. Look how uniform the crude oil is in North Dakota compared to Texas; note how "heavy" California oil is compare to Texas and North Dakota.

Another Major Texas Natural Gas Pipeline? -- March 18, 2017

Locator: 10001OILGRADES.

Active rigs:

	3/18/2017	03/18/2016	03/18/2015	03/18/2014	03/18/2013
Active Rigs	47	32	107	191	186

Another major Texas pipeline? From Rigzone, data points:

• Cheniere Energy
• link STACK/SCOOP to Gulf Coast
• 200-mile, 36-inch natural gas pipeline
• in-service date of early 2019 proposed

Phillips 66: files request to dredge project in Arthur Kill near its Bayway facility. Data points:

• second paragraph: 10-year project is to increase Bakken oil barge traffic, according to Sierra Club
• Sierra Club: supports unlimited bird kills by wind farms

Changing "quality" of oil with OPEC cuts. From Reuters, data points:

• global oil: lighter and sweeter with OPEC cut
• US, North Sea, West Africa: relatively low density, low sulfur
• Saudi Arabia, Mideast: heavier, and much more sulfur
• Atlantic: light and sweet
• Arabian: medium/heavy and sour
• Previous posts on same subject:

*********************************

Review -- Previously Posted

NYMEX:

• light crude oil for domestic U.S. oil as having an API gravity between 37° API and 42° API 
• light crude oil for non-U.S. oil as being between 32° API  and 42° API

Canadian National Energy Board:

• light crude oil as having a density API gravity greater than 30.1°

Alberta, government; Alberta process most of Canada's oil:

• API gravity greater than 35° API

Pemex, Mexican state oil company:

• light crude oil as being between 27° API and 38° API 

This variation in definition occurred because countries such as Canada and Mexico tend to have heavier crude oils than are commonly found in the United States, whose large oil fields historically produced lighter oils than are found in many other countries.

Loop Sour: see this post.

LOOP Sour comprises US Gulf of Mexico grades Mars and Poseidon and a crude blend called Segregation 17, named after a cavern into which the Middle Eastern grades Arab Medium, Basrah Light and Kuwait Export Crude can be delivered. The grade has been most similar to Mars in terms of API gravity over the past 12 months, averaging 0.33 degree off Mars’ typical 29.44; and from a sulfur standpoint, averaging 0.02 percentage point off Arab Medium’s typical 2.53%.

************************

Benchmarks

Much, but not all, information below comes from wiki.

WTI

• A wide variety of benchmark crude oils worldwide are considered to be light. The most prominent in North America is West Texas Intermediate (WTI):
• API gravity of 39.6° API; lighter than Brent, but not by much
• sulfur: 0.24% (sweet oil is defined as oil with sulfur content less than 0.5%)

Brent Crude

• "basket" changed in early 2017 due to older fields depleting
• Platts will add Norway's Troll to the basket of four British and Norwegian crude grades which is already uses to assess dated Brent from January 1, 2018
• this will join Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk, or BFOE as they are known
• Troll: a light, sweet crude; operated by Statoil (also contributes to the Oseberg, Statfjord, Gullfaks, Grane and Asgard streams)
• the most commonly referenced benchmark oil from Europe is Brent Crude, which is
• 38.06° API

Dubai Crude

• the third most commonly quoted benchmark is Dubai Crude, which is 31° API
• this is considered light by Arabian standards but would not be considered light if produced in the U.S.

*******************

Others

Saudia Arabia's Ghawar field:

• the largest oil field in the world, Saudi Arabia's Ghawar field
• light crude oils ranging from 33° API to 40° API (see above; most would consider Saudi oil to be medium/heavy; and sour

Alaska North Slope: from XOM -- 

• 31.4°
• sulfur: 0.96%

Bakken:

36 to 44 degrees API. The quality of this oil is excellent, almost identical to WTI. The benchmark crude oil is West Texas Intermediate, which is 40 degrees API sweet crude. It is the benchmark because it requires the least amount of processing in a modern refinery to make the most valuable products, unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel.

North Dakota Spearfish: 36°

• presentation, Corinthian, undated, perhaps early 2014 
• sulfur content: 0.8% to 1%

Mexico: generally heavy to medium-light; sulfur content

• Isthmus: 21.8°.3.3% sulfur
• Maya: 33.4°; 1.35% sulfur
• Olmeca: 37.3°; 0.84% sulfur

Iraqi: heavy oil

Crude oil found in Iraq varies significantly in quality, with API gravities generally ranging from 22° (heavy) to 35° (medium - light).

Over 70% of national oil reserves are below 28° API  and the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted in its 2012 report on Iraq that future production is likely to include a larger share of heavier crudes. However some of the crudes produced at the Taq Taq field in the norther semi-autonomous Kurdistan region are as light as 48° API, dubbed by Reuters as "champagne crude." See Taq Taq here.  

California: heavy oil; pdf here -- old data, from 2004, but type of oil probably has not changed

• Kern County: heavy oil with 1.2% sulfur; accounts for 75% of California's on-shore production
• Los Angeles Basin: heavy oil; sulfur content 1.7% to 2.0%
• Off-shore: intermediate for the most part, 18° (heavy) to 36° (medium-light)

Ecuador: heavy oil; 24.1°

Seeks low-sulphur, light oil, September 1, 2015:

Net crude exporter Petroecuador issued a tender to import 30 million barrels of light sweet crude over the course of a year in an attempt to maximize diesel and gasoline production when its Esmeraldas refinery comes back online in the fourth quarter, market sources said Tuesday.

Petroecuador is seeking 30 million barrels of low sulfur crude oil with an API gravity of 28 degrees to be delivered in a one-year period, according to a tender issued late Monday.

The state-owned oil company is seeking the barrels "in order to optimize the Esmeraldas refinery operations, once the revamping has been complete," the tender said. 

Venezuela: heavy oil, similar to Canadian oil sands.

Brazil:

• Buzios: link here.
• Mero: link here.
• both Mero and Buzios (almost identical):

• a medium heavy crude (perfect for diesel, unlike WTI / Bakken)
• an API gravity of around 28.4 degrees

*******************************

Notes To The Granddaughters

Olivia's soccer team won today, 1 - 0. Her team was awarded max points: points for the win and points for the shut-out. They knocked off the #1 team in their bracket. Olivia's team is now in 1st place in their bracket. The other team may have dropped to third place depending on how other teams do today.

Olivia plays midfield and defense but today was given credit for the assist with the one goal. She kicked the ball to the player who scored. 

The Energy And Market Page, T+31 -- February 20, 2017

Platts overhauls Brent crude benchmark for first time in a decade, adds Troll field. Reuters.

• to address falling supplies of the crude oil grades underpinning the benchmark that prices most of the world's oil
• a decline in supply from North Sea fields has led to concerns that physical volumes could become too thin; could be accumulated in the hands of just a few plays; vulnerable to manipulation
• Platts will add Norway's Troll to the basket of four British and Norwegian crude grades which is already uses to assess dated Brent from January 1, 2018
• this will join Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk, or BFOE as they are known
• Troll had the most support to be added
• Troll: a light, sweet crude; operated by Statoil (also contributes to the Oseberg, Statfjord, Gullfaks, Grane and Asgard streams)
• supply of the current four BFOE grades: 1 million bopd, just over 1% of world output

Oil rises, but swelling US output caps rally. Over at Reuters. Oilprice.com probably sees this as "fake news."

Deadline looms for DAPL protest camp. Over at Bloomberg. Formal eviction letter for a specific individual at this site; sent to me by a reader. Wow, it must have taken quite a bit of Sherlocking sleuthing to find this one. On another note, I am being told that the $3 million raised for the DAPL protestors through a "GoFundMe" site will be transferred to "general operating funds for the Standing Rock Reservation. Much, much more to the story but I will leave it at that for now.

After OPEC cuts heavy oil, China teapot refiners pull US supply to Asia. At Reuters. Oilprice.com probably sees this as "fake news" also.

Saudi Arabia, 2016, production. For the archives, over at Bloomberg --

• set all-time records for oil exports and production in 2016
• exports: 7.65 million bopd on average, 2016; 7.39 million bopd in 2015
• production: 10.46 million bopd on average, 2016; 10.19 million bopd in 2015
• remember all that talk about 12 million bopd?

************************************

Definitions

With regard to the story on Chinese teapot refiners and US oil, this is from a post some months ago:

NYMEX:

• light crude oil for domestic U.S. oil as having an API gravity between 37° API and 42° API 
• light crude oil for non-U.S. oil as being between 32° API  and 42° API

Canadian National Energy Board:

• light crude oil as having a density API gravity greater than 30.1°

Alberta, government; Alberta process most of Canada's oil:

• API gravity greater than 35° API

Pemex, Mexican state oil company:

• light crude oil as being between 27° API and 38° API 

This variation in definition occurred because countries such as Canada and Mexico tend to have heavier crude oils than are commonly found in the United States, whose large oil fields historically produced lighter oils than are found in many other countries.

************************

Benchmarks

From wiki.

WTI

• A wide variety of benchmark crude oils worldwide are considered to be light. The most prominent in North America is West Texas Intermediate (WTI):
• API gravity of 39.6° API; lighter than Brent, but not by much
• sulfur: 0.24% (sweet oil is defined as oil with sulfur content less than 0.5%)

Brent Crude

• the most commonly referenced benchmark oil from Europe is Brent Crude, which is
• 38.06° API

Dubai Crude

• the third most commonly quoted benchmark is Dubai Crude, which is 31° API
• this is considered light by Arabian standards but would not be considered light if produced in the U.S.

*******************

Others

Saudia Arabia's Ghawar field:

• the largest oil field in the world, Saudi Arabia's Ghawar field
• light crude oils ranging from 33° API to 40° API

Alaska North Slope: from XOM -- 

• 31.4°
• sulfur: 0.96%

Bakken:

36 to 44 degrees API. The quality of this oil is excellent, almost identical to WTI. The benchmark crude oil is West Texas Intermediate, which is 40 degrees API sweet crude. It is the benchmark because it requires the least amount of processing in a modern refinery to make the most valuable products, unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel.

North Dakota Spearfish: 36°

• presentation, Corinthian, undated, perhaps early 2014 
• sulfur content: 0.8% to 1%

Mexico: generally heavy to medium-light; sulfur content

• Isthmus: 21.8°.3.3% sulfur
• Maya: 33.4°; 1.35% sulfur
• Olmeca: 37.3°; 0.84% sulfur

Iraqi: heavy oil

Crude oil found in Iraq varies significantly in quality, with API gravities generally ranging from 22° (heavy) to 35° (medium - light). Over 70% of national oil reserves are below 28° API  and the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted in its 2012 report on Iraq that future production is likely to include a larger share of heavier crudes. However some of the crudes produced at the Taq Taq field in the norther semi-autonomous Kurdistan region are as light as 48° API, dubbed by Reuters as "champagne crude". 

California: heavy oil; pdf here -- old data, from 2004, but type of oil probably has not changed

• Kern County: heavy oil with 1.2% sulfur; accounts for 75% of California's on-shore production
• Los Angeles Basin: heavy oil; sulfur content 1.7% to 2.0%
• Off-shore: intermediate for the most part, 18° (heavy) to 36° (medium-light)

Ecuador: heavy oil; 24.1°

Seeks low-sulphur, light oil, September 1, 2015:

Net crude exporter Petroecuador issued a tender to import 30 million barrels of light sweet crude over the course of a year in an attempt to maximize diesel and gasoline production when its Esmeraldas refinery comes back online in the fourth quarter, market sources said Tuesday.

Petroecuador is seeking 30 million barrels of low sulfur crude oil with an API gravity of 28 degrees to be delivered in a one-year period, according to a tender issued late Monday.

The state-owned oil company is seeking the barrels "in order to optimize the Esmeraldas refinery operations, once the revamping has been complete," the tender said. 

Venezuela: heavy oil, similar to Canadian oil sands.