Part 1

Oil is a hydrocarbon

A hydrocarbon is a chemical chracterised by hydrogen and carbon molecules.

Nigeria has two types of Oil- Light oil of 36 gravity and heavy Oil of 20-25 gravity both are low in sulphur. This is desirable and less pollutive and also the oil is paraffinic in nature.

Hydrocarbons such as crude oil and its derivatives are characterized by the sulpur content. High level of sulphur cause crude to be called sour crude, that with low levels are called sweet crude. The low sulpur is good crude is good and desirable for gasoline production, it causes less pollution and is highly sought after. Countries that produce high sulphur crudes by law are penalised for pollution and so have to blend their crudes with low sulphur crudes to fall within an acceptable threshold. This is why Nigeria crude oil is in high demand particularly in the industrialized Nations. Low sulphur crude has less than 1% sulphur and is primarily found in Africa. Crude can be low sulphur but heavy.

Nigeria has light crude oil, this means that the crude is liquid petroleum and flows freely at room temperature, it also has a low density.

It has low specific gravity and viscosity as well as high API gravity (Its gravity relative to water is high)

API gravity is an inverse measure of a petroleum liquid density relative to that of water.

Take Away Message

Crude oil is a hydrocarbon- It comprises of chemical compound of mainly hydrogen and carbon with traces of other elements such as sulphur or heavy metals.

Paraffinic oil are viscous waxy, stable at high temperature and have a good flow.

Crude oil can be categorised by it sulphur content Sweet or Sour, low sulphur is termed sweet and high sulphur is termed sour.

The ease of flow can also be used to categorise crude oil. Heavy crude does not flow easily because its density is higher than of light crude, Heavy crude is any crude with a specific gravity less than 20 degrees.

Light crude oil has a low density and generally has a low wax content, its yields for gasoline is high and as such is a premium product. These properties make light crude oil easy to pump and extract. 30% of the world’s petroleum reserves are light crude.

Light crude oil receives a higher price than heavy crude because it produces a higher percentage of gasoline and diesel fuel when converted into products by an oil refinery. On the other hand heavy crude when refined produces more fuel oil and bitumen and for which are lower value grade and priced products.