Famous oil brands in Russia

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Over the past hundred years, oil has become the world's most important commodity. Prices for "black gold" are of great importance for the economy of any country. What are the brands of oil? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand the quality criteria of this mineral.

Reasons for dividing into varieties

Each individual hydrocarbon field is a source of oil with unique characteristics. There is an almost incalculable number of variations of black gold in terms of physical properties. The main quality criteria are the density and the level of sulfur content. Each country, rich in hydrocarbon deposits, supplies the world market with several brands of oil that differ in chemical composition. The need to form clear benchmarks for energy prices on international trading floors has led to the emergence of so-called benchmarks. They represent the most liquid and popular brands of oil, whose stock quotes serve as a benchmark for buying and selling lesser-known grades of black gold.

Quality Criteria

From densityhydrocarbon raw materials depends on the efficiency of its processing. According to this indicator, oil is divided into three types: heavy, medium and light. There is a system created by American specialists for accurately measuring the density of black gold in degrees. Light oil is the most preferable for the refining process, since the production of various types of fuel from it is associated with minimal costs. The density of such brands is 30-40 degrees. When refining and processing brands of oil belonging to the light category, relatively less waste is obtained and more products are ready for sale on the fuel market. Naturally, black gold, whose density is in the range from 30 to 50 degrees, has an increased cost.

Difficulties in recycling

Heavy oil brands cannot be brought to the surface by traditional methods and require additional costs at the extraction stage. Such grades of hydrocarbon raw materials are characterized by high viscosity and the content of a large amount of impurities: resinous-asph altene substances, sulfur compounds and metals.

The density of heavy oil brands varies from 10 to 24 degrees on a scale created by the American API Institute. This type of black gold is less profitable for mining companies and processing companies. It is not possible to obtain a large number of technically valuable and expensive products from it: gasoline, aviation kerosene and diesel fuel. Light brands are better suited for this purpose.oil.

The world is dominated by heavy hydrocarbon deposits. However, mining companies are not enthusiastic about the development of such fields, preferring traditional light oil.

Chemical composition

Sulfur levels also have a direct impact on the difficulty and cost of obtaining ready-to-eat products from raw materials. The presence of this chemical in natural oil ranges from 0.1% to 8%. Sulfur compounds cause serious harm to the environment. In many countries, the maximum permissible level of their content in automobile fuel is strictly regulated by law.

Refining fuel from sulfur is a complex and expensive process. What brands of oil are available to avoid such difficulties in refining? Grades of black gold containing less than 0.5% sulfur compounds do not require significant efforts to remove harmful impurities. Such grades of oil are usually called "sweet".

Reference grades

There is a very limited number of large international energy trading platforms in the world, where world-class players are present. One such market is located on the European continent, in the capital of Great Britain.

On the London futures exchange there are operations for the purchase and sale of the Brent crude oil contract. Currently, it is the most liquid grade of black gold in the world. OtherThe largest exchange is located in the United States of America in the city of Chicago. It trades futures for WTI oil produced in Texas. In the US energy market, this brand occupies the same position as Brent blend in Eurasia.

As you can see, reference grades of black gold are territorially connected not with large hydrocarbon deposits, but with developed financial markets. Prices for less popular brands of oil are formed on the basis of Brent and WTI quotations. The cost of the reference variety is considered to be the base one. Surcharges or discounts in relation to it are due to the difference in quality.

WTI

An abbreviation for one of the main reference grades of crude oil, stands for "West Texas Medium". Its density is 40 degrees, the sulfur content is 0.5%. This light oil is excellent as a raw material for the production of gasoline. Its stock quotes serve as the main benchmark for prices for "black gold" in the United States. Because of its low sulfur content, WTI is sometimes referred to as "Texas Sweet".

Brent

The main European reference variety comes from the North Sea, between the coasts of Scotland and Norway. Its density is 38 degrees, the content of sulfur compounds is 0.37%. Brent is a mixture of several grades of oil extracted from offshore fields. The volume of production of this brand does not exceed a million barrels per day, which is small by world standards.quantity. Despite this, futures for the North Sea mixture set records for trading volumes. Brent plays the role of a reference grade for 70% of existing oil brands. What does it mean? Such a strange situation is explained very simply: the futures are used mainly for speculative purposes and do not lead to the physical delivery of raw materials. This circumstance becomes the reason for discussions about the justification for retaining the status of a reference variety for the North Sea Brent blend.

Dubai

The leading position in the production of black gold on the planet is occupied by the countries of the Persian Gulf. It is not surprising that the Dubai brand, supplied to the world market from the United Arab Emirates, is considered a benchmark variety. This oil belongs to the medium type. Its density is 31 degrees, the sulfur content is 2%.

Oil brands in Russia

Six brands of "black gold" are mined on the territory of the Russian Federation: Urals, Vityaz, Sokol, Siberian Light, ESPO and Arctic Oil. Their prices are determined on the basis of quotations of the benchmark grade Brent. The lightest and highest quality is the Vityaz brand mined on Sakhalin Island. Its density is 41 degrees, the sulfur content is 0.18%. Vityaz oils are slightly inferior in quality to Sokol, Siberian Light and ESPO. Their density varies from 35 to 37 degrees, the sulfur content is 0.23-0.62%. The heaviest Russian oil is Arctic Oil, which is extracted from an offshore field.

The budget of the Russian Federation is calculated based on the price of the West Siberian brand Urals. This is medium density oil.(31 degrees) with a high sulfur content (1.3%).