[custom_adv] The major difference between the crude oils Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate is that Brent Crude originates from oil fields in the North Sea between the Shetland Islands and Norway, while West Texas Intermediate is sourced from U.S. oil fields, primarily in Texas, Louisiana, and North Dakota.1 Both Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate are light and sweet, making them ideal for refining into gasoline. [custom_adv] US West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery jumped as much as 40%, to $16.18 a barrel. On Monday, WTI May contracts closed at a record low of negative $37.63 a barrel, the first time oil prices had ever fallen into negative territory. A supply glut amid the coronavirus pandemic cratered demand, sending prices lower. [custom_adv] West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is a specific grade of crude oil and one of the main three benchmarks in oil pricing, along with Brent and Dubai Crude. WTI is known as a light sweet oil because it contains 0.24% sulfur, making it "sweet," and has a low density, making it "light." It is the underlying commodity of the New York Mercantile Exchange's (NYMEX) oil futures contract and is considered a high-quality oil that is easily refined. [custom_adv] Brent blend is the name of one of two internationally-recognized types of crude oil that are used as benchmarks for prices of crude oil. Brent Blend comes from the North Sea and is considered a light, sweet crude oil. Brent blend is more than half of the crude oil traded internationally, so it is a logical choice to be the benchmark for crude oil pricing. [custom_adv] Shale oil is a high-quality crude oil that lies between layers of shale rock, impermeable mudstone, or siltstone. Oil companies produce shale oil by fracturing the rock formations that contain the layers of oil. [custom_adv] Heating oil is diesel fuel. It is dyed red to indicate that it is not legal to burn in a diesel vehicle because the red dye indicates that there were no road taxes paid with it. Putting diesel fuel into your oil thank is good way to get yourself through an otherwise cold night and morning in the case that you let yourself run out when a truck cannot get to you till the next day. [custom_adv] Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash point of approximately 40 °C (104 °F) and oils burned in cotton or wool-wick burners. In this sense, diesel is a type of fuel oil. Fuel oil is made of long hydrocarbon chains, particularly alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatics.
