First of all, I’d like to provide credit score to Liying Zhao (Options Engineer at HyperVolatility) for serving to me to conceptualize this text and to assemble the necessary information to develop it. There might be other articles describing the physical side of the crude oil market so this is just “the first gear of a extra complicated apparatus

The present evaluation will not be a quantitative research on the oil market and its goal is to listing the most important aspects to consider before investing or trading the black gold. Consequently, the focus will primarily be on the petroleum bodily market and on how the oil business works. The HyperVolatility team spends quite a lot of time analyzing and trading commodity markets, hence, crude oil positions have always had a substantial weight in our portfolio. Additionally, the nice attention in direction of commodity markets generated by the credit crunch and the constantly high volume on crude oil futures and options are some of the explanations that satisfied us to put collectively a general guideline for individuals who select to venture into vitality markets and particularly fossil fuels.

First of all, it’s value mentioning that there are virtually 250 different types of crude oils on the earth however the ones that are mentioned essentially the most are primarily 2: the American West Texas Intermediate and the European Brent Blend (which is now the global benchmark).It’s not unusual to listen to monetary journalists speaking about different crude oils like the Nigerian Bonny, the Arab Mild (Saudi) or the Dubai (UAE); nonetheless, the highlight is nearly completely on WTI and Brent. The rationale these markets, particularly the Brent, have a lot media coverage is because of their significance when pricing other crude oils worldwide. Again, the Brent is the these days international benchmark (though the WTI used to have this function) so every oil producer or buyer will have to know its value; the query is why?

Why all different crude oils must be priced in accordance with Brent value fluctuations?

The answer to this question is API gravity, sulphur content and export.

As we previously mentioned there are numerous forms of crude oils on the earth but the chemical composition of each crude grade differs barely. Crude oil is a fossil gas and it’s made from hydrocarbons (molecules of hydrogen and carbon atoms) however what makes the real distinction, in terms of commercial worth, is the load of the hydrocarbons. The rule is easy: the lighter, the higher. In order to find out how heavy or gentle petroleum liquids are the American Petroleum Institute launched a standardized scale called API gravity. The API gravity system is a standardized approach to check and rank the “lightness or heavinessof diverse crude oils. The system is very simple: the API gravity coefficient measures how heavy or gentle petroleum liquids are with respect to water. Crude oils with an API gravity better than 10 are thought-about to be mild (so that they float on water) while oils with API lower than 10 are categorised as heavy (so that they sink when combined with water). Crude oils with high API values (10 and higher) are lighter and produce greater amount of marketable product, hence, they’re more commercially desirable. This concept can be higher understood by looking at the following chart (supply: The International Crude Oil Market Report):

The graph displays the distribution of various crude oils in keeping with API gravity (X axis) and sulphur content (Y axis). It is straightforward to note that WTI and Brent are both located in the right – hand facet of the chart and they are very near the X axis. The rationale these oils are situated in this space is because their API gravity may be very high (which means they are light types of oil) and their sulphur content is decrease than zero.5% which means they’re sweet (the word “sweetin technical jargon means that there is a low level of impurity).

Let’s summarize what has been acknowledged to this point:

1) API gravity measures the lightness / heaviness of crude oils

2) API increased than 10 means that the crude oil is light and extra worthwhile in terms of economic value

three) API lower than 10 means that the crude oil is heavy and produces a minor amount of economic product after refining

four) Sulphur content measures the diploma of pureness of crude oil, the extent of impurity that each crude oil sort contains

5) Sulphur content material greater than 0.5% signifies a excessive level of impurity (sour crude oil) that must be removed

6) Sulphur content material lower than 0.5% implies a low degree of impurity (sweet crude oil). This condition is most well-liked because less work is needed and the refining process is faster

7) All of the crude oils ranked at the bottom of the fitting hand side of the chart are thought-about to be the most enticing under a industrial perspective

The aforementioned bullet points clarify fairly nicely why the Brent is top-of-the-line crude oils in the world but why is it better than the WTI?

The answer is straightforward: the European Brent is exported whereas the West Texas Intermediate stays throughout the US. Consequently, the WTI has a “minor impacton worldwide markets (in actuality, a part of the Alaskan oil output is exported to Japan and South Korea however the amount is so small to be irrelevant in terms of international influence).

There are different chemical and bodily elements that need to be talked about when talking about crude oil and one of those is actually viscosity. Viscosity is the “abilityof a specific crude oil or refined product to circulate.

Why is that this factor vital?

The diploma of viscosity is essential to determine how crude oil shall be saved or transported which signifies that the cost of carry will likely be primarily influenced by this variable. Crude oils will be categorised in keeping with their viscosity coefficient:

1) Paraffinic crude oils have low viscosity but they’re simply flammable. A lot of the engines lubricating oils are manufactured from paraffinic crude oil. Paraffinic oils have a high API gravity and due to this fact are typically gentle sorts of crude oil

2) Naphthenic (or Asphaltic) crude oils have a high viscosity coefficient however they are not simply flammable. That is the case of bitumen. Naphthenic oils have low API gravity and therefore tend to be heavy types of crude oil

This classification could be very useful as a result of it helps us perceive a bit higher how the refining process works. Let’s mix all the knowledge collectively:

– Mild and sweet crude oils (Brent, WTI, Bonny) have excessive API gravity, low sulphur content material, low viscosity, excessive flammability and subsequently are paraffinic oils. Light and sweet crude oils, once refined, have a tendency to produce high amount of gasoline

– Heavy and sour oils (Venezuelan BCF, Russian Urals crude, and so forth) have low API gravity, excessive sulphur content material, high viscosity, low flammability and subsequently are naphthenic oils. Heavy and bitter crude oils, once refined, tend to be used as bitumen feedstock

The refining process goals to separate petroleum liquids in numerous chemical elements which can be subsequently treated and combined with solvents to generate new oil derivatives.

How does the process work?

The crude oil is basically pumped into a furnace and here the raw petroleum releases gases and liquids which are subsequently channeled in a tower to start out the fractional distillation process. The purpose of directing the oil in this tower is to separate or fractionate totally different chemical parts utilizing heat. Particularly, every chemical part can have a particular boiling point and by rising the temperature each constituent will begin vaporizing as quickly as its personal boiling point will likely be reached. This process is gradual so the crude oil will fractionate into totally different gases at totally different temperatures but it is also steady, which means that new raw petroleum liquid shall be injected into the distillation tower at common intervals to exchange the fluid that has been already fractioned. The refining process usually produces a standardized set of oil derivatives comparable to gasoline, jet gas, diesel gas and asphalt. However, different merchandise (methane, propane, kerosene, and so forth) are sometimes distillated. Oil derivatives have a variety of purposes; right here we list a few of them:

1) Methane also knows as natural gas, can be utilized for heating

2) Ethane is often employed as a feedstock for other production processes (just like the one followed to provide plastic)

three) Propane can be utilized for each cooking and heating

4) Gasoline is primarily used as gas for autos

5) Naphtha is one other feedstock and it is usually reused in the petrochemical industry

6) Kerosene (generally known as paraffin in UK, Eire, South Asia and South Africa) is predominantly employed to produce Jet gas oil

7) Gas oils are used to distillate diesel engine fuels or for residence heating

eight) Gas oils are reused to power refineries or power stations. petroleum equipment distributors Alternatively, they are sometimes utilized as a gas for ships but in this case they’re known as bunker gas or bunker gas oil

Now, this data is surely essential to anybody who’s critically considering to invest or trade oil markets. Oil fundamentals are generally missed but a sound understanding of the dynamics underlying the fossil gas business is crucial to completely comprehend market movements. As we anticipated initially of this article, this is just the primary a part of a broader challenge.

In case you are thinking about buying and selling crude oil