3 ways to win from the oil glut

Believe it or not, there’s an excess of oil — but it’s an excess of hard-to-refine heavy sour crude. It won’t help you at the gas pump, but these 3 companies can turn it into money for you.

There’s an oil glut.

Don’t expect to see it in the prices you pay at the pump, however. Unfortunately, the glut is in the kind of heavy sour crude oil that is tough to refine into gasoline. The supply of crude that is easiest to refine into gasoline remains tight enough to keep the price of filling up truly painful.

Here’s the crux of the problem for gasoline consumers and oil companies: There’s just not enough light sweet crude to meet demand. And, while there’s plenty of heavy sour crude, a barrel of heavy sour crude yields about a third less gasoline than does a barrel of sweet light crude. That’s if you can refine it to begin with: Many refineries, especially in Asia, can’t handle heavy sour crude at all. (A heavy crude is thicker than light crude. A sour crude contains a higher percentage of sulfur.)

MSN