Sweet or sour? In oil, that’s a big deal

It all comes out of the ground, but it’s not all the same.

Roughly 85 million barrels of oil power the world’s economies each day. Pumped from deserts, sea floors and backyards, much of it is free-flowing, low-sulfur oil that is easy and cheap to refine for use in cars, trucks and heating.

It’s the Good Stuff: light, sweet crude.

Light because it is less viscous — that is, less thick. Sweet because it has little of the sulfur that must be removed — in a costly process — to make gasoline, diesel and heating oil.

Light, sweet crude.

It produces more fuel than the heavier, “sour” versions. It’s what most refineries are designed to handle. And it is just not coming out the ground fast enough.

Atlanta Constitution-Journal