US shale is a high-quality crude
Letter from London: The unbearable lightness of being US shale
While the US has been breaking records for its premium grade crude, there are doubts over whether you can have too much of a good thing
Crude quality does not grab the headlines like international crude prices do, but for producers, consumers and refiners it has a significant impact on decision-making. And crude quality has been a story that has reared its head in the geekier corners of the oil industry from time to time following US shale’s meteoric rise over the last decade and the ensuing lifting of the 40-year US ban on crude exports almost nine years ago. Crude comes in many different varieties, with the main variables being weight (light/heavy) and sulphur content (sweet/sour). The American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity is a measure of how heavy or light an oil is compared with water, with an API of between 40 and
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