Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Production & Offshore
Crude oil
Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples
/ˌkruːd ˈɔɪl/nounCore term
In oil, gas & mining, crude oil means: Oil in its natural state as it comes out of the ground, before it is refined into fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
In Turkish: ham petrol, petrol
How it is used
Often shortened to 'crude' in trading, shipping and news: crude prices, crude exports, a crude tanker. Crudes are described by density (light or heavy) and sulphur content (sweet or sour). Production is measured in barrels per day.
Example sentences
The field produces about 20,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Crude oil prices rose after the producers announced a cut in output.
Common collocations
crude oil price
light crude oil
heavy crude oil
crude oil production
crude oil tanker
Related terms
barrelThe standard unit for measuring crude oil, equal to 42 US gallons or about 159 litres. Oil prices and production rates are quoted per barrel.
refineryAn industrial plant where crude oil is heated, separated and chemically changed to make products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, LPG and asphalt.
Brent crudeA blend of crude oils from the North Sea whose price is the main international benchmark for pricing oil around the world.
sour crudeCrude oil with a high sulphur content, usually more than 0.5 percent. Crude with little sulphur is called sweet crude.
API gravityA scale created by the American Petroleum Institute that shows how light or heavy a crude oil is compared with water. A higher number means lighter oil; water is 10 degrees.
