Sour Crude
Categories: Econ
You know when you're doing crude oil shots and you go a little crazy with the lemon? Yeah, sour crude.
Also, the term applies to an actual type of crude oil. Like, as opposed to sweet crude.
All crude oil isn't made the same way. After all, it's not sitting in a sterile container in someone's warehouse. It was formed underground as a result of dynamic and messy geological pressures. The difference between sour and sweet crude has to do with sulfur. High levels of sulfur earns the distinction of "sour crude." (The cutoff is 0.5% of sulfur...more than that and you've got sour crude.)
The sour crude is more cumbersome to refine and has some additional environmental impacts. As such, it's not as valuable. The top-shelf crude (the stuff you break out when your boss comes over for dinner) is called "light, sweet crude." It has sulfur levels below 0.42%.
