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Crude Oil

Is Crude Oil (heavy crude oil) lighter or heavier than water?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ted R. Kolb on May 4, 2010 at 10:35am

Hi Todd,
Hazmat incidents are not my strong point, however the answer to your question is:

The U.S. National Bureau of Standards established the Baume scale as the standard for measuring specific gravity, or density of liquids less dense than water. API gravity, is a measure of how heavy or light a petroleum liquid is compared to water.

Crude oil is classified as light, medium, or heavy, according to its measured API gravity.

Light Crude has an API gravity higher than 31.1 API.
Medium Crude has an API gravity between 22.3 API and 31.1 API.
Heavy Crude has an API gravity below 22.3 API.

If the API gravity is greater than 10, it is lighter and floats on water, if it is less than 10, it is heavier and sinks. Most values fall between 10 and 70 API gravity degrees.

Thanks for the great questions,
Ted R. Kolb

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