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>I get that there's probably been a fair bit of empty tanker capacity over the past few decades going back the other way, but I wonder what's so special about U

>I get that there's probably been a fair bit of empty tanker capacity over the past few decades going back the other way, but I wonder what's so special about US oil that merits taking it all the way to the Persian Gulf. Surely our military didn't need that much for its operations in the neighborhood? West Texas Intermediate is the lightest, sweetest crude on earth. Most refineries are built to handle medium density/sulfur, so everyone else has to buy it to mix with theirs. https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-1792854eec3801b00a6ba68303695f41.webp https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-1792854eec3801b00a6ba6... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Texas_Intermediate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Texas_Intermediate

mchannon 8y ago
Fascinating, though the factoid about being the lightest and sweetest appears to be a bit off the mark: https://rentar.com/best-crude-oil-world-crude-oils-better-others/ https://rentar.com/best-crude-oil-world-crude-oils-better-ot... (end of the article)
- aphextron 8y ago
  >Fascinating, though the factoid about being the lightest and sweetest appears to be a bit off the mark: https://rentar.com/best-crude-oil-world-crude-oils-better-ot.. https://rentar.com/best-crude-oil-world-crude-oils-better-ot.... (end of the article) Malaysian Tapis is a small deposit used as a benchmark, but isn't traded globally the way WTI is. As far as usable reserves go, WTI is still the best.