American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers
afpm.org › newsroom › blog › whats-difference-between-heavy-and-light-crude-oils-and-why-do-american-refineries
What’s the difference between heavy and light crude oils? And why do American refineries need both? | American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers
Nearly 70% of U.S. refining capacity runs most efficiently with heavier crude. That is why 90% of crude oil imports into the United States are heavier than U.S.-produced shale crude.
U.S. Energy Information Administration
eia.gov › todayinenergy › detail.php
The United States produces lighter crude oil, imports heavier crude oil - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
The U.S. refining complex is advanced and capable of refining heavier, more sour crude oils, which generally cost less than lighter, sweeter grades of crude oil. Refinery crude oil slates—the mix of crude oil grades that a refinery can process ...
US REFINERIES CANNOT PROCESS LITE OIL
The thing I keep seeing on you tube is that US refineries must export light shale oil to refine it in other countries. I have discussed this at length with several AI LLMs delving quite deeply into process constraints of various refinery configurations and in general this does not appear to be... More on eng-tips.com
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April 7, 2025why doesn't the US refinery capacity adapt to light sweet domestic oil in 2023?
As an industry, we spent a bunch of money in the 80s building hydrocrackers and cokers so that we could turn cheap feedstock into the same products we’d make with more expensive feedstock. Let the foreigners keep buying our light/sweet crude and we’ll take all of the sour/heavy garbage that we’re already set up to refine. No need to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to solve a non-existent problem. Some refiners (XOM/Blade, CVX/Pasadena) have made changes to their portfolios to refine more domestic crude. It costs a lot of money. That money could be better spent optimizing existing facilities than building entire new ones. That being said, I’m sure if Uncle Sam started handing out free money we’ll all trip over each other trying to get our fair share More on reddit.com
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October 9, 2023What, exactly, is the trouble with refining crude oil from the USA?
Nothing It’s done regularly More on reddit.com
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July 7, 2022ELI5 "Why does the US import so much oil when they are the world's largest exporter of it?"
It does use what it produces. It also exports what it produces. Whoever you heard that from either misunderstands the situation or is reliant on outdated information. The US has always imported a lot of crude oil to refine and export. Historically US refineries have had a lot of excess capacity which positioned it well to import crude and export refined products. This is a value-add industry since the refined products are more valuable than the crude. The US at one time consumed more crude oil than it produced. That has not been true over the last decade or two. The idea that the US consumes more oil than it produces is left over from the high oil prices and shortages due to the OPEC oil embargo in the 70's when that was true. US policy has focused on "energy independence" ever since. The US is huge. It doesn't make sense to ship oil from Alaska to the east coast to refine. As a result, the US tends to export crude from Alaska to Asia and imports crude from South America/Canada to the East coast. More on reddit.com
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September 12, 2024Videos
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Why Does The US Import Oil When They Produce So Much? - YouTube
This Is Why the U.S. Can't Use the Oil It Produces
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Light Vs Heavy Crude Oil: The REAL Reason Why Trump Is After ...
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Why America Can't USE The Oil it Produces - YouTube
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Why the U.S. Can’t Use the Oil It Produces - YouTube
FuelStream Services
fuelstreamservices.com › home › transportation industry › why the u.s can’t use the oil it produces
Why the U.S Can’t Use the Oil it Produces
November 7, 2024 - Despite the large output (around 13.2 million barrels of crude oil a day)—the U.S. skews heavily toward light sweet crude, which is easier and cheaper to refine. This is great for certain products like gasoline and diesel, but the issue is ...
U.S. Energy Information Administration
eia.gov › todayinenergy › detail.php
Crude oil used by U.S. refineries continues to get lighter in most regions - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Crude oil with an API gravity greater than 38 degrees is generally considered light crude oil; crude oil with an API gravity of 22 degrees or below is considered heavy crude oil. The crude slate processed in refineries situated along the Gulf ...
Quora
quora.com › What-is-the-reason-for-the-lack-of-refineries-for-heavy-crude-oil-in-the-United-States
What is the reason for the lack of refineries for heavy crude oil in the United States? - Quora
Refineries do not process any one crude - every refinery can take some mixture of heavy and light, although a heavy-configured refinery can only take so much light before becoming unprofitable.
Stanford Understand Energy
understand-energy.stanford.edu › news › understand-crude-oil
Understand Crude Oil | Understand Energy Learning Hub
Individual refineries are optimized ... as shown in the chart below. Simple refineries can only process light, sweet crude oils, while more complex refineries can process heavy, sour crude oils....
Mineralrightspodcast
mineralrightspodcast.com › home › listen › mrp 188: why does the u.s. import heavy oil?
MRP 188: Why Does the U.S. Import Heavy Oil? – The Mineral Rights Podcast
January 27, 2023 - Refineries can produce high-value products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel from light crude oil with simple distillation. When refineries use simple distillation on denser (heavier) crude oils (with lower API gravity), they produce ...
Drillingmaps
blog.drillingmaps.com › 2025 › 06 › this-is-why-us-cant-use-oil-it-produces.html
This Is Why the U.S. Can’t Use the Oil It Produces
June 11, 2025 - Meanwhile, many American ... Venezuela, Mexico, and Canada. Over 60% of U.S. refinery capacity is optimized for heavy crude processing....
Forbes
forbes.com › sites › rrapier › 2026 › 04 › 05 › debunking-a-persistent-myth-us-refineries-cant-handle-shale-oil
Why U.S. Refineries Can Handle Shale Oil Despite The Persistent Myth
April 6, 2026 - U.S. refineries are fully capable of processing shale oil. But running exclusively light crude would erode margins by sidelining high-value equipment. It would also reduce overall efficiency and output.
Eng-Tips
eng-tips.com › home › forums › people › petroleum engineers › petroleum refining engineering
US REFINERIES CANNOT PROCESS LITE OIL | Eng-Tips
April 7, 2025 - Most of USA refineries are configured to process heavier, high-sulfur crude grades and is designed to optimize for specific feedstocks. To process light shell oil other investissements are required to process such a feedstochk such as ligt shell oil and to reconfigurate oil industry in a time ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/oil › why doesn't the us refinery capacity adapt to light sweet domestic oil in 2023?
r/oil on Reddit: why doesn't the US refinery capacity adapt to light sweet domestic oil in 2023?
October 9, 2023 -
why are we still dependent on foreign imports that are heavier when we can be more energy independent? Can the federal government subsidize retrofitting or building new refineries that can take in more light sweet US cude?
Top answer 1 of 15
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As an industry, we spent a bunch of money in the 80s building hydrocrackers and cokers so that we could turn cheap feedstock into the same products we’d make with more expensive feedstock. Let the foreigners keep buying our light/sweet crude and we’ll take all of the sour/heavy garbage that we’re already set up to refine. No need to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to solve a non-existent problem. Some refiners (XOM/Blade, CVX/Pasadena) have made changes to their portfolios to refine more domestic crude. It costs a lot of money. That money could be better spent optimizing existing facilities than building entire new ones. That being said, I’m sure if Uncle Sam started handing out free money we’ll all trip over each other trying to get our fair share
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I'm aware of several refineries that have added crude distillation and sat gas processing capacity specifically for this reason. I'm not aware of any refineries reducing coker capacity; there would be no point to cutting production of heavier feedstocks so long as it's profitable.
U.S. Energy Information Administration
eia.gov › todayinenergy › detail.php
The United States tends to produce lighter crude oil and import heavier crude oil - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
August 23, 2019 - API gravity, along with sulfur ... geared toward a diverse range of crude oil inputs, so it can be uneconomic to run some refineries solely on light or heavy crude oil....
U.S. Energy Information Administration
eia.gov › energyexplained › oil-and-petroleum-products › refining-crude-oil-inputs-and-outputs.php
Refining crude oil - inputs and outputs - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Refineries can produce high-value products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel from light crude oil with simple distillation. When refineries use simple distillation on denser (heavier) crude oils (with lower API gravity), they produce low-value products.
Reuters
reuters.com › business › energy › us-refiners-mull-switch-alternative-lighter-crudes-amid-trump-tariff-fears-2025-02-20
US refiners mull switch to alternative lighter crudes amid Trump tariff fears | Reuters
February 20, 2025 - Its 94,000-bpd oil refinery located in Sinclair, Wyoming, and 135,000-bpd refinery in El Dorado, Kansas, need to run a certain amount of heavy crude, he said. "But we can minimize what that is and introduce a lighter slate."
Reuters
reuters.com › business › energy › us-permian-crude-turns-lighter-it-risks-losing-favor-with-refiners-2024-10-22
As US Permian crude turns lighter, it risks losing favor with refiners | Reuters
October 22, 2024 - Generally, lighter crude is more valued than heavier crude, but refineries are set up for specific densities, usually not super-light crude. Refiners look for crude that can deliver the best margins from existing gear.
U.S. Energy Information Administration
eia.gov › analysis › studies › petroleum › lto
Options for U.S. Petroleum Refineries to Process Additional Light Tight Oil - Energy Information Administration
April 6, 2015 - Imports of light crude oil into the United States have decreased significantly in recent years, with light crude imports to the USGC almost fully eliminated. As these light crude oil imports have been displaced, refiners looking to process additional domestic LTO production with existing capacity ...
Quora
quora.com › In-several-answers-I-have-seen-it-stated-that-the-US-produces-light-sweet-crude-oil-but-doesnt-refine-it-as-our-refineries-are-set-up-for-OPECs-heavier-crude-Why-is-that
In several answers I have seen it stated that the US produces light, sweet crude oil, but doesn't refine it, as our refineries are set up for OPEC's heavier crude. Why is that? - Quora
... IMO, worked in refining for 34 years crude blending for additional 10 years. Refineries were built and designed to process heavy sour crude because it was cheap prior to the crude embargo in the 70’s.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/askengineers › what, exactly, is the trouble with refining crude oil from the usa?
r/AskEngineers on Reddit: What, exactly, is the trouble with refining crude oil from the USA?
July 7, 2022 - US refineries take in Maya Crude and WCS both of which are very hard to refine - high sulphur, heavy crudes which require the refiner to be equipped with new metallurgy. WTI is exported specifically because they can process this crap and use ...
Substack
geopoliticsunplugged.substack.com › geopoliticsunplugged substack › crude realities: why the u.s. imports oil despite leading production
Crude Realities: Why the U.S. Imports Oil Despite Leading Production
December 25, 2024 - Why the U.S. Imports Oil: Despite being a top crude oil producer, the U.S. imports oil due to its refineries being historically configured to process sour and medium crude oils, which differ from the light, sweet crude produced domestically.
Factually
factually.co › why us refineries import heavy crude despite high domestic production
Why Do U.S. Refineries Still Import Heavy Crude When D...
May 6, 2026 - is heavy (low API) and often sour (higher sulfur); refineries balance API gravity and sulfur content in their inputs because those properties require different processing pathways [3][6]. Running a heavy‑configured refinery primarily on light crude can be uneconomic or technically infeasible ...