Eitan Misulovin, manager at Pinnacle Fuel LLC, has worked as a merchant trader of physical petroleum products for more than 15 years. In his work at the New York-based company, Eitan Misulovin covers a wide range of petroleum products for sales and distribution to major commodity and oil companies, as well as crude oil and related blend stocks.
Crude oil usually receives its classification based on the production location, but even within locations, oils can differ. Further classification uses the density of the petroleum as well as its non-hydrocarbon components, which in turn factors into the price of a given barrel of oil. While different types of oil are not necessarily better than one another, they have different applications, which can drive demand.
Barrels of oil can be termed sweet or sour and light or heavy. A sweet barrel of oil possesses relatively little sulfur compared to a sour barrel. High-density petroleum, with many long-chain hydrocarbons or high carbon content, is referred to as heavy, while lower-density oils or those with more hydrogen than carbon are called light.
