Cushing is the price settlement point for West Texas Intermediate Sweet Crude Oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

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The North African nation had produced about 2% of world production, about 1.6 million barrels of sweet crude oil per day, most of which was exported to Europe.

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Sweet light crude oil yields the most gallons of gasoline per barrel of oil and since it has low viscosity and low density, it is comparatively inexpensive to pump, transport, and refine.

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The ongoing conflict there has resulted in the removal from global markets of roughly 1.6 million barrels per day of light, sweet high-quality crude oil a total of more than 150 million barrels displaced since the conflict began.

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World crude oil production has in some cases already peaked (sweet, light) while others (heavy, sour) it has yet to be will soon.

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In China, where much of the growth in oil demand is generated, 80% of refining capacity is dedicated to sweet crude.

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Light sweet crude is depleting quickly, and now the industry is going after heavy crude and tar sands and thermally enhanced oil.

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