U.S. Navy Ship Salvage Manual Volume 6 - Oil Spill Response

S0300-A6-MAN-060Colombian crude resembles the lighter crudes from the San Joaquin Valley. Gasoline content isabout 10 percent and the absence of wax allows the production of lubricants with very low pourpoints. Peruvian crude is very light, with gasoline content of up to 40 percent and very low sulfurcontent. Argentina procedures both heavy, intermediate base crude and lighter paraffin-basecrudes. Most Trinidad crude is of mixed base resembling the California crudes. There is somevariation among the crudes produced, with some resembling the California crudes. There is somevariation among the crudes produced, with some resembling Mid-Continent crudes.F-3.3 The Middle East. The Persian Gulf area possesses the worlds largest known petroleumreserves. There are large producing fields in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.Iranian crude oils resemble middle-to low-grade Mid-Continent crudes, with a combined gasolineand kerosene content of about 50 percent, with diesel or gas oil accounting for another 25 percent.Asphalt content is 15 to 20 percent. Sulfur content is generally about 1 to 2 percent and the crudesoften lie in proximity to large pockets of natural gas with high hydrogen sulfide content.Iraqi crudes are generally similar to those of Iran. A typical oil is that from the Kirkuk field whichis rather paraffinic with a high wax content in the lubricating oil fractions. Asphalt content isabout 35 percent.Saudi crudes are similar to those of Iraq, but with greater variation in sulfur, asphalt and aromaticcontent. The Burgan field in Kuwait produces oil with about 2 percent sulfur, 20 percent asphaltand combined gasoline, kerosene and diesel content of up to 50 percent. Bahrain produces a similarcrude with a 2 percent sulfur content, 30 percent gasoline content, low wax content and lowasphalt content.F-3.4 Europe. The principal European oil production areas are the North Sea, Rumania and theregion between the black and Caspian Seas and the area to the north and east. Small quantities ofoil are produced in Austria, Germany, Holland, France, Poland and Czechoslovakia, but little isexported.The Baku fields in Russia supply mixed-base crudes, low in sulfur and high in resins and asphalticmaterial. Gasoline content is usually less than 10 percent. In some cases, such as the Surakanyfield, the oil is more paraffinic.The crude oils of Rumania are varied in character, but uniformly low in sulfur with a high proportionof aromatics.North Sea crudes are generally paraffinic- or paraffinic-naphthenic-based. Wax content is usuallyless than 7 percent and sulfur content generally less than 0.5 percent. The crude tends to be heavy,with heavy distillates and residue accounting for 30 to 80 percent of the total.F-3.5 The Far East. The crude oils of Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Burma and Assam are generallysimilar. The shallower formations tend to yield heavy, wax-free oils, some of which require nodistillation or other treatment before use as fuel oil. the crudes become lighter as depth of produc-F-10