Bonny Light Crude Oil Vs. Brent Crude Oil in the Nigerian Market

Bonny Light and Brent Crude Oil

It is normal to disregard the differences in crude oil and simply label it a substance or commodity of one kind and with equal properties. But there is nothing equal and also not homogeneous about the 160 kinds of crude in the oil market today which include Brent Crude oil and Bonny Light oil.

Bonny Light Crude Oil Vs. Brent Crude Oil

Colour, volatility, viscosity, toxicity and density are constituents of crude oil which could vary significantly in all type of crude oil. Brent Crude and Bonny Light oil benchmarks are used in Nigeria. How do Brent Crude and Bonny Light oil differ in the Nigerian market?

Bonny Light Oil

Bonny Light crude oil is gotten from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and is among the top four kinds of crude oil in the world. It is literally the source of oil wealth for the US, UK and most of Europe. Bonny Light got its name from the community in Nigeria, Bonny where it is made.

Components of Bonny Light

It is a medium kind of crude oil with low specific gravity. In other words, its API gravity is high in comparison to a popular OPEC Basket and others which are less sweet and darker. It is an important crude oil benchmark for West African oil production.

Bonny Light oil has a low sulphur content of about 0.37 per cent, with a low environmental impact attributed to its byproducts in refinery effluent. It a highly desired grade for its low corrosiveness to refinery infrastructure.

Brent Crude Oil

Different kinds of oil from 15 oil fields in the North Sea were combined to establish the Brent Crude oil. It is a major benchmark for other crude oils in Europe but also Nigeria and most of Africa.

Components of Brent Oil

Brent Crude is graded as a light crude oil because of its API Gravity of 38.3 degrees. Similar to Bonny Light, Brent Crude contains sulphur of about 0.37 per cent. It is usually priced at $1 or $2 lower than WTI.

Nigeria has other grades of crude oil; Qua Iboe crude oil, Brass River crude oil, and Forcados crude oil. However, there is a high demand from refineries in the US and Europe for the Bonny Light.

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Christina Ngene

Content creator focusing on finance and business with five years of experience and a foundation in forex analysis.

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