Pennsylvania crude, someone explain what’s special about it

[thejudges69]

Looking for a lesson in crude.

Recently since I’m oil shopping. Several suppliers as well as friends have mentioned Pennsylvania crude. Such as “our oil uses Pennsylvania crude” or “Pennsylvania crude is a better choice for crude” or “X brand has used Pennsylvania crude for decades and it’s been the best”


Is there something better about Pennsylvania crude? Or is it just cause I’m based in the area that it’s more of a topic for local oil production?

 

[jkhawaii]

From what I understand, it used to matter back when refining methods were crude and oil had no additives.

 

[bdcardinal]

The old mechanic wive's tale was Pennslyvania crude had more paraffin wax while Continental crude did not. That is why you heard so many mechanics say to not use Pennzoil or Quaker State.

 

[CleanSump]

Pennsylvania crude was considered low sulfur with little asphaltic junk in it. The old wives tale of candle wax in the oil came from people who didn't understand paraffinic base oils and lept to candle wax in the motor oil. Another case of Joe Sixpack reading and not comprehending.

 

[ctechbob]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Grade_Crude_Oil

Basically what @CleanSump said

 

[thejudges69]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Grade_Crude_Oil

Basically what @CleanSump said

So does it make any difference? Or not really or never really did?

Thanks for the link

 

[ctechbob]

So does it make any difference? Or not really or never really did?

Thanks for the link

These days with the severe processing that base oils go though, probably doesn't make one bit of difference.

It is a bit like buying distilled water. You can get it from the ocean or a local lake, but the end product is exactly the same.

There might be some products out there it might make a difference for, but for an API oil, I'd bet there's 0 difference.

 

[thejudges69]

These days with the severe processing that base oils go though, probably doesn't make one bit of difference.

It is a bit like buying distilled water. You can get it from the ocean or a local lake, but the end product is exactly the same.

There might be some products out there it might make a difference for, but for an API oil, I'd bet there's 0 difference.

Good to know. I do know one local rep was pushing American refineries oil because it was made with Pennsylvania crude. But I guess in the end it just doesn’t matter anymore then eh? Just get a quality oil and move on

 

[CleanSump]

In the 1800s and the first half of 20th century automotive oils the low sulfur and low trash made for purer kerosene and cleaner oil. Today, not so much.
The early major use of crude oil was to produce kerosene, not gasoline or lubricants.

 

[DCDG]

Makes zero difference in today's time. Price and meeting spec is what I go for. Warren, Exxon Mobil and Pennzoil got it figured out by now I wouldn't question it

 

[Astro_Guy]

Many, many years ago it was the gold standard of motor oil. The dimensionless Viscosity Index is a ratio comparing one oil to a Pennsylvania oil.

 

[bullwinkle]

In the 1800s and the first half of 20th century automotive oils the low sulfur and low trash made for purer kerosene and cleaner oil. Today, not so much.
The early major use of crude oil was to produce kerosene, not gasoline or lubricants.

Hard to believe at one time gasoline was considered a waste product, then called "Cazeline", before internal combustion engines existed.

 

[Egg_Head]

One of the reasons whales are not fully extinct on this planet is the discovery of Pennsylvania crude, refined for kerosene as @CleanSump mentioned in place of whale oil in lamps and other uses. Towns like New Bedford, Nantucket, New London were put out of business.

 

[Astro_Guy]

https://www.drakewell.org/ should be on every oil nut's bucket list. The first well in Pennsylvania struck oil at 69.5 feet. The Teamsters owe their origin to the guys who hauled out the oil in wooden barrels. The term "moonlighting" refers to an activity where people were violating a patent to perform a crude method of fracking. The history is all rather fascinating.

 

[AZjeff]

My grandparents lived outside of Titusville Pa, as kids we'd ride our bikes to Drake Well Park and back. There wasn't much there in the 60s. We lived 1.5 hours away and sometimes dad would take a different route through Oil City. At that time the refineries were operating and they had built up on both sides of the road and you went right through it with tanks and pipes and flames shooting into the air for what seemed like miles. Magic to a young boy especially at night. My lasting impression to this day is the smell of the refineries was just like the smell of a Bandaid when you opened it. Wonder why. Grandparents had a 100 acre farm with active oil wells and a power house and rod lines, more gold for us kids. Nana told us to stay away from the power house, yeah right!

 

[Geekhead]

I have a friend who had a dad who was a Sunoco industrial oil salesperson. I think it was mostly hydraulic/machine applications. The paraffinic base was a selling point over the napthenic competition. This was also before synthetic oils were developed.

 

[gfh77665]

Back in the day it mattered. Penn crude was naturally low in sulfur. The industry called it "sweet" and "light" crude, and it required less processing than the "sour" (higher sulfur) crude found in TX and elsewhere in the continental US.

Today processing techniques makes it all but irrelevant. Nice bit of history, but pretty much that's all to it now.

 

[JohnnyG]

One of the reasons whales are not fully extinct on this planet is the discovery of Pennsylvania crude, refined for kerosene as @CleanSump mentioned in place of whale oil in lamps and other uses. Towns like New Bedford, Nantucket, New London were put out of business.

And, the Valvoline refinery @ Freedom PA used a LOT of that Pennsylvania Crude to make the first motor oils, AND the purist water white kerosene for the Amish community. I still have a jar of straight PA crude in my garage. It has NO odor, save for that little bit of oil smell. It made great oil for stopping rust in the seams of doors and hoods of the cars I owned in the 70's and 80's.

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