The quality of oil that ONGC has discovered in the Bengal basin is superior to Brent and on a par with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) — the world’s best-known benchmark crude oils.
The small quantity of oil, being lifted from Ashoknagar -1 block in South 24-Praganas, has an API gravity of 40-41, which is considered to be a light variety and sought after because of the lower load it exerts on refineries.
Brent crude, a benchmark for oil produced in the North Sea, has a density of around 835 kg/m3, being equivalent to a specific gravity of 0.835 or an API gravity of 38.06.
