Short Notes on Density, Specific Gravity and

API Gravity
Density is well defined as g/mL or Kg/m3 and all density
measurements are temperature dependent. But there is a
simple correlation between all these measurements for
Crude Oil and the downstream distillation products like
Diesel, Kerosene, Gasoline etc.
Let an example be cited from a Crude Oil characteristics:
Assume the Density of the oil measured at 15 Degree C is
0.8890 g/mL
Therefore, Density at 15.56
Degree C (60 Degree Fahrenheit) = 0.8890 (0.000087 x
0.56)
= 0.8890 0.0001 = 0.8879
temperature lower is the Density)

g/mL

(Higher

the

Assuming Density of water as 1, the Density of the oil is

converted to Specific Gravity of oil as 0.8879.
API Gravity (Degrees) is defined as
(141.5 / Specific Gravity of the oil @60/60 Degree F)
131.5
This formula can be applied to convert the Oil Gravity into
API Gravity (Gravity as fixed by American Petroleum
Institute)

On the other hand, if API is known, the Specific Gravity

can be determined and Density can be calculated using a
relationship illustrated above.
Furthermore, DENSITY OR API GRAVITY OF CRUDE OIL IS
REPORTED ON DRY BASIS ONLY.
Hence, the water-cut for the wet crude oil after Anton
Paar run must be determined to account for the datum
correction on the density value.
For example, if the density of a crude oil sample is 0.9340
g/mL at certain temperature and the water-cut is 1.5%
v/v, then the following steps of calculation must be
carried out:
Density correction for Residual W/C:
(0.9340 x 100) 1.5/(100-1.5) = 93.40/98.5 g/mL