Some of World's Most Expensive Oil Is Being Pumped in California
- Buena Vista crude is selling for more than $70 a barrel
- Medium crude grade is more expensive than WTI, Brent, Dubai
Pump jacks at the Belridge Oil Field and hydraulic fracking site in Kern County, San Joaquin Valley, California.
Photographer: Education Images/UIG via Getty Images
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In the golden hills of California’s San Joaquin Valley, oil jacks pump what is among the world’s most expensive types of crude.
Buena Vista’s posted price is $70.53 a barrel, more than $10 above West Texas Intermediate futures and almost $3 more than Brent. The oil is also more expensive than international grades such as Dubai and Oman. Not much Buena Vista crude is produced. About 1.2 million barrels were pumped from the century-old field in all of 2017, or a little more than 3,000 a day, state data show.