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Global demand for heavy, high-acid crude oil is set to increase. According to the weekly magazine \"World Refining Business Digest,\" FACTS Energy Consulting states that due to the decline in oil demand caused by the global economic recession, some of Asia’s refining capacities are expanding, and refining capacities of up to 100 million tons per year in the United States, Europe, and Japan may be forced to close. Refiners are reducing costs and increasing profits by taking advantage of opportunities such as processing more cheap, heavy, high-acid crude oils. High-acid crude oil generally refers to heavy, low-sulfur crude oil with a total acid value greater than 1 mg KOH/g. By 2011, over 250 million tons per year of new refining capacity capable of processing high-acid and sulfur-containing crude oil will come online. This additional production capacity will intensify the competition among refiners for available crude oil, leading to a narrowing of the price gap between low-sulfur crude oil and high-sulfur, high-acid crude oil. Since 2000, the average price difference between heavy crude and light crude has been 10 dollars per barrel, while the average price difference between high-sulfur crude and low-sulfur crude has been 3 dollars per barrel. Since the end of 2008, the price gap has narrowed, and it is expected to continue to shrink in the coming years. For example, currently the price of Mexican Maya heavy crude is $4 to $5 per barrel lower than that of light crude, while U.S. West Texas sour crude is $1.7 per barrel cheaper than light, low-sulfur benchmark crude. Purvin&Gertz believes that an increase in the production of high-acid crude oil will alleviate the tight supply of crude oil resulting from the growth in refining capacity. By 2012, the new supply of high-acid crude oil will come from Sudan and Brazil.