What is the Most Common Type of Oil Used in Spain?

The most common type of oil used in Spain depends on what you are using the oil for. If you were making a salad, then you would most likely want to use some aromatic and delicious Spanish olive oil. If you wanted to lubricate a piece of machinery, olive oil would not work very well, so you would choose a petroleum-based product. However, the petroleum itself was probably produced elsewhere.

Types

A distinction must be made between edible oils and those used in industry. By far, the most common edible oil in Spain comes from the olive. Spain produces 36 percent of the global supply of olive oil and each Spaniard consumes 20 percent of it.
Refined petroleum products are the most common industrial oils. Spain is a poor oil producer, making just 29,350 barrels per day, while its daily consumption is 1.6 million barrels (using 2005 figures). Of this amount, the lion's share is used as fuel.

History

Spanish olive trees have been in cultivation at least since the voyages of the Phoenicians, who probably introduced to the Iberian peninsula. The first written record of the olive in Spain appeared in the first century BCE, when Julius Caesar reported bivouacking his troops in an olive grove.
The exact date and origin of petroleum distillation and use in Spain is not known. However, the distillation and use of kerosene from petroleum was known in Persia in the ninth century BCE and likely spread to the Iberian peninsula which was under Islamic rule at the time.

Function

Olive oil is primarily used as a cooking oil, although it is used in cosmetic preparations, notably Castile soap which takes its name from a region of Spain. Before the widespread use of petroleum distillates and modern technology, the less desirable grades of olive oil were used in the Mediterranean world as lamp fuel.
In Spain, petroleum and its distillates are used as they are in the rest of the developed economies as fuel, lubricants and plastics manufacturing.

Features

Both olive oil and petroleum vary in quality and are categorized according to grade. Extra virgin olive oil is regarded as being the premier grade, followed in descending order of purity by virgin, refined and pomace. These gradations are determined by the levels of acidity and organic peroxide in each, with extra virgin being nearly free of these impurities. Petroleum grades are determined by the amount of aromatic hydrocarbons readily available from a given quantity. The most desirable grade tends to be Brent sweet light crude. Spain's oil reserves are so small that there is little variability in its quality, which tends to be rather modest.

Effects

The high quality and large available amounts of Spanish olive oil make it readily available through Spain and the rest of the world. Producing more than 30 percent of the world's supply, Spain exports most of its excess capacity to other members of the European Union who either consume it or repackage and resell it to other nations. Conversely, Spain has little in the way of naturally occurring oil reserves and depends on imports to make up the shortfall.