On 2008 Jun 11 , at 9:10 PM, Pat Naughtin wrote:
... people cannot make a comparison between the price of crude oil
and the price they are asked to pay at the pump.
At today's quoted price of about $135 (USD) this works out to be:
USA Buying price 3.21 $(USD) per gallon Selling price (approx) 4.00 $
(USD) per gallon
(Please check these figures for me.)
There is a big gap in your argument here, Pat. You don't produce one
gallon of gasoline from one gallon of crude oil. Therefore, your
comparison of the price per gallon of oil and gas is irrelevant at
least and misleading at worst.
Does anyone know how many gallons of gasoline a refinery can get our
of a gallon of oil? (Or would it be more reasonable to ask how many
gallons of oil are required to make each one gallon of gasoline?) I
know that it varies with the type of oil. But even that wouldn't be
the whole story. The refinery sorts out the various constituents of
the oil and makes use of (sells) most of the fractions it produces. It
is not only gasoline that comes out of each gallon of oil. Many other
things are coming our of the same gallon and most of them have uses so
that they can be sold for more profit.
Bill Hooper
73 kg body mass*
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
* plus or minus a kilogram or so.
