Just curious... Anybody have an average breakdown? Also, if the demand for gasoline is high, what is done with all the other refined products from the crude? Is asphalt, diesel, kerosine, just get thrown out or is some crisis eventually manufactured to help move these products out to the consumer at inflated prices too?

-- Robertis Paranoid (robertisparanoid@y2k.com), February 14, 2000

Answers

To put it as simply as I know it, you refine whatever it is you want (amount) of gasoline, kero, asphalt, etc. Allmost all can go into gasoline if that's what is being refined. Or any part thereof.

-- Richard (Astral-Acres@webtv.net), February 14, 2000.

YOU,paranoid?? Oh please, you sound so intelligent. Don't class yourself with certain folks in high places who are paranoid about vast right wing conspiracies. Change your alias, won't you? You are among friends here. Good question. The level of corruption today makes almost any theory beliveable.

-- begging (to@differ.sir), February 14, 2000.

The product mix that a petroleum refinery produces can be varied considerably. The refinery management determines what will be produced using a linear programming formula to optimize (e.g., produce maximum!) profit within the constrainsts of the chemical limitations of the original crude oil and physical limitations of the refinery. It's even more important with multiple refineries, because you can balance your entire network to produce the very best profit. All of this assumes that you have some sort of handle on demand, anticipated sales prices, and, of course, costs...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 14, 2000.

What A Barrel Of Crude Oil Makes

Product and Gallons per barrel gasoline 19.5 distillate fuel oil 9.2 (Includes both home heating oil and diesel fuel) kerosene-type jet fuel 4.1 residual fuel oil (Heavy oils used as fuels in industry, marine transportation and forelectric power generation) 2.3 liquefied refinery gasses 1.9 still gas 1.9 coke 1.8 asphalt and road oil 1.3 petrochemical feedstocks 1.2 lubricants 0.5 kerosene 0.2 other 0.3

Figures are based on 1995 average yields for U.S. refineries. One barrel contains 42 gallons of crude oil. The total volume of products made is 2.2 gallons greater than the original 42 gallons of crude oil. This represents "processing gain."

-- spaceman spiff (spiff@space.com), February 15, 2000.