Where our gasoline comes from

This was a good overview. I was curious about how crude oil got turned into gasoline and found this gem if anybody else is interested: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cer-rec.gc.ca&#x2F;en&#x2F;data-analysis&#x2F;energy-markets&#x2F;market-snapshots&#x2F;2018&#x2F;market-snapshot-how-does-refinery-turn-crude-oil-into-products-like-gasoline-diesel.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cer-rec.gc.ca&#x2F;en&#x2F;data-analysis&#x2F;energy-markets&#x2F;ma...</a>.

I wish they did a better job at educating the public about the energy cost &amp; pollution cost of moving all this gas around in this process.<p>Climate deniers have done a great job of making the public aware of all the externalities of battery electric vehicles while making the public think gasoline magically appears at the gas station with no expensive&#x2F;dirty&#x2F;high energy supply chain to get it there.<p>This is another case where the deniers are so much better at PR &amp; Messaging that they win even when they&#x27;re wrong&#x2F;lying. Similar to things like anti-vaxxers.

While this is interesting, what took me a minute to realize is that while the line about US gasoline being produced in the US is (presumably) true, it doesn’t explain why global oil prices tend to affect our gas prices. That line is about the refinery stage of the manufacturing pipeline.<p>For the raw material, crude oil, you need to jump over to <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eia.gov&#x2F;energyexplained&#x2F;oil-and-petroleum-products&#x2F;where-our-oil-comes-from.php" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eia.gov&#x2F;energyexplained&#x2F;oil-and-petroleum-produc...</a>

It impresses me that even with all this mixing from various sources at various stages, the quality of the final output is consistently maintained.<p>How is a &#x27;tragedy of the commons&#x27; situation prevented, where a supplier might be inventivised to skimp &#x27;just a little&#x27; on quality, figuring it will average out downstream? Kind of how clipping and sweating would gradually debase physical coins. Is there actually a fair bit of variance that is adjusted for in your vehicle?

If this is also true in the EU, which I expect it is, does that mean there&#x27;s absolutely no difference between supermarket diesel at £1.60&#x2F;l and BP diesel at £1.80&#x2F;l apart from a little bit of stuff, extra detergent or whatever, that BP squirt into it as it&#x27;s pumped? I wonder if there&#x27;s some kind of submarine marketing company that spends loads of time on car enthusiasts forums trying to plant the idea that there is a difference.

Does anyone have any data on the <i>total</i> CO2 emission, from pumping crude to consuming one litre of petrol? Surely the emissions of <i>burning</i> the petrol - the &quot;business end&quot; of petrol use - must be only a small fraction of the whole story, even in the case of e.g. Norwegian crude oil that&#x27;s refined in Norway and shipped to Norwegian gas stations?

Makes you wonder what it would be like to run your car on single origin gasoline.

Why not call it petroleum and does the US still buy 8% of this oil from Russia through Allied proxy countries like India who buy from Russia?

Same also applies to energy. Also there, all energy (nuclear, renewable, oil&#x2F;natural gas, ...) is &quot;mixed&quot; and consumers take what is at the end of the pipe (think about a energy supply contract from pure renewables).

If oils are mixed in the pipe, how does this affect octane levels? Is there a separate pipe for each octane? How is the octane set in a fuel? Is it an additive.

I can&#x27;t see how batteries will ever be a more efficient or convinient way to distribute energy for use in transportation.

Imagine how much carbon is released transporting all that crude oil and refined gasoline even before you burn it.

dinosaurs

Fun fact: gasoline or petrol is the only dangerous chemical that ordinary people can buy and keep without a special license. It really is quite harmful!