

VW wants more incentives









Source: The Detroit News

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Gas vs. Diesel
By btc909 on 8/22/2013 2:07:33 PM , Rating: 2
You can get more Gallons from a barrel of oil vs. Diesel.

Gas - 19 Gallons
Diesel - 10 Gallons

It's all about profit per barrel of oil.

RE: Gas vs. Diesel
By silverblue on 8/22/2013 2:21:17 PM , Rating: 2
I must point out that 10 gallons is all that the refineries are actually prepared to extract from the barrel - the rest of the barrel (approx. 45 gallons of petroleum products) is for other uses. If the refineries decided to change the proportion then you'd get more diesel, but unless diesel vehicles look to get better traction, there's little incentive to do so.

RE: Gas vs. Diesel
By kwrzesien on 8/22/2013 2:28:04 PM , Rating: 2
True, but this is the way the refineries have been setup in this country, and the distribution network and gas stations have been setup. Changing rapidly is not an option, an apparently is not something the EPA deems as justified. I know when diesel is short and prices go up the Governor of Georgia cancels school for a few days to save on the buses burning diesel, that way it is available for farmers tractors and trucks. The last thing anyone wants is an army of motorists competing with them for their diesel.

RE: Gas vs. Diesel
By euler007 on 8/23/2013 8:23:59 AM , Rating: 2
I'm sure you pulled out the P&ID and figured out the cost of taking the cracking units offline.

You also took into account the fact that the US exports a lot of diesel.

RE: Gas vs. Diesel
By drycrust3 on 8/22/2013 5:08:51 PM , Rating: 2
My understanding is Petrol and diesel don't eat the same part of the cake, they eat different parts. Petrol eats near the top of the cake, while diesel eats near the bottom of the cake.
Ok, the correct term is "distillates" or such like, but, as I understand it, diesel is a byproduct of the extraction of petrol from crude oil. Mr Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, was asked to make his diesel engines run on a petrol distillation byproduct that was difficult for the manufacturers to get rid of ... voila! Diesel fuel for diesel engines.
The crude oil petrol is extracted from isn't a pure substance, like water or meths, it's the left over of rotted plants and animals buried in the major mass extinction event eons ago, so its a mixture of a large range of hyrdrocarbons and other stuff whose composition is governed by what it came from and the depth it was extracted from, so while some of those chemicals can be used to make petrol, not every chemical can be used for that, or at least not efficiently.
So using your 19 gallons of petrol and 10 gallons of diesel, my understanding is this isn't an "either-or" situation, i.e. the petroleum plant manager doesn't have a choice as to whether to make either 19 gallons of petrol or 10 gallons of diesel per barrel of crude; it is more of an "that and that" situation, so she (or he) gets 10 gallons of diesel AND 19 gallons of petrol from a barrel of crude.

RE: Gas vs. Diesel
By Monkey's Uncle on 8/22/2013 7:28:24 PM , Rating: 2
You are correct. A barrel of crude is 42 US gallons.

When the barrel is processed, you may get something like 15 gallons of gasoline, 9 gal. of fuel oil (i.e. Diesel & heating oil) and 10 gal. of jet fuel (Kerosene) and 4 gal of other "heavy" products such as lubricants, grease, asphalt / bitumene and plastics and 4 gallons of lighter condensates/naphtha.

RE: Gas vs. Diesel
By Solandri on 8/23/2013 2:19:29 PM , Rating: 2
With some limits, the heavier products can be converted into lighter ones. You're basically breaking bonds in long molecules to create shorter ones. Diesel and gasoline are very close to each other in terms of density, so it's common practice to tweak the refining to produce more gasoline/less diesel if that's what's needed to meet demand.

The opposite (creating heavier products from lighters) is possible too, but much more difficult. Consequently from an oil processing standpoint, you're better off if demand is heavier for the lighter products - gasoline instead of diesel.

