First the crude facts, now the refinery facts

I had asked an expert about refineries in the U.S. here are his answers.............
Here is my fist posting on fuel prices that you may want to read first.

The cost factor in building any new refinery today comes mainly from environmental issues. The cost of building a refinery that will meet the ever changing (and needed) environmental restrictions can be very expensive indeed. the only refinery that I personally know of that can process "Sour" crude is the ChevronTexaco plant in Pascagoula Mississippi. The process to remove the excess of Sulfur and heavy metals that makes "Sour" crude "Sour" takes a special process. To upgrade current refineries to accommodate this process would probably be even more expensive than actually setting up a complete new refinery.
This excerpt from the ChevronTexaco site may give you an idea of the process.
"Because about 80 percent of the crude oil processed by the Pascagoula Refinery is heavier oils that are high in sulfur and metals, our complex Residuum Desulfurization (RDS) Unit is an important part of our operations. In the RDS Unit's six 1,000-ton reactors, sulfur and nitrogen and metals are removed from FCC feed and the residuum,( a thick tarlike substance that is found at the very bottom of the separation towers after product separation) which is the heaviest oil that comes from the vacuum distillation at the Crude Units. The sulfur is converted to hydrogen sulfide and sent to the Sulfur Unit where it is converted into elemental sulfur. The metals attach to the reactor's catalyst and are eventually recovered. Nitrogen is transformed into ammonia which is removed from the process by water-washing. Later, the water is treated to recover the ammonia as a pure product for use in the production of fertilizer."
Regarding the second part of your question, I don't have the exact percentage available. However It has been said that to manufacture an average home computer system, it takes about 1 1/2 gallons of crude oil.
Hope this helps.



Petrohawk


William "Hawk" Howes ILS Answers -

Regarding last refinery built,
"No new refineries have been built in the US in the past 25 years. And petroleum industry experts say anyone would have to be crazy to launch such an effort -- even though present refineries are running at nearly 100 % of capacity and local gasoline shortages are beginning to crop up.

Why does the industry appear to have built its last refinery?
Three reasons: Refineries are not particularly profitable, environmentalists fight planning and construction every step of the way and government red-tape makes the task all but impossible. The last refinery built in the US was in Garyville, Louisiana, and it started up in 1976.
Energy proposed building a refinery near Portsmouth, Virginia, in the late 1970s, environmental groups and local residents fought the plan -- and it took almost nine years of battles in court and before federal and state regulators before the company cancelled the project in 1984.

Industry officials estimate the cost of building a new refinery at between $ 2 bn and $ 4 bn -- at a time the industry must devote close to $ 20 bn over the next decade to reducing the sulphur content in gasoline and other fuels -- and approval could mean having to collect up to 800 different permits. As if those hurdles weren't enough, the industry's long-term rate of return on capital is just 5 % -- less than could be realized by simply buying US Treasury bonds.
"I'm sure that at some point in the last 20 years someone has considered building a new refinery," says James Halloran, an energy analyst with National City Corp. "But they quickly came to their senses," he adds."



Source: Investor's Business Daily

And after all that, The rumor is a new refinery is being built in Arizona! If I get any further info on that one I'll let you know.

Petrohawk

Have any other questions? Try one of our experts at http://www.allexperts.com

Also, there are over 200,000 miles of liquid carrying pipe in the U.S. that need maintenance, repairs, and uprating continuously.

A commenter said that Houston was able to refine sour crude till the EPA banned it

The two Brakemen
Posted by Hello

Long day

It's been a long and kinda crappy day, drive home had lanes full of morons. You've seen them, the ones that brag about never having had an accident; but leave a trail of twisted metal in their wake.

Had to just relax- so I put in my "Rev. Horton Heat" CD and rockabillied home.

Relaxing actually.

The Conductor reported the same stupidity on her way home- she stayed in the slow lane and let them play tag.

Been hearing gripes about fuel costs

Now that our national migrane is over for another four years, we can talk about other things.
Lets get some of the real costs of fuel, as I understand them. There's a lot that goes into energy production- this is an extremely simplified version- "Kurts notes on cliff's notes" if you will.

Here are my two main sources- they're both readable.
Oil industry Stats
Crude Oil Info sheet

First PRODUCTION- what percent is produced and imported from where: Gibson Consulting gives us these facts:
Country Production Rank & Production1999-- Early 2002 Rank and Production
1. Saudi Arabia 7.7 million barrels/day-- 3. 7.7 mb/d
2. Former Soviet Union 7.1 million barrels/day-- 1. 8.6 mb/d
3. USA 5.9 million barrels/day-- 2. 8.1 mb/d
4. Iran 3.6 million barrels/day-- 4. 3.7 mb/d
5. China 3.2 million barrels/day-- 7. 3.3 mb/d
6. Norway 3.0 million barrels/day-- 6. 3.4 mb/d
7. Mexico 3.0 million barrels/day-- 5. 3.6 mb/d
8. Venezuela 2.8 million barrels/day-- 8. 2.8 mb/d
9. United Kingdom 2.7 million barrels/day-- 10. 2.6 mb/d
10. Iraq 2.5 million barrels/day-- 11. 2.4 mb/d (Boy, they sure need NUKES for cheap energy -ed)

A barrel of crude is 42 gallons (American gal) This is what you get out of it:


Petroleum Products Yielded from
One Barrel of Crude in 2000
Product=Gallons
Finished Motor Gasoline -19.69
Distillate Fuel Oil- 9.70
Kero-Type Jet Fuel -3.99
Residual Fuel Oil- 1.76
Still Gas -1.89
Petroleum Coke -2.14
Liquefied Refinery Gas -1.76
Asphalt and Road Oil -1.34
Naptha for Feedstocks- 0.63
Other Oils for Feedstocks- 0.50
Lubricants -0.46
Special Naphthas- 0.13
Kerosene -0.17
Miscellaneous Products- 0.17
Finished Aviation Gasoline- 0.04
Waxes- 0.04

Total -44.41 (You'll notice that they "gained" 2.41 gal of product) A barrel of 42-U.S. gallons of crude oil yields slightly more than 44 gallons of petroleum products. This "process gain" of volume is due to a reduction in the density during the refining process. Think of popcorn.

Now we come to The cost part-which is always changing.
Some of the factors involved are:
-The price of Crude is up- as high as $55 per barrel (light, sweet crude -ed)
Refinery capacity in the US is near its maximum. (more on this later -ed)One refinery in California is to close later in 2004. Oil tanker capacity for trans-oceanic shipping is also 100% reserved for the forseeable future, and shipping costs have nearly tripled.
The US deficit, around $500 billion in 2004, causes the value of the dollar to decline. Because oil is priced in dollars, no matter where in the world it comes from, producers want higher prices in order to maintain their income.
Local requirements for special gasoline blends to meet environmental regulations result in smaller batches, which are more expensive for refineries to produce. Applies especially to California.
Costs reflect distance from refineries (transportation cost). In the US, 50% of gasoline is refined in the Gulf Coast.
Taxes. Federal excise tax on gasoline is about 19¢ per gallon; state tax averages about 23¢ per gallon; in California there is an additional 7.5% sales tax.
Any time there is a problem with a pipeline or refinery, it can impact the supply of gasoline at least in local markets, and the price can spike.
Credit card fees paid by retailers amount to about 3.5%, or 7 cents a gallon at $2.00 per gallon.

Now that we have some basics, here's a cost breakdown:
Expense Amount
Production cost 60¢
Producer profit 8¢
Refining cost 13¢
Marketing cost 5¢
Transportation cost 15¢
Retailer cost 6¢
Refiner, marketer,
transp. & retailer profit 10¢ ( that's one DIME split between 4 people - remember the 7cent credit card fee?) -ed)
US Taxes 19¢
Average state taxes 23¢
TOTAL $1.59

More on refineries later- I'm taking up too much space now.

Just saw Team America

How do I describe it? The gratuitous violence? The language? The PUPPET sex? The piles of dead and mutilated puppets?-----AWESOME.

You have to know the Team Southpark would knock it out of the park.
(pun intended)

Naturally the Hollywood elite didn't like it. It made fun of of them and everything they stand for. It's a must see for anyone not mesmerized by Michael Moore.

I guarantee it won't win an Oscar- just because it's too true.

Go see it, just be aware of the language "AMERICA F**K YEAH", the puppet sex, and the awesome fight scenes.--oh,, and Kim Jung Il-he MAKES the movie.

Driving lessons

I (and the Conductor) make a daily drive to San Antonio every day. It takes
her around 80 min. to get to work on the S.W. side. It takes me about 45 min to
an hour to go to the N.E. side, where I’m working now. There was a wreck in the middle lane of I-35S this morning.

I’d like to take this time to blow the safety valve down, now.

People--the left lane is for PASSING and for going FAST. 75MPH is NOT fast
enough. If you look around you and see a half mile long line of cars sitting on
your bumper, you really oughtta think about moving over. Same thing when you’re getting passed from the right--you know, the SLOW lanes.

When driving through a construction zone, if you are afraid of those Jersey
walls, DON’T DRIVE in that lane. Also, please TRY to keep your vehicle entirely in your lane. This goes for commercial drivers too- I KNOW you know better.

When on the entrance ramp, YOU have the yield if you can’t merge---NOT the 80,000lb semi that can’t change lanes.

When there is a lane closure ahead, think about merging in about ohhh say three quarters to a mile from where you HAVE to force your way in. You have enough warning. I won’t let you in.


A lot of you out there must really have guilty consciences. Officer friendly is
NOT going to give you a ticket for driving THE SPEED LIMIT. Really. If you
don’t want to go the speed limit, that’s what the right lane is for. Let me through, I’ll go the speed limit.

Semi’s again; when passing a combination vehicle, if you want to admire it and
count the rivets on the trailer- Pass on the RIGHT side, you can take all the
time you want. If you are on the left ( the FAST LANE) put your foot into the
carburetor and get around him- he’s most likely got a governor and is going as
fast as he can- he won’t try to outrun you.


Ok, the boiler is in the safe zone again, let’s go move some freight.