Wednesday, April 28, 2010

How many gallons of sweet crude oil are in 1 barrel and how much gasoline does it yield after it is refined?

The standard barrel contains 42 U.S. gallons of crude oil. What is truly interesting about the refinement of a typical barrel is that the 42 gallons of crude oil will result in more than 44 gallons of petroleum products. In other words, during the refinement process, there is actually an increase in the volume of product realized. This occurs because there is a reduction in the density of some of the original crude oil as different petroleum products are created during the refinement process.





The largest share of the 42 gallons of crude oil contained in a standard barrel ends up as finished motor gasoline. Motor gasoline accounts for 19.65 gallons of the finished product. Next in line is distillate fuel oil at 10.03 gallons.





Jet fuel comes in a rather distant third place in the refinement process. Of the original 42 gallons of crude oil in a barrel, that portion which will end up as jet fuel is 4.07 gallons. Residual fuel oil accounts for 1.72 gallons of the overall refined product.





Other petroleum products that are created from a barrel of oil during the refining process include: still gas, petroleum coke, liquefied refinery gas, asphalt and road oil, various oils for foodstocks, lubricants, special napthas, kerosene, waxes and an assortment of other miscellaneous products. (It is important to note that the different end products that can be produced from a barrel of oil differ in their percentages depending on what part of the world the crude oil originated from in the first instance.)



No comments:

Post a Comment