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Where your gas money goes
Last February, I wrote a post about an organization called EnergyTomorrow.org. This is an industry group comprising "the people of America's oil and natural gas industry." I think they have been quiet for a while (or maybe I just wasn't paying attention), but now they're back. In a new run of TV and newspaper ads, the group is making sure you know where all that money goes that you're parting with at your local gas station.
According to the ad, citing U.S. DOE data for March, 2008, 72% of our gasoline dollars goes to pay for crude oil; 16% goes to refining, distribution, and service stations; and 12% goes to taxes. The ad also says that "in 2007, the industry earned 8.3 cents on each dollar of sales." Let's fixate on that figure for a moment. For the sake of argument, we'll assume that percentage hasn't changed. If gas is selling for $2.00 per gallon, that's 16.6 cents per gallon. If gas is selling for $4.00 per gallon, that's 33.2 cents per gallon, so the companies have seen a major increase in profit per gallon, even if the rate has not gone up. They shouldn't be complaining.
There's an area on the EnergyTomorrow.org Website that talks about "industry priorities." There you'll find this statement that relates directly to what we should be watching:
"Computers and new refining technology have improved refining operations and efficiency. Though no refineries have been built in the last 30 years, the industry has added the equivalent of 19 average size refineries (processing 125 MBD of crude) or 12 new state-of-the-art 200 MBD refineries since 1994. This is an increase of 16% in domestic refining capacity."
Now, if we could just get to the point where we would use 16% less oil.
Where your gas money goes
May 9, 2008
Last February, I wrote a post about an organization called EnergyTomorrow.org. This is an industry group comprising "the people of America's oil and natural gas industry." I think they have been quiet for a while (or maybe I just wasn't paying attention), but now they're back. In a new run of TV and newspaper ads, the group is making sure you know where all that money goes that you're parting with at your local gas station.According to the ad, citing U.S. DOE data for March, 2008, 72% of our gasoline dollars goes to pay for crude oil; 16% goes to refining, distribution, and service stations; and 12% goes to taxes. The ad also says that "in 2007, the industry earned 8.3 cents on each dollar of sales." Let's fixate on that figure for a moment. For the sake of argument, we'll assume that percentage hasn't changed. If gas is selling for $2.00 per gallon, that's 16.6 cents per gallon. If gas is selling for $4.00 per gallon, that's 33.2 cents per gallon, so the companies have seen a major increase in profit per gallon, even if the rate has not gone up. They shouldn't be complaining.
There's an area on the EnergyTomorrow.org Website that talks about "industry priorities." There you'll find this statement that relates directly to what we should be watching:
"Computers and new refining technology have improved refining operations and efficiency. Though no refineries have been built in the last 30 years, the industry has added the equivalent of 19 average size refineries (processing 125 MBD of crude) or 12 new state-of-the-art 200 MBD refineries since 1994. This is an increase of 16% in domestic refining capacity."
Now, if we could just get to the point where we would use 16% less oil.
Posted by Peter Welander on May 9, 2008 | Comments (0)
Industries: Process Control
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