Gas. Where does it have to go.. and how is it distributed?

Question

Ok from the oil that comes out of the ground...to when you pump it at the station... do they have like distrobution centers or something? I live in ohio so... so do they just drive the gas up from like texas or something? how does that work?

Answer 1

There is  a network of pipelines and refineries throughout the US that distributes the gas throughout the country.  Haven't you seen those big tankers on the freeway?

Answer 2

The crude gets pumped to refineries where it's put through a catalyst to break down the molecules into the proper combination to create gas or diesel.  There's a lot of waste that comes out of this, including H2S gas, which will kill you with one breath.  It's what the burn in the big flare stack you see around oil fields

Answer 3

Honeybear, crude is pumped out of the ground into pipelines or tankers/barges for transport to a refinery.  Once it arrives at the refinery, it's processed into thousands of products from the obvious gasoline and diesel to cosmetic products like conditioners and lotions.  The refinery then releases the product after quality testing.  At this point, there are a number of ways to move the product, but the most common and cheapest is pipeline.  Products are pumped into the pipeline one after another (they don't mix in the pipeline, it's actually a pretty cool process) so that the pipeline never stops and product can flow out the "other end".  There are dozens to hundreds of "other ends" to the pipeline, terminating at large storage terminals across the country.  The pipeline operators open the valves and the products pump into the tanks where they are stored until needed, which typically isn't very long, only a few days.

When a gasoline station needs a delivery, a tanker drives to the terminal, hooks up to hoses at the loading rack and the driver punches codes into a computer that load the correct fuels onto the truck.  If a station is branded, such as Shell or Exxon, special additives are injected during loading which make the fuel unique to that brand.  Up until then, gasoline is gasoline.  The driver then delivers the product to your station.

Since you live in Ohio and that's one of my markets, I can tell you that the crude probably came from the Gulf of Mexico.  If you're in the south, near Cincy, it's likely your fuel was refined in Kentucky or Louisiana, barged up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, then unloaded at the terminal.  From Dayton north through Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo, your gas was probably refined in Wood River, Illinois and transported on the East Line pipeline to your local terminal.  It really doesn't matter what brand of fuel you buy, they pretty much all follow the same routes.

I hope you found this answer helpful.