On average how many gallons of gasoline do we get out of a barrel of crude oil?

Question

On average how many gallons of gasoline do we get out of a barrel of crude oil?

Answer 1

about 50 gallons

Answer 2

Not enough apparently. Since we seem to keep increasing our usage annually, and our other alternatives don't ever seem to go anywhere. Good answer though, starred.

Answer 3

Ion, I don't think so.  If you got 21 gallons from a barrel, at todays price of $125/barrel, then the raw material in a gallon of gas would cost $5.95.  And that doesn't include any cost of other materials used in refining, transportation, storage, and profits for the oil companies or retailers.  Gas prices have gone up, but the oil companies still aren't selling it at a loss!

Answer 4

a barrel of crude oil is 42 gallons.

crude oil is a mishmash of hydrocarbons, from methane which has 1 carbon and is a gas, all the way up to dense, solid ones that have 70 or more carbon atoms. That is why crude oil needs to be refined, to seperate out these molecules into different groups.

Gasoline is composed of hydrocarbons with 5 to 12 carbon atoms, which are light volatile liquids.

So, not all of the crude oil ends up as gasoline. I think on average it's just under half, so about 20 gallons of gasoline per barrel of crude oil.

edit: Gambler099:

you're right, with gas selling at about 4 bucks, that would mean that if half of the crude oil is refined into gasoline, then you could only get $80 worth of gasoline from a barrel of oil.

but gasoline isn't the only valuable byproduct in crude oil. The half that isn't gasoline is also worth money. You also get natural gas, kerosene (jet fuel), diesel, and the heavier stuff is used for asphalt and plastics.