Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafale
The oil is transported through oleo-ducts from ports to refineries where they get refined: through distillation ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene. kerozene... etc all get separated feeding steamcrackers for plastic production amongst other things... It is possible that some joint ventures exist (I know of one in Port Arthur Tx where Total (yes French Oil company) has a JV with Exxon. All the gas does not come from a common refinery or a single tank. This is a big misunderstanding. Companies can share investment to share a supply. Gasoline is also not transported through pipes over long distance. Only oil (and natural gas) is. The additives are proprietary to each company and are not usually shared. Gasoline is transported by truck for the most part... We would not need to have all these refineries strategically located all over the country...
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With all due respect to your experience in the industry, I think you really need to double check some info.
For the sake of argument, even though information I’ve come across over the years leads me to believe otherwise, I’m willing to concede that brands (i.e., Shell. Exxon, etc.) may not share facilities. But think about it: how much fuel is transported nationwide? It's literally impossible, not to mention dangerous, to transport over rail cars or on public highways 20 billion barrels of unrefined crude oil and then move 10 billion barrels of refined gasoline from one end of the country to the other over rail car or public roadways. The trucks we see on the road are transporting fuel from huge regional depots to end user service stations. The US has over 146,000 miles of underground pipelines to transport fuel oil. Of that total approximately 50,000 is for crude oil and the balance of about 84,000 is for “product”. A little more research could reveal exactly what that term means, and if you want the links and charts let me know but I assume it would bore people to tears.
But getting back to my point 3 and 4, if in fact our motor fuels and/or fuel additives are causing the problem, why isn’t the problem the same across the board and include all makes and models, foreign and domestically manufactured cars. We know that isn’t the case. I find it very hard to believe that chemists haven’t cracked the problem of making synthetic fuel pump seals, gaskets, etc., that can resist the affects of fuel additives including ethanol.
Cheers
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