On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:26:24 -0700 (PDT), BobR
wrote:

All the complainers have to do is just do the math. At todays price of
$120 a barrel, divided by 42 gallons = 2.86 a gallon. In my area,
regular is selling for 3:50 a gallon. That leaves 64 cents a gallon to
refine it, transport it, leave some profit for the oil company and gas
station, and includes the taxes. It's the price of crude that's
killing us, not the oil companies. The price of crude oil per barrel
is what needs to come down for any relief at the gas station. I think
the figure of 20 gallons of gasoline from 42 gallons of crude is way
off. With modern refineries, they get just as much gasoline from just
as many gallons of crude. Do some reseach on that, and you'll find
your 20 gallon figure came from some drunk talk in a bar one night.


Just imagine what a gallon of gas would cost if the oil companies had
not found so many uses for hydrocarbons beyond burning them up as
fuel. If the only product derived from a $100 barrel of oil was
gasoline a gallon of gas would cost $5 just based on the crude price
alone. A 42 gallon barrel of the best grade of crude, which is the
basis for reporting oil prices, will yield less than 20 gallons of
gasoline. When you add in transportation, refining, more
transportation, distribution and a minimum profit for each step along
the way, the prices are surprisingly low.