How many gallons of crude oil does it take to make one gallon of gasoline?
One 42 gallon barrel of crude oil, when refined, produces 19.9 gallons of finished motor gasoline, as well as other petroleum products. This means that it takes 2.1 gallons of crude oil to produce 1 gallon of gasoline. This number will vary according to the level of refinement desired. (source U.S.
On May 2, 2008 US oil refineries used 14,649,000 barrels of crude oil to refine 8,677,000 barrels of refined motor fuels. That is 1.68 barrels of oil per barrel of refined motor fuels. So the answer is 1.68 gallons of crude oil to make 1 gallon of refined motor fuels That translates into 70.56 gallons of oil to make 42 gallons of refined motor fuels. At currently $124 per barrel or $2.95 per gallon of crude oil it would take $5.95 ($2.95/gallon x 1.68 gallons of crude/gallon of refined motor fuels) worth of crude to make 1 gallon of refined motor fuels. Gasoline is currently $3.65/gallon and jet fuel is $3.40/gallon ($143.20/42 gallon barrel. All other motor fuels average about $3.60/gallon. I’m not sure why gasoline sells for less than $5.95/gallon. I would love an answer to that…
