Another Petroleum Update

[jimntx]

Well, if only 1 B777 flight is replaced by an A380, I would expect that the demand exists for the extra seats... Furthermore, the extra seats are being provided for at less fuel per seat than the B777...

[post="258921"][/post]​

But average fuel per seat is an airline issue. It has nothing to do with supply and demand. If a B777 burns 100 gals of fuel on a ORD-NRT flight and you replace that B777 with an A380 that burns 200 gals of fuel on the same flight, you may increase the airline's efficiency, but you have also doubled the demand for fuel. Market demand is what controls the price. You have to replace 2 B777s with 1 A380 for demand to remain the same.

 

[jB-Rocks]

That's what the average barrel actually makes not what it CAN make. Big diff

[post="258959"][/post]​

Yes that is true only to a point. Depends on the type of crude being refined. There are three basic types of crude.

Light sweet--(Middle East)-used mostly for gasolines and light distalites. Including jet fuel.

Medium..such as West Texas Intermidiate. Mostly for heavier fuels.

Heavy...wich is used mostly for grease and so-forth.

 

[Busdrvr]

Yes that is true only to a point. Depends on the type of crude being refined. There are three basic types of crude.

Light sweet--(Middle East)-used mostly for gasolines and light distalites. Including jet fuel.

Medium..such as West Texas Intermidiate. Mostly for heavier fuels.

Heavy...wich is used mostly for grease and so-forth.

[post="258991"][/post]​

Hydrocracking
A refining process which adds hydrogen to the carbon-rich molecules of heavier oil, in the presence of a catalyst, to produce a higher proportion of gasoline and diesel fuel.

Umm, no. WTI is generally classified as a "light" "sweet" (low in sulpher. high in sulpher oils are called "sour") grade of oil. Refineries are able to use catalyst to "crack" the heavy oil molecules (just as your body is able to "crack' fat to produce sugar) and increase the light distillate yield per barrel.

 

[mweiss]

jB and Busdrvr are (mostly) both correct, though looking at the issue from different perspectives.

There is greater demand for light products, and converting heavy crude to light through hydrocracking costs money. For these reasons, light crude tends to be more expensive than heavy.

Similarly, the demand for sweet products is higher than the demand for sour, and it costs money to extract the sulphur to turn sour to sweet. Hence, sweet tends to be more expensive than sour.

I'm sure jimntx would be able to provide better information. My relationships with the petroleum companies wasn't that substantial, and was about a decade ago.