Oil Economic Geography

How much more crude oil does it take to make diesel versus gasoline?

Say you have a million barrels of crude oil. You could use it to make x gallons of diesel, or y gallons of gasoline. I would imagine that x is less than y, since diesel is more energy-dense than gasoline. But can anyone give any specific figures, or at least tell me the percent difference between x and y?

Public Comments

1. This is a tricky question. The answer is it matters what kind of crude oil you are using. Oil is not all the same. Each reservoir produces a different kind of oil. Oil is not "made" into diesel or gasoline, diesel and gasoline are separated out of crude. So, for each individual crude, there is a set amount of each. Some light crude oils can produce large amounts of both. Really heavy oils (as thick as peanut butter) only produces a small amount of both. But in general, diesel is more plentiful and easier to separate out.
2. The page listed below may be of help. In actuality, there is not a choice between refining gasoline and diesel - just minor adjustments in number of gallons of each according to the quality of the crude.