Ethanol is not added at the refinery but at the fuel depot. Ethanol “cleanses” the distribution pipelines of grime and water, which creates one heck of a mess and problem. Ethanol must be trucked (or trained) to site while gasoline can be pipelined much cheaper.
“Every drop of ethanol we use as fuel is one less drop of petroleum we have to import.” is ethanol apologist propaganda. Even the most vivid apologist admits one must use 80% of the energy content of ethanol to make ethanol. That energy primarily comes from diesel for the harvest, haul to/from market, and ultimately deliver the ethanol. Natural gas to run the distillery.
Valero just permanently closed a 300K barrel a day refinery in Delaware… Remember when, 2 or 3 years ago, everyone was screaming “build more refineries”?? Drill, Droll, Drill…What happened to that?? Our remaining refineries are now operating at 80% capacity and many are losing money doing it…You can be SURE the oil companies will try and get their “shelf-space” back by selling 100% petroleum if they can. They NEVER liked giving the ethanol industry 10% of their sales…Big Oils attitude is “If you want to sell ethanol, fine, build your own ethanol stations, don’t lobby congress to steal 10% of OUR market”
When gas supplies got tight 2 years ago, they welcomed ethanol as a way to stretch tight supplies. But today, with gasoline in surplus, they want that volume back…
As we reduce our dependence on imported petroleum, the price may indeed come down…That should not be used as an excuse to buy a new V-10 SUV and start the cycle all over again. Taxes must be imposed to maintain high street prices and permanently discourage consumption. Europe has been doing this for many, many years…
While Valero is closing their Delaware 300,000 barrel refinery, Saudi Arabia and India both are opening 400,000+ barrel refineries. The Saudi ones are “export refineries” located on the coast, almost all the output is exported at a higher price than crude oil to… the US and Western Europe. So the “value added” content stays in those countries and further damages the US tade deficit and jobs.
Oil producing countries are opening more and more of these. At last count, the US was importing 17% of its REFINED PRODUCTS, in addition to very large amounts of crude. In addition there are third party export refineries in the Virgin Islands, Sardinia in the Mediterranean and other places where few people live.
The simple truth is that it takes a great deal of effort to get permits in the US for upgrading, expanding or building a new grass roots refinery. In Saudi Arabia, the King will make this decison in one afternoon, and give the developers the go-ahead.
The NIMBY (not in my back yard) approach is starting to bite the US consumers. Canada has at least 2 refineries which ship most of their output to the North Eastern US market. One of those is a 300,000 barrel refinery which processes imported crude from overseas, refines it and exports most of the product to the US.
Europe is suffering from the same situation, in England, Germany and France refineries close and product imports increase. The same is true for fertilizer and other basic chemicals. Economists call this “vertical integration”, and most resource countries are doing it. SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation) specializes in upgrading natural gas into all manner of chemicals, including plastics, for export.
I agree with those that submit that ethanol is just another farce, more borne of politics than science. I agree also with those that claim that its environmental costs outweigh its benefits when the impact of the farming of the base material and the adverse effect of the ethanol on gas mileage are takem into effect…despite claims to the contrary by Al Gore, the inventor of the internet.
However, 10% ethanol won’t harm engines. Higher percentages, like E85 (85% ethanol) will unless the vehicle is a “flex fuel” vehicle, designed to run on E85.
I suspect that the “no ethanol added to our premium gasoline” is marketing. An E10 fuel rated at 92 octane should not harm any engine requiring 92 octane fuel. But the perception that fuel without ethanol is better or safer than the other brands (or the other octanes) probably does contribute to its sales.
Al Gore is on SNL this week, I believe. The spot I saw showed him taking credit for another omnipresent feature of modern life. Maybe there’s more! At least he has a sense of humor about the internet thing. I think the internet claim is from some right-wing weirdo like Glenn Beck who distorted whatever it is Gore said.
BTW, I’ll bet Beck would like to take credit for breaking that all-important story about founding the internet.
From what I understand, Valero is quite the cutthroat organization. When they move in, you capitulate or they destroy you. It’s quite a Rockefellerian story. If half of what I hear is true, then it appears they want to increase the cost of gas at the pump by cutting supply. Gee, it’s all the way down to $2.55/gal for regular around here at the cheapest stations. That still seems high. Am I getting old
Your in the oil biz, aren’t you? What’s the story from where you sit on Valero?
