does the source of oil matter in how it's used?

[Matts_12GS]

Just curious...

Today I heard a talking head blathering about how we need to develop our oil shale production because (disclaimer, "purportedly") that kind of oil is better for aviation uses once extracted.

 

It doesn't pass the sniff test to me, but I'm no API engineer.

 

What say ye that over analyze everything else?

[smiller]

The stuff produced from oil shale is not equal to conventional petroleum oil for all uses and is mostly good for kerosene, jet fuel, and diesel.

[Matts_12GS]

why?

 

is there a layperson's explanation of what that difference is?

[SageRider]

http://wetestit.com/Crude_101.htm

[David]

The oil from shale is known as heavy crude oil. It requires much more energy to refine into gasoline than light crude does, and it also doesn't flow as well in pipelines. So it's more efficient to make heavy crude into kerosene (which is essentially what jet fuel is) and diesel. Heavy crude also has a lot more sulfur in it.

[Matts_12GS]

Thanks!

[bakerzdosen]

Just to add upon the thread, you might find this interesting.

 

Heavy crude is special stuff and is not for the average refinery. The majority of Venezuela's oil can only be processed in the specialist refineries run by Hovensa (a joint venture between US refiners Hess Corp and PdVSA) located in the US Virgin islands, amongst other places.

 

It's being done, but as David said, it's not the same nor is it done in the same refineries.

[Albert]

I'm still trying to figure out where they find that synthetic shale they're making Mobile 1 out of.

[BFish]

all i can add to this is that oil derived from the fruit (or vegetable) of a certain tree is best used for cooking.

[velomoto]

Just to add upon the thread, you might find this interesting.

 

Heavy crude is special stuff and is not for the average refinery. The majority of Venezuela's oil can only be processed in the specialist refineries run by Hovensa (a joint venture between US refiners Hess Corp and PdVSA) located in the US Virgin islands, amongst other places.

 

It's being done, but as David said, it's not the same nor is it done in the same refineries.

Interesting article but IMO the implication that Venezuela "needs" the USA is a bit overblown. To put it another way, with the rapidly rising prices of crude IMO the stronger position is to be the supplier than the consumer. In the article they talk about Venezuela having financial problems should crude drop below $50... At today's prices Venezuela could cut their production in half and maintain their revenue stream from last year!

 

In any case it's good to know the world isn't running out of crude tomorrow!

[SANTA]

velomoto; we are not going to run out of oil tomorrow; BUT we are now over the peak in oil production.

 

our ability to extract oil is now now longer able to keep up with the world wide demand... hence the increasing price. and oh yeah the oil companies are also making a tidy profit

 

the early 1970's was a case were US oil production began declining and demand continued to rise... we are now repeating this on a global scale...

 

do a search on Peak Oil, it is not going to be a wonderful future

 

 

[Bob Palin]

our ability to extract oil is now now longer able to keep up with the world wide demand...

So who is going short of oil right now? Is there a place in the world where the gas pumps are dry? Or the plastic factories idle? Or homes not heated?

[PRC]

our ability to extract oil is now now longer able to keep up with the world wide demand... hence the increasing price.

 

This is not the case. Increasing oil prices is due to speculators in the futures market. They are artificially inflating the price of oil. Both oil industry and financial experts agree that the price should be in the $65 to $80 a barrel range. The speculators continue to drive up the price based on their own profit. This is why many countries world wide are considering legislation to to put some checks in place to prevent this.

 

And speaking of the price of gas, world wide the spectrum runs from about .19 (USD) in Venezuala to the over $10.00 (USD) in Norway.....and you think that's bad, look at Sierra Leone - $18.43.

 

Source

 

 

 

 

[motoguy128]

Why do I get the feeling, that the "speculators" in the oil market and the same a** hats that help drive the real estate market into the toilet by buying up the easy money securities that they all knew had more risk than was being stated.

 

Probably the same speculators that pulled out just before the DotCom bubble burst.

 

These guys like to blow bubbles. It's likely that oil could be a bubble that will pop as well. At some point, one of the larger investers is going to get nervous and start selling. It's will be a freefall at that point, until the commercial buyers (Mobil, BP, Shell) jumps in when they think it's reached bottom.

[Lineareagle]

Back to the OP question,yes is the answer.

Venezuela probably has the best sweet crude, easy to refine, very little sulphur lots of light distillates.

 

I worked in a refinery in Canada for several years, paying my way through U. Lucked out my dad was the marketing engineer for BA.

 

We would run Canada crude when we ran out of the Veny stuff but as soon as the tankers showed up we were on to the good stuff again.

 

On another note. It is not a matter of if it is when we run out of crude.

Besides the molten core of the earth ALL our energy comes or came from the sun, I guess in a way the core did to.

Right now by burning fossil fuel we are basically using up the energy that the earth has stored for us over millions of years.

Once it is gone it is gone.

 

I can't figure out why the human race hasn't gotten their head around the fact that if we keep consuming the way we do, breeding the way we do and polluting the way we do we will eventually be living on a very cold, hungry dirty ball of rock.

Yep lets just destroy everything in the next 50 years and to hell with the rest of the millenia.

And if you think 'science' will save us, they are trying but nobody will listen.

Let the $$ rule god save the $$.

 

(end rant)