Crude Oil Transportation Cost

One thing that hasn't been discussed concerning the price of fuel is transportation cost. A oil freighter can burn over 1000 gallons of fuel per hour. I don't know how many hours it takes a freighter to travel from Arabia to our port, but the cost must be staggering.

Not to mention the trans cost from port to refinery and from refinery to wholesaler tanks ultimately ending up at the service station tanks.

Another angle to the costs is how much fuel gets wasted when a tanker runs aground? It happens all the time...

Originally Posted by joedphil

Another angle to the costs is how much fuel gets wasted when a tanker runs aground? It happens all the time...

What? Have I been listening to some different news stations than you? I mean, once in a great while or even rarely do I ever hear about some oil spill in the oceans. I can't remember the last one. So where does it happen all the time?

Originally Posted by Calspec

One thing that hasn't been discussed concerning the price of fuel is transportation cost. A oil freighter can burn over 1000 gallons of fuel per hour. I don't know how many hours it takes a freighter to travel from Arabia to our port, but the cost must be staggering

I have heard that most of the oil we import comes from Canada and Mexico, and that is mostly by pipeline. Still, your point is just another good reason to continue to produce our own crude oil. Pipeline maintenance has to be less expensive than deisel fuel costs for those supertankers. Plus I believe that our countries pipelines are already here and able to handle all we could produce. Convert the delivery vehicles to hydrogen or LNG and look to eliminate as much as possible the use of gasoline or diesel from the transportation and delivery systems to conserve even more. The more I think about it the more I realize this isn't rocket science or even brain surgery. It's just good common sense and problem solving. We just need to find and elect leaders that can think and lead our country.