Energy Aware #4: The Devil Is In the Diesel
Global diesel is in short supply.
Analysts are concerned about diesel because it is the hemoglobin of the global economy. The world’s mines, oil rigs, construction, ships, trains and trucks run on diesel.
Typically, inventories should be 30% higher this time of the year. Such low levels are alarming because diesel is the workhorse of the global economy. It powers trucks and vans, excavators, freight trains and ships. A shortage would mean higher costs for everything from trucking to farming to construction.
–Javier Blas, Washington Post, October 18, 2022
Most government leaders, journalists and industry analysts don’t understand why there is a problem. That’s because it’s a refining issue and it’s not something simple that can easily be fixed by pressuring refiners to make more diesel. Let me explain.There is a sequence of products made in a refinery that includes gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, and diesel that all must be distilled from each barrel of oil. It’s not an a la carte menu in which you can order diesel but tell the waiter to hold the gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel.
Petroleum products are distilled from crude oil like whisky is distilled from fermented grain. For both petroleum and whiskey, a liquid is heated to create a vapor that is then condensed back into a liquid again. In the case of whiskey, distillation removes the heavier molecules that condense at the bottom of the still—the wash—and are later thrown away. Only the lightest fraction—the whiskey—that condenses at the top of the still is kept.
For petroleum, the whiskey is gasoline and a few lighter molecules. The wash is everything else including fuel oil, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene. These are not thrown away because in today’s market, they are worth more than gasoline.
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