ECOLEAF: Understanding Petroleum Power Plants
Estimates show that oil-powered-plant energy generation will fall from 121.9 million MWh in 2005 (3% of U.S. energy consumption) to 105MWh in 2025 (1.95% of U.S. energy consumption).
US Petroleum Powered Electricity Consumption in 2005: 64 million MWh
US Petroleum Capacity Usage in 2006: 12.6% of 58,097 MW
UNDERSTANDING Oil Usage in Electricity Production
To define and understand the amount of oil used to create electricity, we first need to understand oil’s numbers. The U.S. consumes 23% of the world’s oil. In 2008, 7.14 billion barrels of oil were refined into U.S. petroleum products. Only 34% of the oil the U.S. consumes comes from the U.S. (Alaska provides 14% of the country’s domestic oil). Imported oil accounts for a staggering 66% of the U.S. oil consumption.
Most of U.S. oil is used for transportation: 72% of it goes directly to gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel. (Gasoline represents 46% all consumption.) Ninety-five percent of America’s modes of transportation—that would be planes, trains, trucks, boats, barges, and automobiles—run off petroleum products. We often forget that gasoline-powered cars in the U.S. only represent 19% of the carbon emissions problem—at 39.4%, the real culprit is electricity.
Only 1% of petroleum is used to generate electricity. Enough oil to run every petroleum power plant in the country would equate to the amount used in fewer than four days of overall U.S. oil consumption. With its annual production of 250 million barrels, Alaska could provide the 70 million barrels of oil that would be needed for our annual electricity generation.
US OIL REFINERIES
There were 150 U.S. refineries in 2009; nine of them were idled. On its own, the largest refinery in Baytown, Texas (owned by Exxon Mobile Corp.) could easily handle all of the U.S. needs for electricity generation. A mere 33% of the Baytown plant’s daily and annual production would provide sufficient fuel. And that’s only one-third of the production of one plant! (Out of 141+ operational refineries.) To put this into better perspective, any one of the top 85 U.S. refineries could supply the all of the petroleum needed for petroleum-based electricity.
Top 85 Ranked US Refineries (Barrels Per Day)
1 EXXON MOBIL Baytown, Texas 572,500
2 EXXON MOBIL Baton Rouge, Louisiana 503,000
3 BP PRODUCTS Texas City, Texas 455,790
4 CITGO Lake Charles, Louisiana 429,500
5 BP Whiting, Indiana 405,000
6 EXXON MOBIL Beaumont, Texas 344,500
7 SUNOCO Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 335,000
8 CHEVRON Pascagoula, Mississippi 330,000
9 DEER PARK Deer Park, Texas 329,800
10 WRB Wood River, Illinois 306,000
11 FLINT HILLS Corpus Christi, Texas 288,468
12 PREMCOR Port Arthur, Texas 287,000
13 MOTIVA Port Arthur, Texas 285,000
14 FLINT HILLS Saint Paul, Minnesota 280,500
15 CHEVRON El Segundo, California 279,000
16 HOUSTON REFINING Houston, Texas 270,600
17 BP WEST COAST Los Angeles, California 265,000
18 MARATHON Garyville, Louisiana 256,000
19 CONOCO PHILLIPS Belle Chasse, Louisiana 247,000
20 CONOCO PHILLIPS Sweeny, Texas 247,000
21 CHEVRON USA INC Richmond, California 245,271
22 CONOCOPHILLIPS Westlake, Louisiana 239,400
23 EXXON MOBIL Joliet, Illinois 238,600
24 CONOCO PHILLIPS Linden, New Jersey 238,000
25 MOTIVA ENT. Norco, Louisiana 236,400
26 MOTIVA ENT. Convent, Louisiana 235,000
27 TOTAL Port Arthur, Texas 232,000
28 MARATHON Catlettburg, Kentucky 226,000
29 BP WEST COAST Ferndale, Washington 225,000
30 FLINT HILLS North Pole, Alaska 210,000
31 MARATHON Robinson, Illinois 204,000
32 VALERO Texas City, Texas 199,500
33 CONOCO PHILLIPS Ponca City, Oklahoma 198,400
34 CHALMETTE Chalmette, Louisiana 192,500
35 VALERO Norco, Louisiana 185,003
36 CONOCO PHILLIPS Trainer, Pennsylvania 185,000
37 PREMCOR Delaware City, Delaware 182,200
38 PREMCOR Memphis, Tennessee 180,000
39 SUNOCO Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania 178,000
40 VALERO ENERGY Sunray, Texas 171,000
41 PDV MIDWEST Lemont, Illinois 167,000
42 TESORO Martinez, California 166,000
43 CITGO Corpus Christi, Texas 163,000
44 VALERO Paulsboro, New Jersey 160,000
45 SUNOCO Toledo, Ohio 160,000
46 SHELL OIL Martinez, California 156,400
47 EXXON MOBIL Torrance, California 149,500
48 LIMA REFINING Lima, Ohio 146,200
49 WRB REFINING Border, Texas 146,000
50 SHELL OIL Anacortes, Washington 145,000
51 SUNOCO Westville, New Jersey 145,000
52 VALERO Benicia, California 144,000
53 VALERO Corpus Christi, Texas 142,000
54 CONOCO PHILLIPS Wilmington, California 139,000
55 FRONTIER EL DORADO El Dorado, Kansas 130,000
56 BP-HUSKY Toldeo, Ohio 125,600
57 WESTERN REFINING El Paso, Texas 122,000
58 CONOCO PHILLIPS Rodeo, California 120,200
59 TESORO WEST Anacortes, Washington 120,000
60 MURPHY OIL Meraux, Louisiana 120,000
61 COFFEYVILLE RES. Coffeyville, Kansas 115,700
62 MARATHON Detroit, Michigan 102,000
63 CONOCOPHILLIPS Ferndale, Washington 100,000
64 PASADENA REFINING Pasadena, Texas 100,000
65 TESORO Wilmington, California 96,860
66 NAVAJO REFINING Artesia, New Mexico 95,000
67 TESORO HAWAII Ewa Beach, Hawaii 93,500
68 VALERO Three Rivers, Texas 93,000
69 VALERO Ardmore, Oklahoma 87,400
70 SHELL CHEMICAL Saraland, Alabama 86,000
71 NCRA Mcpherson, Kansas 85,500
72 SUNOCO Tulsa, Oklahoma 85,000
73 VALERO Houston, Texas 83,000
74 ULTRAMAR INC Wilmington, California 80,887
75 ALON REFINING Krotz Springs, Louisiana 80,000
76 CHEVRON Perth Amboy, New Jersey 80,000
77 MARATHON Canton, Ohio 78,000
78 CALCASIEU REFINING Lake Charles, Louisiana 78,000
79 MARATHON Texas City, Texas 76,000
80 MARATHON Saint Paul, Minnesota 74,000
81 SINCLAIR WYOMING Sinclair, Wyoming 74,000
82 TESORO Kenai, Alaska 72,000
83 SINCLAIR Tulsa, Oklahoma 70,300
84 LION OIL El Dorado, Arkansas 70,000
85 WYNNEWOOD REFINING Wynnewood, Oklahoma 70,000
OIL People
Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil
David O’Reilly, CEO of Chevron
Jim Mulva, CEO of ConocoPhillips
UNDERSTANDING PETROLEUM POWER PLANTS
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