How an oil refinery works quiz.
Test the ideas behind crude inputs, product yields, utilization and crack spreads. Every answer includes a short explanation.
Answers and explanations.
Try the quiz first. Then open any question to check the answer and the reason behind it.
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What is the main raw material entering an oil refinery?
Choices: Crude oil · Copper ore · Natural rubber
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Crude oil. Refineries separate and transform crude oil into products such as petrol, diesel, jet fuel and feedstocks.
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Can product yields add to more than 100% by volume?
Choices: Yes · No
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Yes. Yes. Lighter products can occupy more volume than the crude input, creating refinery processing gain.
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What does refinery utilization compare?
Choices: Actual input with available operating capacity · Oil price with gold price · Exports with rainfall
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Actual input with available operating capacity. Utilization shows how much of available refinery capacity is being used during the measured period.
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Is a crack spread the same as a refinery company’s final profit?
Choices: Yes · No
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No. No. It is a simplified product-value margin and leaves out many operating, transport and financial costs.
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What can a refinery outage affect?
Choices: Fuel production and crude demand · The number of gallons in a barrel · The definition of a tonne
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Fuel production and crude demand. When capacity is offline, the refinery may process less crude and make fewer products until operations recover.
Learn more about this topic.
- Refinery yield estimator: split crude input into products.
- Crack-spread calculator: estimate a simple refining margin.
- US oil balance dashboard: real US refinery inputs and utilization.