Petrol, gas, fuel or whatever you want to call it is crucial to our modern world. It’s production plays a big part in our economy, and our environment. We all know and feel the effect of rising fuel prices, but is it really something to whinge about every day?

As I write this blog (my first btw), the fuel price near me is about £1.42 per litre. Many of you reading this will be thinking ”that’s expensive” or ” it’s a fortune”. I disagree. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly more expensive than it was say, 5 years ago, but it’s really not that bad considering what you get for your money.

First we need to look at how petrol is made.

Petrol (and diesel) is made from a substance called crude oil. Crude oil is created by ancient animals, plant life, and dinosaur poo, which decayed over millions of years into sedimentary layers. This mixture of dead algae, plants and poop then decomposes and gets compressed into layers over millions and millions of years which eventually turns into natural gas and crude oil.

So all of this was years ago, lets look a bit closer to the present day.

Once a geologist has located an area of crude oil, we need to get it out of the ground. A drilling system is necessary to punch into the crude oil pocket, and then a pumping system to get the oil out of the ground. The picture shows what comes out of these oil lines.

Now to change from crude oil to petrol, the oil needs to visit the refinery. To refine crude oil you need to separate the hydrocarbons, and to do this you use a process called ‘cracking’. The oil is boiled, and as the different chemicals in the oil separates, the vapours are syphoned off at different points. Petrol and diesel are only 2 of the chemicals produced from crude oil. Once the vapours are condensed, the petrol and diesel then has additives added which make them legal to use on the road.

Bear in mind that different fuel companies use different additives, some use more than others. This is why you get cheaper fuel in supermarkets than from fuel companies. Do you really want to risk putting the cheap stuff in your motor?

That’s a pretty lengthy process from start to finish, would you agree? I won’t go into how fuel is taxed, which is where most of the price comes into it, but paying £1.42 for a litre of something which gets me to work and back seems pretty cheap to me. Have you considered how much things like this cost in comparison?

Costs almost the same for 500ml

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I know it’s an annoying fact of life at the moment and I hope it stops rising, but before you start moaning when you drive past a petrol station, think about how much work has actually gone into each litre of fuel and what good value for money it actually is!

Then think about how much work has gone into each pint of beer and question, is THAT worth the price you’re paying? (Only joking, beer’s awesome!)

Thanks for reading my first blog. Feel free to leave a comment, we’ll see what discussion we can have!

If you feel strongly about the pricing of fuel, make sure you sign any registers or e-petitions that you come across. It’s all well and good being angry about something, but pointless if you don’t do anything about it!

Dan.

Just ride and have Fun, we'll take care of your bikes

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