All of this information has been taken ("plagiarized") from the GAO website: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05525sp.pdf
According to the GAO, the price of gasoline is comprised of the following parts:
48% Crude
23% Taxes
17% Refining
12% Distribution and marketing
Crude Oil
According to EIA’s data, the price that refiners paid for crude oil in 2004
was the largest component of the price of regular gasoline. On average, crude oil
price accounted for slightly less than half of the average price of a gallon of regular
gasoline. However, the proportion of the price of gasoline that crude oil constitutes
is not constant over time, nor is the share of the other elements
World Gasoline Consumption as of 2001:
43%: United States
17%: Asia and Oceania
14%: Western Europe
7%: Central and South America
6%: Rest of North Ameria
6%: Eastern Europe and rest of former Soviet Union
4%: Middle East
3%: Africa
In 2004, non-OPEC oil exporting countries supplied approx. 56% crude oil to the US. OPEC supplied the remaining 44%.
"In 2004, the United States consumed an average of about 380 million gallons
(about 9 million barrels) of gasoline per day. This consumption is about 56 percent
more than the 1970 average per day consumption of 243 million gallons (about 5.8
million barrels)—an average increase of about 1.6 percent per year for the last 35
years. U.S. gasoline consumption has increased particularly steeply since the 1990s."
Taken together, figures 16, 18, and 19 suggest
that most of the increased U.S. gasoline consumption over the last 2 decades has
been due to these larger vehicles.
As for refineries - no new refineries have been built since the 1970s. Supposedly because of initial capital required to build them (in the billions) and the volatility of the margins, especially depending upon the geographic region. Also - the number of refineries has significantly decreased since 1981 due to the mergers. Increased demand has thus not been matched with increased refinery building.
From a barrel of crude oil:
46.7% is made into Gasoline
23.5% into Diesel and Heating Fuel
9.8% into Jet Fuel
4.3% into Heavy Fuel Oil
4.3% into Liquefied Petroleum Gas
21.8% into Other Products
Gasoline imports accounted for 10% of total gasoline consumption in 2004 whereas only 1% in 1970.
