What It Costs To Refine Oil Into Gasoline
by Paul Calore
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$0.30 to $0.60 a gallon
So What Is The Profit-Margin For Refining Crude Oil Into Gasoline?

As of 1999, for every gallon of gasoline refined from crude oil, U.S. oil refiners made an average profit of 22.8 cents. By 2004, the profits jumped to 40.8 cents per gallon of gasoline refined. In the specialized California market where the gasoline must conform to the requirements of the California Air Resources Board, refinery margins were even higher. In fact, this helped Exxon, the largest company, report a profit (as of February 2008) of $40.6 billion. Nevertheless, one financial tracking institution reported that the profit-margins have now dropped to about 29.6 cents a gallon or around 60 percent lower than a year ago.

Generally speaking, since there are so many variables to consider, precise cost breakdowns are difficult to ascertain. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), however, which issues the “Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government” the average cost at the pump for a gallon of gasoline is broken down as follows:

74% - Cost of the crude oil
11% - Taxes
10% - Refining costs
5% - Distribution and marketing

In a simple illustration, let’s assume an oil company is paying $100 for a barrel (42 gallons) of basic crude oil. Their cost for a gallon will be about $2.38. At a gasoline-pump price of $4.00 per gallon, 44 cents has to pay for taxes and 20 cents for distribution and marketing expenses. This leaves $3.36 for the oil companies. Out of that total they have to pay for the cost of the gallon of crude oil itself which was $2.38 and also the 40 cents to refine it into gasoline. This leaves $0.58 profit per gallon of gasoline. As noted, however, depending on which report one looks at, this profit-margin can range anywhere between an estimated 30 to 60 cents per gallon.

http://business.whatitcosts.com/refine-oil-pg3.htm

@ the highlighted can anyone comment on this?