# % of oil that doesnt become auto fuel?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-oil-that-doesnt-become-auto-fuel/147150
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 7, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-oil-that-doesnt-become-auto-fuel/147150 "2003-01-07T15:40:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-oil-that-doesnt-become-auto-fuel/147150/1 "2003-01-07T15:40:39Z")
With the Iraq war looming, and questions raised about the connections between the oil industry and national policy, I’m thinking that a great deal of oil goes elsewhere - besides our cars - although that seems to be the core of the conversation. I.e. a good deal of the discussion seems to sound like this: “If the automobile industry would just develop a higher mileage car, we wouldn’t be in such a mess” or “If we relied less on foreign oil for our energy uses, we wouldn’t be gearing up for war.” But how much middle eastern oil, say, goes into plastics? How much into pharmeceuticals, etc. etc. , and how much becomes gasoline? In other words, are these arguments framed accurately? Don’t we need oil for things other than our cars? What is the breakdown?
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-oil-that-doesnt-become-auto-fuel/147150/2 "2003-01-08T03:23:20Z")
I’m bumping this in hopes that it gets viewed by all those who missed it while the board was unavailable all day today. (Or so it seemed to me. )
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-oil-that-doesnt-become-auto-fuel/147150/3 "2003-01-08T04:28:00Z")
Without a cite, the last time I checked, ~40% of liquid hydrocarbons were diverted from energy use; i.e., used for plastic formulation, etc. And methane (natural gas) usage for energy has risen in the last 12-15 years.
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-oil-that-doesnt-become-auto-fuel/147150/4 "2003-01-08T15:12:16Z")
Does anyone have a cite or a source? I can’t find anything good.
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### Author:  [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-oil-that-doesnt-become-auto-fuel/147150/5 "2003-01-08T16:25:02Z")
Here’s a good, readable site: [Oil Market Basics](http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/analysis_publications/oil_market_basics/default.htm) at the EIA.
The best I could do for figures: [U.S. Oil Demand by End-Use Sector](http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/analysis_publications/oil_market_basics/Dem_image_US_cons_sector.htm). Which gives the transportation sector share of the oil usage as roughly 65%.
The problem I think you’ll run into is that the percentages are actually based on demand. If we used less gasoline, they’d make less from the crude oil. From the first link:
> [@](#):
>
> Refiners in the United States more closly match the mix of products demand by using downstream processing to move from the natural yield of products from simple distillation, illustrated earlier, to the U.S. demand slate, illustrated here. After simple distillation alone, the output from a crude oil like Arab Light would be about 20 percent of lightest, gasoline-like products, and about 50 percent of the heaviest, the residuum. After further processing in the most sophisticated refinery, however, the finished product output is about 60 percent gasoline, and 5 percent residuum.