No More Alcohol in Gasoline?

Recently, I received an email message from a friend, one who is highly intelligent, and who has a phenomenal diversity of life experiences. The item had a video to a Faux News video segment, which is included in this post, at the conclusion.

My response to the half-truthed item follows.

Here’s hoping you and others find it informative, and helpful.
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While I have neither been the type to proclaim THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! nor believe there is conspiracy against me, nor the paranoid type that imagines “the government” is out to get me (and therefore neither view nor read Fox News), I do think there is some credence to the item. (Of course, a “Snopes check” shows a mix of half-truths. But, if it ain’t all true, it ain’t true – kinda’ like the gas, you know.) More details on that follow.

In a story published published Saturday, February 1st, 2014, the Chattanooga Times-Free Press wrote how some motorists in that area are preferring 100% pure gasoline over the 10% Ethanol blend. (I happened to read that story at the time it was published.)
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2014/feb/01/some-motorists-want-their-gasoline-corn-free/

While residing there, I also noticed the same, and noticed that the price for 100% pure gasoline is higher than for the 10% ethanol blend. One day, while pumping the 100% gasoline at a Chattanooga gas station, I happened to speak with a gent at the adjacent pump about the difference. He shared an observation with me which I thought quite interesting, and one which certainly seemed reasonable.

He said that in an “accidental” experiment, he purchased some 10% ethanol blended gasoline for use in his lawn mower. He then poured some of the 10% ethanol blended gas into a glass jar, and let it set out at least overnight (or a bit longer). He observed that it had become cloudy from the accumulation of humidity.

While I’ve never tried such an experiment, I do note that many years ago, on occasion, I would run my little carbureted Toyota’s gas tank empty, and would then fill it up with 1 gallon each of Methanol, 100LL, Toluene, Xylene and Methyl Ethyl Ketone. I did so for at least two reasons: 1.) to get any water in the fuel tank & system out, and; 2.) to “clean out” any deposits that may have formed in the fuel system.

Of course, Gasoline and Water are different for several reasons, not the least of which is that

North Dakota oil output at new high in August

North Dakota oil output at new high in August: regulator

NEW YORK | Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:43pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil production in North Dakota accelerated in August, jumping by 3.6 percent from July levels to top the 700,000 barrel-per-day mark for the first time in the state’s history, data from the state Industrial Commission showed on Wednesday.

The state’s August oil output rose by nearly 25,000 barrels-per-day from the previous month and hit just above 701,000 bpd, fast approaching volumes from OPEC-member Qatar, which produced 770,000 bpd in August.

Most of this was from

Oil prices crashed and Chevron still made nearly $24 a barrel

Must be something to what those kooky Occupy Wall Street type folks, and the evil Democrats are saying.

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By Ronald D. White; July 27, 2012, 1:32 p.m.

Take just about any business situation in which the value of a company’s primary product suddenly falls by more than 29% and it could be time to panic. Then there is the oil patch, where billions of dollars in profits are possible even after that kind of collapse in crude prices. Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, Calif., is just such an example.

Even with the sharp drop in oil prices that began in the first quarter and ran through the end of the second quarter — a decline from $109.41 a barrel to $77.69 a barrel — Chevron had a positive margin of $23.53 on every barrel of crude it produced, according to analysts. Chevron said its margin was actually $26 a barrel.

Why does gas cost $4.00/gallon? “All consumers know that when the producer names the tune, the consumer has got to dance.”

Our modern prophet, Gil Scott Heron – a Southern man – has since gone to his reward – may he rest in peace.

His prophetic lyrics, however, remain as poignantly truthful today as ever.

The truth of his song “B Movie” remains even more point-on today than when he produced & recorded it in 1982.

“What has happened is that in the last 20 years, America has changed from a producer to a consumer. And all consumers know that when the producer names the tune, the consumer has got to dance. That’s the way it is. We used to be a producer – very inflexible at that, and now we are consumers and, finding it difficult to understand. Natural resources and minerals will change your world. The Arabs used to be in the 3rd World. They have bought the 2nd World and put a firm down payment on the 1st one. Controlling your resources we’ll control your world. This country has been surprised by the way the world looks now. They don’t know if they want to be Matt Dillon or Bob Dylan. They don’t know if they want to be diplomats or continue the same policy – of nuclear nightmare diplomacy. John Foster Dulles ain’t nothing but the name of an airport now.” -excerpt from “B Movie,” by Gil Scott Heron, 1982

The Real Reason Gas Costs $4 A Gallon

Categories: Trade, Government

11:23 AM, April 2, 2012

OPEC – Oil & Petroleum Exporting Countries; BILAL QABALAN/AFP/Getty Images

In his latest column for the New York Times Magazine, Adam Davidson cites Gal Luft, an oil expert who dismisses political proposals from the left and the right to lower the price of gas. We asked him to elaborate in the following post.

When in December 2008, 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl asked Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi how much it cost Saudi Arabia to produce one barrel of oil, he didn’t blink: “Probably less than

Gas Prices drop: Saudi Oil output at 30 year high

Have you noticed?

The price you pay for gasoline has dropped.

Why?

It’s quite simple really.

Oil output from Saudi Arabia is at a 30 year high.

Yeah.

It’s exactly like Gil Scott-Heron said on his song 1981 song “B-Movie”:

“What has happened is that in the last 20 years, America has changed from a producer to a consumer.  And all consumers know that when the producer names the tune, the consumer has got to dance.  That’s the way it is.  We used to be a producer – very inflexible at that – and now we are consumers and, finding it difficult to understand.  Natural resources and minerals will change your world. The Arabs used to be in the 3rd World.  They have bought the 2nd World and put a firm down payment on the 1st one.  Controlling your resources will control your world.  This country has been surprised by the way the world looks now.” 

Saudi Arabia Crude Production Rises to Highest in Three Decades

Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, boosted output last month to the most in more than three decades to meet customer demand.

“We produced 10 million and 40 barrels in November because