§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Secretary of State for Energy what is the value added content in monetary terms between crude and refined oil.
§ Dr. J. Dickson MabonOil trade journals regularly publish spot valuations of the product yields obtained by refining major Middle Eastern and African crude oils. If the landed cost of the crude oil and the cost of the raw materials consumed in the refining process are deducted then a measure of the value added by refining an extra barrel of crude oil can be obtained. Recent calculations, using official Government sales prices for assessing f.o.b. crude oil costs and current spot tanker rates, have shown that for a typical Rotterdam refiner in December 1977 this marginal value added has turned out to be a loss of the order of 10 to 30 cents/barrel. However, this is only an indication of the marginal situation prevailing in European oil refineries at present. The overall position of individual refiners 133W will vary considerably, and will depend on the cost of the crude oil package refined, the flexibility of the individual refiner's plant and the prevailing local market conditions.