between oil and gas prices.

And you do see that there is a very strong correlation

between how they trend.

This right over here is oil prices,

quoted at a specific point on the planet.

It is dependent on where you are.

As you can see, this is in US dollars per barrel.

In early 2008 around $100 went up to $140 then came back down.

And then it's been trending up ever since.

Now it's about $100 per barrel.

This is where we see the oil prices are per barrel basis.

And then related to that you see the price of gasoline.

And this is even more geographically specific.

Because not only do have transportation costs,

but you also have very region-specific taxation

for oil and sometimes regulation.

But taxation is the big part of it.

But you do see it trends up when oil prices trend up

and then it goes down.

And this is on a per gallon basis.

And these are the prices right over here in New York.

But they don't move completely lock step.

If anything you see that the oil price on a per barrel basis

is much more volatile than the gasoline price right over here.

But there is the same general trend.

When the oil prices moves up this tends to move up.

But it's not always in the same percentage.

But there's definitely a relationship.

Now, before trying to figure out when you pay, say,

$4 at the pump how much of that is

oil, and how much is refining, and how much is transportation

let's at least kind of build up to that to think about

just how does the oil even end up in your car.

And then we can build up that price of the oil,

or the price of the gasoline, I should say.

So this right over here, you are probably familiar with these.

These are oil rigs, two very different types.

This is an offshore oil rig.

This is a land based oil rig.

But they're both doing the same fundamental thing.

They're drilling into the ground until they

get to a pocket of oil.

And then they will pump that oil out

and try to transport it to the market somehow,

first going through a refinery.

Offshore is really fascinating.

It really is an engineering marvel how they do it.

It might be sitting out here in the ocean.

And it will literally go to the bottom of the ocean,

go to the sea floor, and then drill

from there to actually get to the oil pockets.

So it's really an engineering marvel.

And you have to be very careful.

It can be very dangerous working on an oil rig.

And obviously, if there's an accident on them

it could be an environmental nightmare,

like what we saw what the BP situation.

But it is undoubtedly an engineering marvel.

Now once you have that oil you need to get it to a refinery

so that oil can be broken up into it useful parts.

And the way that is typically transported to a refinery

is some combination of a pipeline or an oil tanker.

This right over here is actually the Alaskan pipeline.

And it takes oil from the very northern part of Alaska

to the southern part.

So that it can then be put on oil tankers, which can then

transported anywhere in the world to refineries.

It could go straight to a tanker.

Actually even some offshore places you could use a tanker.

Or sometimes even if they're close enough

to land they actually might have a pipeline that

will take it to land where it can go to a refinery

or go to an oil tanker so it can be transported even farther.

And then from there, it gets to a refinery.

And so we could start to think about how the price of oil

is built up before we even think about what a refinery even

does.

So let's say that the current price of oil-- and I

kind of rigged the numbers, not to be

too punny-- to work out fairly well.

But let's say that the current price of oil is $90 per barrel.

So, and this is just a units thing,

a barrel is equal to 42 gallons.

So if I say I have a barrel of water

I'm really saying that I have 42 gallons of water.

And now all 42 gallons of crude oil

do not turn into 42 gallons of gasoline.

Out of 42 gallons of crude oil you

can get about 19 or 20 gallons of gasoline.

For the sake of to make the numbers easy

I'll just go with 20, 20 gallons of gasoline.

And then the rest will be other stuff.

So 22 gallons of other stuff.

It might not even be 22 gallons.

In fact it won't be.

Some of it is just waste.

Some of it is byproduct.

Some of this is actually used to fuel the refining process.

So let me not write that number.

So the rest is other stuff.

So this refinery is paying $90 per barrel when it gets it.

So that incorporates what the oil producers are getting.

It also takes care of the transportation costs

to the refinery.

And let's say just for the sake of argument

that the refinery can sell-- let's

say it's doesn't even take care of the transportation network.

Let's say there's people who are willing to buy directly

from the refinery at the refinery.

They're willing to buy gasoline at $3.25 per gallon.

So the gas at refinery people are willing to spend,

or the transporter is willing to pay them, $3.25 per gallon.

And so from this barrel they're going

to get 20 gallons of gasoline.

They can sell that at $3.25 per gallon.

So you're going to have 20 times $3.25, which

is let's see 20 times 3 is 60.

And then 20 times $0.25 is $5.

So they're going to get $65 for the gasoline.

And then let's just say for the sake of argument

they get $35 for the other stuff.

And some of this other stuff is quite useful.

It's stuff like motor oil.

It could be jet fuel.

It could be natural gas.

And it could be obviously fuel to actually fuel the refinery.

And so let's actually start building this

up right over here.

So one way to think about it-- so let me draw it this way.

We're up to $3.25 per gallon, is what the price is exiting

the refinery, what the refineries getting for it.

So let me draw it down here.

So let's say that this is $1.

This is $2.

And this is $3.

And then they're getting $3.25 would be like that.

That is what the refinery is getting.

And one way to think about it, it's

not completely because all of their profit

isn't coming from the gasoline.

But one way to think about it is the refinery,

after refining this barrel of crude oil

that they paid $90 for, they're going

to get $65 for the gasoline.

And then they're going to get $35 for the other stuff.

So they made a combination of, what is it, they made $100.

They're able to buy this crude oil at $90,

do what they had to do.

And then they're able to sell it for $100.

So one way to think about it is that, at least

in this situation, 90% of what they're getting for it

was their cost.

But it breaks down between the other stuff in the gasoline.

So it's not super easy to break down.

But you can say, in this example, a good chunk of this

was the cost of gasoline.

And it obviously depends how you account for it.

But a good chunk of it, not the cost of gasoline,

a good chunk of it is the cost the crude.

And this right over here, you could say

is how much the refinery actually makes.

And the amount that the refinery gets

versus what it costs-- so the amount they

get for all of the product they produce versus the crude oil

that they have to pay for, this margin, this

is often called the crack spread.

And just to understand what a refinery is doing,

it's breaking up that crude oil into its various parts.

And it's actually a fairly simple-- well,

I don't want to say simple process.

Obviously when you look at a refinery