2023-07-31 10:30:02
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[EN VIDÉO] Kézako: can biofuels replace gasoline? Biofuels are an alternative to gasoline or diesel – produced from…
Millions of us still put gas in our cars every day. Diesel, more precisely, in almost 80% of cases. But where does it come from, this essence that seems so essential to our daily lives?
First of all, remember that gasoline — just like diesel — is made from petroleum. This fossil resource was formed from the decomposed remains of plants and animals. Leftovers put under natural pressure. All of this millions of years ago. And before becoming gasoline, petroleum must be refined and then distilled.
Oil imported to produce gasoline
In France, we have no oil. It’s been in people’s minds since the Giscard years. However, this is not entirely fair. In France, we have oil. Very little. But we have. In 2021, our country produced – in Aquitaine, in the Paris Basin and in the Rhône – around 0.7 megatonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe). A drop in the ocean of the 34.7 Mtoe of national consumption for that year.
In fact, almost all of the crude oil processed in France is therefore imported.
According to INSEE, the main regions that supplied our country in 2022 — knowing that the proportions may vary depending on the geopolitical situation, in particular — were:
Africa — Nigeria, Algeria and Libya, in particular — for just over 36%; the former Soviet bloc — especially Kazakhstan, and another 5% from Russia — for just over 19% ;the Middle East — and above all Saudi Arabia — for just over 15%; and the North Sea — Norway, in particular — for just under 11%.
Data from the International Energy Agency show that the share of crude oil imported from the United States is tending to increase. It was multiplied by 7 between 2016 and 2020. In 2021, the United States supplied 13% of our crude oil.
Before arriving in our cars, gasoline takes a ride at sea
It is by sea that almost all imported crude oil arrives in France. Via the ports of Le Havre, Marseille and Nantes. And it is then in the refineries that it is transformed. Fuel oil for heating, bitumen for roads, raw materials for plastics and… gasoline for cars. Some of this gasoline will also be exported. In 2019, our country’s refining capacity was around 60 million tonnes. That is regarding 40% less than 10 years earlier.
Gasoil, on the other hand, is largely imported as a finished product. In 2022, France thus imported half of its diesel consumption.
Once the gasoline is produced, it is transported by pipelines, barges or trains to approximately 200 depots spread across the territory. Their storage capacity is around 40% of the fuel consumed in France each year. The last stage, towards the service stations, is done by tank truck.
Unconventional shale oil, conventional oil, offshore oil: so many possible sources for the gasoline of our cars
For a long time, oil production was limited to what is now called conventional oil. But more recently, so-called unconventional productions have been added. The difference is geological. While the first leaves its source rock to accumulate in permeable rock and form a reservoir, the second disperses in layers with low porosity or can be trapped in the source rock. The first is exploited by drilling. The second requires more complex techniques. Hydraulic fracturing, for example.
Reports have shown the presence of unconventional fossil resources in the French subsoil. But their research and exploitation – like that of other hydrocarbons, for that matter – are now prohibited on our territory. Good news for the climate and the environment. But that does not (yet) prevent France from importing a share of unconventional oil. That we end up finding in the form of gasoline in the tanks of our cars.
Kazakhstan, France’s leading supplier, produces conventional oil, on land and at sea. And it mainly exports light crude oil, appreciated for the production of gasoline.
But the United States, 2nd supplier of France, in particular, exploit formations of shale oil – an oil that is also light – and bituminous shale. They even became the first producers in the world.
In the rest of the list of our main suppliers, Algeria, meanwhile, continues to discover conventional oil deposits. And still hesitates to embark on the exploitation of unconventional oil. Nigeria, for its part, has significant reserves of conventional oil, including offshore reserves. But the largest conventional oil reserves in Africa seem to be in Libya, the country that comes in 5th position among our best suppliers.
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