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Petroleum refining in the United States in 2013 produced 18.9 million barrels per day of refined petroleum products, more than any other country.〔OPEC, (Statistical Bulletin ), 2014〕 Although the US was the world's largest net importer of refined petroleum products as recently as 2008, the US became a net exporter in 2010, and in 2013 was one of the largest net exporters of refined petroleum. As of January 2015, there were 137 operating refineries in the US, distributed among 30 states. Largest petroleum refining companies in the United States Largest petroleum refineries in the United States ==History== The first known US petroleum refiner was Samuel Kier of Pittsburgh, who in the 1850s produced an illuminating oil for miners' lamps. American petroleum refining largely grew out of oil shale refining. When the Drake Well started producing in in 1859, the oil shale industry was growing rapidly, and establishing refineries near cannel coal deposits along the Ohio River Valley. As oil production increased, the oil shale refiners discovered that their refining process worked just as well with petroleum, and that petroleum was a cheaper raw material than shale oil. In 1861, the existing oil shale refiners switched to petroleum feedstock, and the oil shale mines shut down. In the 1800s, the principal refined product was kerosene for illuminating oil. The heaviest fraction was used as lubricating oil. A market developed for fuel oil as it was discovered that petroleum was superior to coal in powering the large engines of ships and railroad locomotives. The popularity of the automobile in the early 1900s created a mass market for gasoline, and a shortage soon developed of the lighter gasoline fractions of crude oil. The shortage was solved by the invention of the catalytic cracker, which broke long hydrocarbon chains into smaller molecules. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Petroleum refining in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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