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Assuming that the oil reserves would end at a certain date, would it be expected that the kerosene be no longer used as fuel on a previous date due to the quality fall of barrels?

If so, would that date be much more previous in absolute or relative terms?

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    $\begingroup$ I suspect this question is based on a misconception that refineries merely separate crude oil into the chemical components that are already present in the raw crude. Refineries do a lot more than that. They are chemical manufacturing plants for which crude oil is the raw material. See Andrew John Dodds' answer. $\endgroup$
    – David Hammen
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 13:52
  • $\begingroup$ some types of crude oil have a higher content of lighter oils like kerosene-diesel-and what is used as jet fuel en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Crude and other types do contain a higher amount of bitumen,like tar sand. $\endgroup$
    – trond hansen
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 15:18
  • $\begingroup$ If one wants to look into the subject; Use the word "distillate" rather than the archaic "kerosene". In greatly oversimplified terms , refinery output is classified as 1- gasoline, 2-distillates, and 3 -heavy oils. ( Yes , refineries can make a thousand products from mustache wax to trombone slide oil, etc,etc,etc.) $\endgroup$
    – blacksmith37
    Commented Oct 10, 2018 at 15:27

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No.

At the moment, we use cracking to turn heavy, long-chain hydrocarbons into more valuable short-chain hydrocarbons, such as petrol/gasoline and kerosene; as a general rule, lighter hydrocarbons are more valuable, at least up to butane.

Generally, it might take the form:

C$_{16}$H$_{34}$ $\ce{->}$ 2 C$_8$H$_{18}$ (Octane, a typical petrol component)

Note that this is not balanced; to crack to fully-saturated products we need to add hydrogen, usually made from natural gas and water. This is why you sometimes see that a refinery will take 1 tonne of heavy crude and make 1.1 tonnes of petroleum products. This is called 'refinery gain'.

Essentially, as long as we have hydrocarbon feedstocks, we can make kerosene.

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  • $\begingroup$ Gonna accept it but can you clarify me something. A barrel of Oman I think has a bit more kerosene than a Venezuela one. I understand cracking can make more kerosene from the same bulk oil but then, craking would become a cost at vz to sell a barrel with the same % of k than saudies? $\endgroup$
    – user12525
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 13:52
  • $\begingroup$ In a way, this means that the future availability of kerosene will come down to a marketing decision. Which is beyond the scope of this SE, of course. $\endgroup$
    – Spencer
    Commented Oct 10, 2018 at 23:03
  • $\begingroup$ @Universal_learner - Yes. This is why different crude grades sell for different prices (usually relative to a standard like West Texas Intermediate or Brent). Generally, the more light fractions like kerosene, the higher the price. $\endgroup$
    – Andrew Jon Dodds
    Commented Oct 11, 2018 at 7:55
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There may be a language issue with this question or you are asking about something in a confusing way.

By asking about kerosene "wearing out" do you mean wearing out like erosion & becoming thinner - which only happens to solid items not liquids.

Or, are you asking about will kerosene be fully depleted before oil is fully depleted - fully depleted meaning, no longer existing?

If you mean the latter, kerosene is not separate from oil. Kerosene is made from crude oil. Oil refineries take crude oil & separate out the separate fractions of crude oil kerosene, petrol/gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil and asphalt are all created by oil refiners from crude oil.

When there is no more crude oil, or no oil refineries, there will be no more kerosene.

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    $\begingroup$ Depleted is the word meaning no more reserves. Thanks I edit it. $\endgroup$
    – user12525
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 9:03
  • $\begingroup$ But if the further barrels have less kerosene -or nothing of kerosene-, then you wouldn't expect kerosene could stop being used while oil is still being stored in barrels and used as fuel? I edited the question as you are rigth there will always be a bit of kerosene on any barrel. But I wanted to ask about the possible quality fall leading to non kerosene eg aircraft systems $\endgroup$
    – user12525
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 9:14
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    $\begingroup$ @Universal_learner - Your comment above leads me to think you have a misunderstanding of how refineries work. You appear to think that refineries are chemical separation plants that merely distill the raw crude into the distinct chemical components that are already present in the crude. They are instead chemical manufacturing plants that manufacture an extremely wide variety of chemicals that may or may not be present in the raw crude oil. $\endgroup$
    – David Hammen
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 13:57
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    $\begingroup$ Ok so no closed bulk. That's what clarify but I was thinking on natural crude and real consequences. Meaning I know kerosene can be syntetized but what's the cost? Anyhow I guess I am rigth it would be cheaper to make kerosene at Oman than at Caribean -if anybody corrects me- going far to another question I posted about if modern aircraft will continue using kerosene longer. $\endgroup$
    – user12525
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 14:04
  • $\begingroup$ @David Hammen: I suspect you know something about the reactions and maybe it is not decisive the quality of the crude neither a lot in costs terms. $\endgroup$
    – user12525
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 14:11

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