Petroleum
(crude oil) is a thick, flammable, black-to-yellow mixture of solid, liquid and
gaseous hydrocarbons believed to be the remains biomass matter accumulated over
millions, if not billions, of years below the Earth’s surface.
One barrel of crude oil contains 42 gallons.
The typical barrel makes:
| Product | Gallons |
| Gasoline | 19.4 |
| Distillate Fuel Oil (home heating oil and diesel fuel) | 9.7 |
| Kerosene – Jet fuel | 4.3 |
| Coke | 2 |
|
Residual/Heavy
Fuel Oil (Fuel Oil No. 6 or Bunker C) is what's left at the end of the
refinery process. These heavy oils are used as fuel in ships,
industry and for electric power generation. |
1.9 |
| Liquefied Refinery Gases | 1.9 |
| Still Gas | 1.8 |
| Asphalt and Road Oil | 1.4 |
| Petrochemical Feedstocks | 1.1 |
| Lubricants | 0.5 |
| Kerosene | 0.2 |
| Other | 0.4 |
| Total | 44.6 |
The
total volume of products made is 2.6 gallons greater than the original 42
gallons of crude oil. This represents “processing gain.”
Refinery processing gain represents the volumetric amount by which total output
is greater than input for a given period of time.