Products of Crude Oil Refining

Products of crude oil refining includes liquefied petroleum gases, pentanes plus, aviation gasoline, motor gasoline, naphtha-type jet fuel, kerosene-type jet fuel, kerosene, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, petrochemical feedstock, special naphtha, lubricants, waxes, petroleum coke, asphalt, road oil, still gas, and miscellaneous products. Actually, product of crude oil refining can be grouped according to the way crude oil is distilled and separated into fractions. These includes light distillates (Liquid petroleum gas (LPG), Gasoline (also known as petrol), Kerosene, Jet fuel and other aircraft fuel.), middle distillates (Automotive and rail-road diesel fuels, Residential heating fuel, other light fuel oils) and heavy distillate (Heavy fuel oils, Bunker fuel oil and other residual fuel oils)

Now let’s look at each of the products of crude oil refining:

Motor Gasoline (Finished)

A complex mixture of relatively volatile hydrocarbons with or without small quantities of additives, blended to form a fuel suitable for use in spark-ignition engines. Motor gasoline, as defined in ASTM Specification D 4814 or Federal Specification VV-G-1690C, is characterized as having a boiling range of 122 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10 percent recovery point to 365 to 374 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90 percent recovery point. “Motor Gasoline” includes conventional gasoline; all types of oxygenated gasoline, including gasohol; and reformulated gasoline, but excludes aviation gasoline.

Aviation Gasoline (Finished)

A complex mixture of relatively volatile hydrocarbons with or without small quantities of additives, blended to form a fuel suitable for use in aviation reciprocating engines. Fuel specifications are provided in ASTM Specification D 910 and Military Specification MIL-G-5572. Note: Data on blending components are not counted in data on finished aviation gasoline.

Diesel Fuel

A light distillate fuel oil that has a distillation temperature of 550 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent recovery point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 975. It is used in high speed diesel engines generally operated under frequent speed and load changes, such as those in city buses and similar vehicles.

Fuel Oil

A light distillate fuel oil that has distillation temperatures of 400 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10-percent recovery point and 550 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent recovery point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 396. It is used primarily as fuel for portable outdoor stoves and portable outdoor heaters.

No. 2 Diesel Fuel

A distillate fuel oil that has a distillation temperature of 640 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent recovery point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 975. It is used in high-speed diesel engines that are generally operated under uniform speed and load conditions, such as those in railroad locomotives, trucks, and automobiles.

Fuel Oil (Heating Oil)

A distillate fuel oil that has a distillation temperature of 640 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent recovery point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 396. It is used in atomizing type burners for domestic heating or for moderate capacity commercial/industrial burner units.

No. 4 Fuel

A distillate fuel oil made by blending distillate fuel oil and residual fuel oil stocks. It conforms to ASTM Specification D 396 or Federal Specification VV-F-815C and is used extensively in industrial plants and in commercial burner installations that are not equipped with preheating facilities. It also includes No. 4 diesel fuel used for low- and medium-speed diesel engines and conforms to ASTM Specification D 975.

Gas Oil

A liquid petroleum distillate having a viscosity intermediates between that of kerosene and lubricating oil. It derives its name from having originally been used in the manufacture of illuminating gas. It is now used to produce distillate fuel oils and gasoline.

Gasohol

A blend of finished motor gasoline containing alcohol (generally ethanol but sometimes methanol) at a concentration of 10 percent or less by volume. Data on gasohol that has at least 2.7 percent oxygen, by weight, and is intended for sale inside carbon monoxide nonattainment areas are included in data on oxygenated gasoline.

Heavy Gas Oil

Petroleum distillates with approximates boiling ranges from 651 degrees Fahrenheit to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit.

High-Sulfur Distillate Fuel Oil

Distillates fuel oil having sulfur content greater than 500 ppm.

Kerosene

A light petroleum distillate that is used in space heaters, cook stoves, and water heaters and is suitable for use as a light source when burned in wick-fed lamps. Kerosene has a maximum distillation temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10-percent recovery point, a final boiling point of 572 degrees Fahrenheit, and a minimum flash point of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Included are No. 1-K and No. 2-K, the two grades recognized by ASTM Specification D 3699 as well as all other grades of kerosene called range or stove oil, which have properties similar to those of No. 1 fuel oil.

Kerosene-Type Jet Fuel

A kerosene-based product having a maximum distillation temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10-percent recovery point and a final maximum boiling point of 572 degrees Fahrenheit and meeting ASTM Specification D 1655 and Military Specifications MIL-T-5624P and MIL-T-83133D (Grades JP-5 and JP-8). It is used for commercial and military turbojet and turboprop aircraft engines.

Commercial Kerosene-type jet fuel intended for use in commercial aircraft.

Military Kerosene-type jet fuel intended for use in military aircraft.

Lease Condensate.

A mixture consisting primarily of pentanes and heavier hydrocarbons which is recovered as a liquid from natural gas in lease separation facilities. This category excludes natural gas liquids, such as butane and propane, which are recovered at downstream natural gas processing plants or facilities.

Light Gas Oils

Liquid Petroleum distillates heavier than naphtha, with approximates boiling ranges from 401 degrees Fahrenheit to 650 degrees Fahrenheit.

Benzene (C₆H₆)

An aromatic hydrocarbon present in small proportion in some crude oils and made commercially from petroleum by the catalytic reforming of naphthenes in petroleum naphtha. Also made from coal in the manufacture of coke. Used as a solvent, in manufacturing detergents, synthetic fibers, and petrochemicals and as a component of high-octane gasoline.

Asphalt

A dark-brown-to-black cement-like material containing bitumens as the predominant constituent obtained by petroleum processing; used primarily for road construction. It includes crude asphalt as well as the following finished products: cements, fluxes, the asphalt content of emulsions (exclusive of water), and petroleum distillates blended with asphalt to make cutback asphalts.

Lubricants

Substances used to reduce friction between bearing surfaces or as process materials either incorporated into other materials used as processing aids in the manufacture of other products, or used as carriers of other materials. Petroleum lubricants may be produced either from distillates or residues. Lubricants include all grades of lubricating oils from spindle oil to cylinder oil and those used in greases.

Wax

A solid or semi-solid material at 77 degrees Fahrenheit consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons obtained or derived from petroleum fractions, or through a Fischer-Tropsch type process, in which the straight-chained paraffin series predominates. This includes all marketable wax, whether crude or refined, with a congealing point (ASTM D 938) between 80 (or 85) and 240 degrees Fahrenheit and a maximum oil content (ASTM D 3235) of 50 weight percent.

Xylene (C₆H₄(CH₃)₂)

Colorless liquid of the aromatic group of hydrocarbons made the catalytic reforming of certain naphthenic petroleum fractions. Used as high-octane motor and aviation gasoline blending agents, solvents, chemical intermediates. Isomers are metaxylene, orthoxylene, paraxylene.

Liquefied Petroleum Gases (LPG)

A group of hydrocarbon-based gases derived from crude oil refining or natural gas fractionation. They include: ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, normal butane, butylene, isobutane, and isobutylene. For convenience of transportation, these gases are liquefied through pressurization.

Liquefied Refinery Gases (LRG)

Liquefied petroleum gases fractionated from refinery or still gases. Through compression and/or refrigeration, they are retained in the liquid state. The reported categories are ethane/ethylene, propane/propylene, normal butane/butylene, and isobutane/isobutylene. Exclude still gas.

Low-Sulfur Distillate Fuel Oil

Distillate fuel oil having sulfur contents greater than 15 ppm to 500 ppm. Low sulfur distillate fuel oil also includes product with sulfur content equal to or less than 15 ppm if the product is intended for pipeline shipment and the pipeline has a sulfur specification below 15 ppm.

Miscellaneous Products

Includes all finished products not classified elsewhere (e.g., petrolatum, lube refining byproducts (aromatic extracts and tars), absorption oils, ram-jet fuel, petroleum rocket fuels, synthetic natural gas feedstock, and specialty oils). Note: Beginning with January 2004 data, naphtha-type jet fuel is included in Miscellaneous Products.