Also known as: petroleum products, oil products, finished products
Petroleum products are the outputs of a petroleum refinery. A typical refinery produces a wide variety of different products from every barrel of crude oil that it processes. Generally, refineries operate to make as much of the high-value light products (gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel) that they can, with the other products acting essentially as by-products.
Some of the major products from a typical refinery are:
Propane – Used as a feedstock for ethylene cracking, or blended into LPG for uses as a fuel
Butane – Used as a feedstock for ethylene cracking, or blended into LPG for uses as a fuel
LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) – A blend of propane and butane used as fuel
Light naphtha – Used as feedstock into ethylene crackers
Gasoline – Used as a transportation fuel for passenger cars and light trucks
Aviation gasoline – Used as an engine fuel in light aircraft
Jet fuel – Used as a fuel for jet aircraft
Kerosene fuel oil – Used as a residential cooking, heating, and lighting fuel
Diesel – Used as a fuel for heavy-duty trucks, trains, and heavy equipment
Industrial gasoil – Used as a furnace fuel in industrial plants and commercial/residential heating (heating oil)
Residual fuel oil – Used as a fuel in power generation and for large ocean-going ships (bunker fuel)
Many refineries also produce specialty or non-fuel products such as:
Asphalt – Used to pave roads and in the manufacture of building materials (e.g., roof shingles)
Base oils – Used to make lubricating oils for use in industrial machinery and vehicle engines
Propylene – Can be separated for sale to the petrochemicals industry
Aromatics – Can be separated from reformate for sale to the petrochemicals industry
Wax – Extracted from lubricating oil and either sold as a feedstock to specialty wax production (as slackwax) or treated at the refinery to a finished wax product.
Grease – Used as a solid lubricating oil, mostly in industrial uses
White oil – A colorless, odorless, tasteless oil used by the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals industries
White spirit – Naphtha range material used as an industrial or household solvent
Sulfur – A contaminant when present in other products, but once separated, it can be sold as a feedstock to the petrochemicals industry
Pet coke – A by-product of the coking process that can be sold as a fuel for power plants and cement plants or to manufacture electrodes and anodes