Oil is used to make far more than gasoline. Refineries produce fuels such as diesel, heating oil and jet fuel, as well as asphalt, lubricants, waxes and petroleum coke. They also supply chemical feedstocks that manufacturers later turn into plastics, synthetic fibers, solvents, paint and other products. The key distinction is that some items leave a refinery as products, while familiar manufactured goods are usually made farther downstream.
What comes from oil besides gasoline?
Oil products fall into two broad groups: fuels that are burned for energy, and materials or feedstocks used in construction, machinery and manufacturing. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) lists transportation fuels, heating and electricity fuels, asphalt and road oil, and chemical feedstocks among petroleum’s uses. EIA’s petroleum-products overview describes the range of products and uses.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
| Product or group | Typical use | Fuel or material? |
|---|---|---|
| Diesel and heating oil | Engines, building heat, industrial heat and power generation | Fuel |
| Jet fuel | Aircraft engines | Fuel |
| Hydrocarbon gas liquids, including propane, ethane and butane | Multiple energy and industrial uses | Fuel or chemical feedstock, depending on product and use |
| Asphalt and road oil | Road and other construction | Material |
| Lubricants | Reduce friction in machinery | Material |
| Waxes and petroleum coke | Specialty and industrial uses | Material or industrial product |
| Petrochemical feedstocks | Starting materials for chemical manufacturing | Feedstock |
Other fuels made from petroleum
Diesel and heating oil
Diesel and heating oil are both part of the distillate fuel oil category. EIA says diesel is used in trucks, buses, tractors, boats, trains and generators. Heating oil is used in building boilers and furnaces, industrial heating and power plants. They share a broad product category but serve different end uses.
Recommended Free Tools
Jet fuel
Jet fuel is another major petroleum product. In EIA’s U.S. petroleum consumption breakdown for 2022, kerosene-type jet fuel accounted for 1.558 million barrels per day. This is a U.S. consumption figure for that year, not a refinery yield or a global estimate.
#1 Best Overall
Propane and other hydrocarbon gas liquids
Propane, ethane, butane and related hydrocarbon gas liquids have several uses, including as fuels and as inputs to chemical production. Their origin is not always a crude-oil refinery: EIA notes that hydrocarbon gas liquids can also come from natural gas processing plants. For that reason, “petroleum products” in consumption statistics should not be read as meaning that every product came from crude oil alone.
Oil products used as materials
Asphalt and road oil
Asphalt and road oil are used in construction. EIA recorded U.S. consumption of 0.373 million barrels per day in this category in 2022. That figure describes consumption in the United States, not the amount produced from each barrel of crude.
Rank #2
Lubricants, waxes and petroleum coke
Lubricants reduce friction in machinery. Waxes and petroleum coke are other product categories in EIA’s U.S. petroleum breakdown. The agency’s 2022 consumption table lists 0.112 million barrels per day of lubricants, 0.006 million barrels per day of waxes and 0.255 million barrels per day of petroleum coke in the United States.
Petrolatum
Petrolatum—the material commonly called petroleum jelly—is one specialty product associated with petroleum. It is a smaller, miscellaneous product stream rather than a major-volume category comparable to transportation fuels.
How oil becomes plastics and other manufactured goods
Refineries can supply petrochemical feedstocks, which chemical manufacturers use to make intermediate materials and finished products. EIA explains: “In the industrial sector, the petrochemical industry uses petroleum as a raw material (a feedstock) to make products such as plastics, polyurethane, solvents, and hundreds of other intermediate and end-user goods.”
Other examples named by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration include synthetic fibers, fertilizers and paint. These are downstream products: oil provides starting materials, but the finished item is made through later chemical and manufacturing processes, not simply separated from crude oil as-is.
EIA’s detailed U.S. consumption table lists 0.237 million barrels per day of petrochemical feedstocks in 2022. This measures U.S. consumption of that category; it does not quantify all the finished products subsequently made from those feedstocks.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsHow much petroleum goes to products besides gasoline?
EIA estimates that the United States consumed about 7.5 billion barrels of petroleum in 2025. Its broad categories were about 43% finished motor gasoline, including fuel ethanol; 19% distillate fuel; 8% jet fuel; 19% hydrocarbon gas liquids; and 11% other types, including biofuels. These are U.S. petroleum consumption shares for 2025, not the recipe for a barrel of crude oil or a measure of refinery output.
Best Value
- Made in USA - Proudly produced in Ohio by a Veteran-owned business
- CONTAINS DUPLICATE PAGES: Durable translucent cover on this Chemistry Laboratory Notebook
- Wire-O binding - book lies flat when open
- Page Dimensions: 8.5" X 11" - 1/4" (6 mm) grid format
- Each copy set consists of 2 fully formatted pages :- an original, numbered permanent record and - an identically numbered perforated carbonless transfer page with "Duplicate" watermark Reorder SKU: LAB-025-7GW-D (Chemistry)
A more detailed EIA table for 2022 reports total U.S. petroleum product consumption of 20.279 million barrels per day. Within it, distillate fuel oil accounted for 3.962 million barrels per day, kerosene-type jet fuel for 1.558 million, and asphalt and road oil for 0.373 million. The same table’s figures for lubricants, petrochemical feedstocks, petroleum coke and waxes are listed above. The years, categories and measures matter: consumption tells how much was used, not how much a refinery made.
There is no single universal answer to what share of a typical crude-oil barrel becomes each product. Output varies with the crude processed and refinery operations, while petroleum consumption categories can include products such as hydrocarbon gas liquids and biofuels that are not all made from crude oil in refineries. The EIA’s overview of oil use provides the product categories and U.S. consumption context; it should not be mistaken for a global refinery-yield chart.
Quick Recap
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: “What are petroleum products, and what is petroleum used for?”
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: “Use of oil.”
- Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration: “Fact Sheet: Refineries.”
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
