What’s in a Barrel of Oil?

September 22, 2006 · Filed Under Diesel, Fuels, Gasoline, Governments, Natural Gas, Oil Industry, Oil Refining

Ever wonder what exactly is in a barrel of oil?

Product Percent of Total

Finished Motor Gasoline 51.4%

Distillate Fuel Oil 15.3%

Jet Fuel 12.6%

Still Gas 5.4%

Marketable Coke 5.0%Â

Residual Fuel Oil 3.3%

Liquefied Refinery Gas 2.8%

Asphalt and Road Oil 1.9%

Other Refined Products 1.5%

Lubricants 0.9%

One barrel contains 42 gallons of crude oil. The total volume of products made from crude oil based origins is 48.43 gallons on average – 6.43 gallons greater than the original 42 gallons of crude oil. This represents a “processing gain” due to the additional other petroleum products such as alkylates are added to the refining process to create the final products.

Additionally, California gasoline contains approximately 5.7 percent by volume of ethanol, a non-petroleum-based additive that brings the total processing gain to 7.59 gallons (or 49.59 total gallons).

There’s a nice chart here…