What are petroleum products like gasoline made from? The primary source of petroleum products is crude oil. Petroleum is a broadly defined class of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures that are used in a large variety of products for many different uses. Crude oil was harvested initially in small quantities from natural seeps and pools on the surface and used directly for a variety of purposes.  Over time, and especially in the last 100 years, a huge global industry developed to extract crude oil from below the surface by drilling wells into oil deposits, to transport the oil to refineries for processing into useful “petroleum” products, and to deliver the products to consumers.

Other sources for making petroleum products. In addition to crude oil, refineries and blending facilities use and add other oils and liquids to produce finished products for sale to consumers. These include liquids that condense in gas wells and pipelines (called “lease condensates”), natural gas plant liquids (NGPL) from natural gas processing, and unfinished oils that are produced by partial refining of crude oil (such as naphthas and lighter oils, kerosene and light gas oils, heavy gas oils, and residuum).   Blending facilities add oxygenates (such as ethanol) and various “blending components” to produce finished motor gasoline.  Blenders also add relatively small, but increasing amounts of “biodiesel” (made from processed grain oils and other products) to diesel fuel and even heating fuel.

Synthetic oils and natural gas-to-liquids technology. It is also possible to produce “synthetic” oils from oil (or “tar”) sand, coal, natural gas, and oil shale.  Large oil/tar sand deposits are being converted to oil in Canada and coal has been converted to petroleum for many years in South Africa . Natural gas-to-liquids technology is not yet commercialized and the conversion of oil shale to petroleum has only been attempted on a relatively small, experimental scale.

U.S. refinery and blender production of petroleum products. Petroleum refining results in output greater than the input because of changes in the overall density (specific gravity) of the refined products relative to that of the input oils. This causes an increase or decrease in the volume of products produced and is called a processing loss or gain. U.S. refinery gain averaged 6% from 1996 through 2007.  In 2007, about 44.65 gallons of refined products were produced for every 42 gallon barrel of crude oil input into U.S. refineries.

Record output in 2007. Refiners and fuel blending facilities may reprocess previously refined or blended products, for example to meet a fuel specification or standard. Gasoline and distillate fuels represent the largest share of U.S. refinery and blender production. In 2007, U.S. refiners and blenders produced a record 6.568 billion barrels of refined products.

Besides domestic crude oil production there are other sources of U.S. oil. U.S. domestic crude oil production peaked in 1970 and since then imports of crude oil and of refined petroleum products have contributed to a growing share of the petroleum supplied to meet U.S.demand (see graph at right).  In 2007, net imports of crude oil accounted for 66% of the crude oil refined in the USA. The volume of net crude oil imports (imports less exports) exceeded total crude oil domestic production for the first time in 1994.

Crude Oil Imports. In 2007 the top two countries the U.S. imported crude oil from were Canada and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. imports crude oil from over 60 countries. 71% of net imports of crude oil were from five countries: Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria. Imports from all OPEC countries were 49% of total U.S. crude oil imports.

	Canada (19%)
	Saudi Arabia (OPEC, 15%)
	Mexico (14%)
	Venezuela (OPEC, 12%)
	Nigeria (OPEC, 11%)
	Other OPEC (19%)
	Other Countries (12%)

Foreign Sources of U.S. Refined Products. In addition to crude oil, the United States also imports refined petroleum products. While the United States produced the majority (90 percent) of the petroleum products it uses, the U.S. also imported 2.0 million barrels per day of refined products. Motor gasoline blending components, fuel ethanol, and finished motor gasoline top the list of the imports at 52%. Five countries accounted for 71% of net imports of refined petroleum products in 2007: Canada, Virgin Islands, Russia, Algeria, and Venezuela. (See Sources pie chart on right).

The U.S. exports only small amounts of petroleum and petroleum products to other countries, with nearly all of it going to Canada. In 2007 the U.S. only exported more petroleum coke and other petroleum products (methyl tertiary butyl ether (MBTE), lubricants, and waxes) than we imported.

More information on this subject can be found in the following EIA publications:
    Monthly Energy Review
    Annual Energy Review
    Petroleum Supply Annual, Volume 1
    Monthly data from Petroleum Supply Annual, Volume 2
    Basic Petroleum Information