Frequently Asked Questions
How much oil is consumed in the United States?
Only a small amount of crude oil is directly consumed in the United States. Nearly all of the crude oil that is produced in or imported into the United States is refined into petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, and jet fuel, which are then consumed. Liquids produced from natural gas processing are also consumed as petroleum products. Renewable biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, are used as substitutes for or as additives to refined petroleum products. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) includes biofuels in consumption of petroleum products.1
In 2015, the United States consumed a total of 7.08 billion barrels of petroleum products, an average of about 19.4 million barrels per day.2
1 EIA uses product supplied as a proxy for U.S. petroleum consumption. Product supplied measures the disappearance of these products from primary sources, for example, refineries, natural gas processing plants, blending plants, pipelines, and bulk terminals.
2 Preliminary data for 2015.
Learn more:
Energy Explained: Crude Oil and Petroleum Products–Use of Oil
Product Supplied data
U.S. petroleum supply and disposition data
Last updated: March 17, 2016
Other FAQs about Crude Oil
- Does EIA have county-level energy production data?
- Does EIA have data on U.S. oil refineries and their locations?
- Does EIA have data on the movement of crude oil, ethanol, and biodiesel by rail and truck?
- Does EIA have data on the type or quality of crude oil?
- Does EIA have maps or information on the location of U.S. natural gas and oil pipelines?
- Does EIA have projections for energy production, consumption, and prices for individual states?
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- How many gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel are made from one barrel of oil?
- How much coal, natural gas, or petroleum is used to generate a kilowatthour of electricity?
- When was the last refinery built in the United States?
- How much of the oil produced in the United States is consumed in the United States?
- How much oil consumed by the United States comes from foreign countries?
- How much oil is consumed in the United States?
- How much oil is used to make plastic?
- How much petroleum does the United States import and export?
- How much shale (tight) oil is produced in the United States?
- What are petroleum products, and what is petroleum used for?
- What countries are the top net importers of oil?
- What do I pay for in a gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel?
- What is the difference between crude oil, petroleum products, and petroleum?
- What is the outlook for home heating fuel prices this winter?
- What types and amounts of energy are produced in each state?