One barrel explorer
What happens to one barrel?
One barrel of crude does not become only petrol. Refining also produces diesel, jet fuel and other products.
Crude entering refinery
159 L
1 barrel = 42 US gallons
Processing gain
6.0%
Illustrative product volume
≈168.5 L
%
Refining can give more litres of products than the crude that went in, because lighter products are less dense. Nothing is magically created — it is a volume/density effect.
55%
PMS
92.7 L
26%
Diesel
43.8 L
19%
Jet fuel
32.0 L
Real refinery output depends on the type of crude, refinery design, operating conditions, product demand and optimisation choices.
Real refineries also produce LPG, naphtha, fuel oil and more, which this simplified teaching model does not allocate.
Illustrative main-fuel mix used in this model
%
%
%
TOTAL = 100%