Petroleum products include transportation fuels, fuel oils for heating and electricity generation, asphalt and road oil, and feedstocks for making the chemicals, plastics, and synthetic materials that are in nearly everything we use. In 2020, of the approximately 7.5 billion barrels of total U.S. petroleum consumption, 45% was finished motor gasoline (includes fuel ethanol), 20% was distillate fuel (heating oil and diesel fuel made from crude oil and biomass-based diesel fuel), and 8% was jet fuel. Over 13 other types of petroleum products made up the other 27% of total petroleum consumption in 2020.

Crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons that exists as a liquid in underground geologic formations and remains a liquid when brought to the surface. Petroleum products are produced from the processing of crude oil and other liquids at petroleum refineries, from the extraction of liquid hydrocarbons at natural gas processing plants, and from the production of finished petroleum products at blending facilities. Petroleum is a broad category that includes both crude oil and petroleum products. The terms oil and petroleum are sometimes used interchangeably.

Petroleum refineries in the United States produce about 19 to 20 gallons of motor gasoline and 11 to 12 gallons of ultra-low sulfur distillate fuel oil (most of which is sold as diesel fuel and in several states as heating oil) from one 42-gallon barrel of crude oil. Many other petroleum products are also refined from crude oil. Refinery yields of individual products vary from month to month as refiners focus operations to meet demand for different products and as they work to maximize profits.

On-highway diesel fuel prices have been higher than regular-grade gasoline prices, on a dollar-per-gallon basis, almost continuously since September 2004. This trend is a break from the previous historical pattern of diesel fuel prices usually being lower than gasoline prices except in cold winters when demand for heating oil pushed diesel fuel prices higher. There are three main reasons why diesel fuel prices have been higher than regular gasoline prices in recent years.

As of January 1, 2019, there were an estimated 7,177 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of total world proved reserves of gross natural gas.