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Product
Distillate Fuel Oil
Abbreviation
DFO
Insight Articles
#PS804
Main Product
Diesel Oil / Gas Oil
Segment
Refined Products
Main-Family
Refinery Liquids
Sub-Family
Middle Distll. & Proc. Hydroc.
Physical State

Liquid

Description

Distillate fuel oil is a middle‑distillate petroleum fraction obtained from the atmospheric (and sometimes vacuum) distillation of crude oil, encompassing diesel fuels and the lighter grades of fuel oil. In refinery and statistical usage, it typically covers products sold as No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 fuel oils and diesel fuels — including automotive diesel, heating oil, light marine diesel, and similar streams — as opposed to heavier residual (bunker) fuels.

Chemically and physically, distillate fuel oils boil in the middle range of crude oil distillation — above the naphtha and gasoline fractions (which boil below ~180 °C) and below atmospheric heavy gas oil and vacuum distillates (which begin above ~360–370 °C) — corresponding roughly to the 180–360 °C boiling range. They consist mainly of C10​–C25 hydrocarbons with properties tailored for compression‑ignition engines and burners (cetane index, viscosity, cold‑flow behaviour, sulfur content). They are widely used in on‑highway and off‑highway diesel engines (trucks, locomotives, agricultural machinery), as well as domestic and commercial heating, small power generation, and some marine applications, which is why energy statistics often track “distillate fuel oil” separately as a key transport and heating fuel category.

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Identifiers

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Chemical Data
Specific Gravity
1.00
Crude Data
API Gravity
10
Country
Product Settings
Default
Status
A
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Modified by UserPic   Kokel, Nicolas 6/9/2026 6:51 AM
Added by UserPic   Kokel, Nicolas 6/9/2026 6:32 AM