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. EIA uses product supplied to represent U.S. petroleum consumption.
In 2021, the United States consumed an average of about 19.89 million barrels of petroleum per day, or a total of about 7.26 billion barrels of petroleum. This was an increase in consumption of about 1.6 million barrels per day over consumption in 2020. The increase was largely the result of the economy recovering from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Learn more:
How much of the crude oil produced in the United States is consumed in the United States?
How much oil consumed by the United States comes from foreign countries?
Petroleum Product Supplied data
U.S. Petroleum Supply and Disposition data
Monthly Energy Review, Petroleum, Table 3.1: Petroleum Overview
Energy Explained: Crude Oil and Petroleum Products–Use of Oil
Last updated: September 19, 2022, with final annual data for 2021.
Other FAQs about Oil/Petroleum
- When was the last refinery built in the United States?
- Does EIA have data on the movement (transport) of crude oil, petroleum products, fuel ethanol, and biodiesel by rail?
- What do I pay for in a gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel?
- How much coal, natural gas, or petroleum is used to generate a kilowatthour of electricity?
- What is the outlook for home heating fuel prices this winter?
- Does EIA have data on U.S. oil refineries and their locations?
- Does EIA have information on U.S. natural gas and oil pipelines?
- How much oil is consumed in the United States?
- How much oil is used to make plastic?
- What types and amounts of energy are produced in each state?
- How much shale (tight) oil is produced in the United States?
- Does the world have enough oil to meet our future needs?
- What is the difference between crude oil, petroleum products, and petroleum?
- What are petroleum products, and what is petroleum used for?
- How many gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel are made from one barrel of oil?
- Does EIA have forecasts or projections for energy production, consumption, and prices for individual states?
- How many alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles are there in the United States?
- What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?
- Does EIA have data on the type or quality of crude oil?
- What countries are the top producers and consumers of oil?
- How much petroleum does the United States import and export?
- How much oil consumed by the United States comes from foreign countries?
- Does EIA have county-level energy production data?
- Does EIA have information on unplanned outages or shutdowns of U.S. energy infrastructure?
- How much of the crude oil produced in the United States is consumed in the United States?
