Our Industry

Fuel Production

Our refineries are complex, labour and capital intensive manufacturing facilities that employ state-of-the-art technologies to create useful products from crude oil.

Overview

Through distillation and a series of chemical processes the crude oil molecules are broken, reshaped and recombined into value-added products like: 

• Transportation fuels, including gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel
• Home heating oil
• Lubricants
• Heavy fuel oil
• Asphalt for roads
• Petro-chemical feedstocks, that are further transformed into hundreds of consumer goods and products from plastics, to textile fibres, to pharmaceuticals.

View a more detailed description of the refining process.

Innovation at work

Over the past 40 years, the number of Canadian refineries has decreased, while the capacity of existing refineries has increased. This is because small, less efficient facilities have been replaced with more efficient, expanded facilities. These improvements have been made possible by the new technologies, processes and equipment that result from ongoing research and development in the industry.

Refining Sites and Capacity

Canada is home to 15 refineries and 8 biofuel facilities, operated by Canadian Fuels members and represent the country’s refining capacity and about 80% of the biofuel production capacity. Canada is a net exporter, mainly to the United States, of refined petroleum products and crude oil.

For Canadian Fuels member contact information, please visit the About section.