A distillate is any liquid product that has been heated into a vapor and then condensed back into liquid form during the refining process. When raw crude oil is boiled inside a refinery’s distillation column, its different chemical components separate based on their boiling points, with lighter vapors rising, cooling, and liquefying at different heights in the tower, creating streams of distillates.
All oil products are distillates, but they are classified in four categories: light, medium, heavy, and residuals. In an April 21, 2026, Barchart article that asked why gasoline and heating oil diverged, I concluded with the following:
