Refinery product yield describes the volume and mix of refined products produced from refinery throughput.
A product-specific yield can be expressed as:
1Gasoline Yield
2= Gasoline and Gasoline Blendstock Production Ć· Total Refinery ThroughputThe same logic applies to distillates, jet fuel, fuel oil, asphalt, and other products.
Yield is about output mix, not refinery profit
Two refineries can process the same number of barrels and produce very different product slates.
Differences come from configuration, crude quality, unit availability, seasonal blending, and operating choices. A complex refinery with catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, coking, and desulfurization capacity may be able to shift more feedstock into high-value transportation fuels than a simpler plant.
That does not mean one yield percentage is universally "better."
The economic value depends on what the market is paying for each product.
Total liquid yield can exceed or fall below 100%
Refining changes molecular structure and density. Measured liquid-product volume can therefore differ from input volume.
A refinery can show a total liquid-volume yield near or above 100% even though matter was not created. The volume relationship reflects processing and product density, not a free source of economic profit.
Par Pacific, for example, reports product yields as percentages of total throughput and separately reports gasoline, distillates, fuel oils or asphalt, and other products.
Product yield helps explain margin capture
A headline crack spread is only a simplified market benchmark. The refinery's actual product slate determines how much exposure it has to gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other market prices.
Suppose two refineries face the same gasoline and diesel benchmark, but one produces materially more distillate during a period when diesel cracks are stronger. Its realized economics can outperform even if crude throughput is identical.
A useful analysis is:
1Throughput
2ā Product Yield / Slate
3ā Market Prices by Product
4ā Realized Refining MarginThat is one reason a benchmark crack spread should not be treated as the refinery's actual margin.
Preserve the denominator and product definitions
Issuer tables can differ in what they call throughput and how they classify products.
Before comparing yields, check:
- crude-only versus total-feedstock throughput;
- gasoline versus gasoline blendstocks;
- distillates versus diesel and jet fuel separately;
- petroleum coke and sulfur treatment;
- internally consumed fuel;
- asphalt and fuel-oil classification; and
- whether volumes are gross or net of transfers.
Current filing examples
Par Pacific reported second-quarter 2026 total product yield of 97.4% at its Hawaii refinery and 95.0% at its Montana refinery, with substantially different gasoline, distillate, and fuel-oil or asphalt mixes.
Phillips 66 targets a high clean-product yield as part of its refinery operating strategy, illustrating that product mix is an operating objective separate from raw utilization.
Sources:
Refinery product yield is a physical output-mix measure. It should not be confused with sales mix, realized pricing, refining margin, or overall refinery efficiency.
Continue Research
Continue from the concept into the Grizzly Bulls research surface that best matches the next question. These links are research continuations, not recommendations or required steps.
Compare refiners
Continue into stock comparison for product slate, crude mix, realized margins, utilization, costs, and valuation context.
Explore more topics in the Financial Research Encyclopedia.