Refinery Throughput: Measuring How Much Feedstock a Refinery Processes

Refinery throughput measures the volume of crude oil and other feedstocks processed by a refinery over a period.

A simple daily-average form is:

1Refinery Throughput
2= Total Crude Oil and Feedstocks Processed ÷ Days in Period

Companies commonly report throughput in thousands or millions of barrels per day. The measure is physical volume, not revenue.

Throughput is the denominator behind much of refining analysis

Many refinery economics are expressed per barrel of throughput:

1Refining Margin per Barrel
2= Refining Margin ÷ Throughput Barrels
3
4Operating Cost per Barrel
5= Refining Operating Cost ÷ Throughput Barrels

That makes throughput the bridge between absolute dollars and unit economics.

Suppose a refiner generates $900 million of refining margin while processing 90 million barrels:

1$900M ÷ 90M barrels = $10 refining margin per barrel

The same $900 million generated on 75 million barrels would equal $12 per barrel. Total earnings can therefore move differently from per-barrel economics when throughput changes.

Crude throughput and total throughput are not always the same

Issuer definitions matter.

Marathon Petroleum reports refinery throughputs that include crude oil refined plus other charge and blendstocks. Phillips 66 separately reports crude oil capacity, crude oil processed, and refinery production. Par Pacific reports feedstocks throughput.

A refinery can process materials other than crude oil, including:

• unfinished oils;
• gas oils;
• blendstocks;
• natural gasoline;
• butane; and
• other intermediate feedstocks.

For comparisons, preserve whether the metric is crude-only or total feedstocks.

More throughput does not automatically mean better economics

Throughput can rise because a refinery returned from maintenance, acquired assets were added, or utilization improved. It can also rise into a weak margin environment.

A higher-volume quarter can therefore produce weaker earnings if crack spreads or realized margins fall enough.

The opposite can also happen. Planned downtime may reduce throughput but coincide with unusually strong per-barrel margins.

That is why throughput should be read with:

• Refinery Capacity Utilization;
• Refining Margin per Barrel;
• Crack Spread;
• Refinery Product Yield; and
• Refining Operating Cost per Barrel.

Maintenance changes the interpretation

Refinery turnarounds can remove units from service for inspection, repair, catalyst replacement, and upgrades. During a heavy turnaround period, throughput and utilization may fall while planned turnaround costs rise.

That does not make the lower throughput economically irrelevant. It changes the question from "why is demand weak?" to "how much capacity was intentionally unavailable, and what operating benefit should follow?"

Current filing examples

Marathon Petroleum said second-quarter 2026 crude capacity utilization was 94%, producing total throughput of about 2.9 million barrels per day. Its third-quarter outlook separated crude oil refined from other charge and blendstocks.

Phillips 66 reported worldwide crude oil processed of about 1.9 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026, alongside its crude oil capacity and refinery production figures.

Sources:

• Marathon Petroleum Q2 2026 earnings release
• Phillips 66 Q2 2026 Form 10-Q
• Par Pacific Q2 2026 Form 10-Q

Refinery throughput is best used as a physical input-volume measure. It should not be confused with refinery capacity, refinery production, product sales volume, revenue, or profit.

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