How an Oil Refinery Works
Summary
The article explains how crude oil is processed in refineries using atmospheric and vacuum distillation to separate hydrocarbons, followed by cracking and other treatments to produce products like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. It uses real refinery examples (Chevron Richmond, Jamnagar) and discusses capacity, complexity (Nelson Index), and the scale of the industry, supported by data sources from EIA/IEA.