Oil and natural gas power nearly every part of modern life, from the fuel in your car to the plastic in your phone case. Together they supply close to half the world’s total energy, but their uses extend far beyond burning for heat and power. These two fossil fuels serve as raw materials for thousands of products you encounter daily, including medicines, fertilizers, clothing, and road surfaces.
Transportation: The Biggest Use of Oil
Transportation consumes more petroleum than any other sector. In the United States, it accounts for about 67% of all petroleum use. Every time you fill up a car, board a plane, or receive a package delivered by truck, you’re relying on refined petroleum products.
A single 42-gallon barrel of crude oil yields roughly 20 gallons of gasoline, 13 gallons of diesel, and about 4.5 gallons of jet fuel once it moves through a refinery. Gasoline alone makes up around 43% of total U.S. petroleum consumption, averaging about 369 million gallons per day in 2022. Diesel comes second at 20%, fueling freight trucks, trains, construction equipment, and agricultural machinery. Jet fuel, at about 8%, keeps commercial and military aviation running. The remaining barrel produces smaller volumes of heavy fuel oil for cargo ships, propane for rural heating, and various specialty products.
Globally, oil demand continues to grow. The IEA projects world oil demand rising by about 830,000 barrels per day in 2025, driven largely by transportation needs in developing economies. The United States, China, India, Russia, and Japan together consume nearly half the world’s petroleum.
Electricity and Power Generation
Natural gas is the dominant fuel for electricity generation in many countries. In the U.S., gas-fired power plants produced over 1.8 million gigawatt-hours in 2023, more than any other single fuel source. One major reason utilities favor natural gas: it produces roughly 0.96 pounds of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour, compared to 2.31 pounds for coal and 2.46 pounds for petroleum. That’s less than half the carbon intensity of coal for the same amount of electricity.
Natural gas power plants also ramp up and down quickly, making them useful partners for wind and solar energy. When the sun sets or wind dies down, gas plants can fill the gap within minutes, something coal and nuclear plants can’t easily do.
Heating Homes and Cooking
About 61% of U.S. households use natural gas for at least one purpose in the home, most commonly space heating, water heating, and cooking. In the Midwest and West, that figure climbs to 74%. More than half of all U.S. homes heat their living spaces with natural gas, and a similar share uses it for hot water. In the West and Northeast, roughly half of households cook with gas stoves.
Globally, residential use accounts for 28% of all natural gas consumed by end users. The fuel’s popularity in homes comes down to cost and convenience: gas furnaces heat quickly, gas water heaters recover faster than electric models, and many people prefer cooking with a visible flame they can adjust instantly.
Industrial Manufacturing
Industry is the single largest consumer of natural gas worldwide, using 40% of all gas that reaches final users. Factories rely on it for high-temperature heat in processes like cement production, glassmaking, and metal forging. In direct-fired systems, open gas flames reach temperatures that electric alternatives still struggle to match economically at scale.
Oil-derived fuels also power heavy industry. Diesel runs mining equipment, generators at remote sites, and backup power systems for factories. Petroleum coke, a byproduct of refining, serves as a carbon source in aluminum smelting and steel production.
Plastics and Petrochemicals
About 10% of natural gas consumed globally goes to “non-energy use,” meaning it becomes a raw material rather than a fuel. Oil and gas are the starting point for petrochemicals, the building blocks of plastics, synthetic fibers, and thousands of everyday materials.
The key chemicals extracted from oil and gas include ethylene, propylene, and methanol. Ethylene becomes polyethylene, the world’s most common plastic, found in grocery bags, water bottles, and food packaging. Propylene becomes polypropylene, used in car bumpers, food containers, and carpet fibers. Methanol feeds into formaldehyde production for adhesives, plywood, and building insulation. Natural gas also yields ammonia, which has uses beyond fertilizer in industrial cleaning products and refrigeration systems.
Synthetic fabrics like polyester, nylon, and acrylic all originate from petroleum. So do paints, detergents, dyes, and adhesives. If you look around any room in your home, the majority of non-wood, non-metal objects likely contain petroleum-derived materials.
Fertilizers and Food Production
Natural gas plays a quiet but critical role in feeding the world. Over 80% of global ammonia production goes toward nitrogen fertilizers like urea. The process works by extracting hydrogen from natural gas through steam reforming, then combining that hydrogen with nitrogen from the air in what’s known as the Haber-Bosch process.
This single industrial process is estimated to support roughly half the world’s food production. Without synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, crop yields would drop dramatically, and feeding eight billion people would be impossible with current agricultural methods. Sulfur recovered from natural gas processing also goes into sulfuric acid, another key ingredient in fertilizer production.
Medicine and Medical Devices
Most pharmaceuticals have petrochemical origins. The connection is not obvious, but petroleum-derived compounds called carboxylic acids and anhydrides are used to manufacture common drugs including acetaminophen (Tylenol), Novocaine, sedatives, antihistamines, and decongestants. Esters and alcohols from fossil fuels support fermentation processes that produce antibiotics. Even pill coatings and tablet binders come from petroleum-derived glycols and celluloses. Certain chemotherapy drugs contain core ingredients called nitrogen mustards, which are petroleum derivatives.
Medical devices depend on oil-based plastics just as heavily. Pacemakers, artificial heart valves, syringes, blood bags, surgical gloves, catheters, and IV tubes are all manufactured from various plastics. Radiological dyes and traditional X-ray film also contain petrochemical components. Modern healthcare would look completely different without petroleum-based materials.
Roads, Lubricants, and Other Non-Fuel Products
Asphalt, the material covering most of the world’s paved roads, is a heavy residue left over from crude oil refining. About 2% of each barrel of crude becomes asphalt and road oil. While that sounds small, the sheer volume of oil refined daily means millions of tons of asphalt are produced each year for road construction and maintenance.
Lubricants derived from petroleum keep engines, machinery, and industrial equipment running smoothly. Paraffin wax, another petroleum product, shows up in candles, food packaging coatings, crayons, and cosmetics. Petroleum jelly is a household staple for skin care. Propane and butane, separated during gas processing, fuel outdoor grills, portable heaters, and cigarette lighters. Even the synthetic rubber in your car’s tires traces back to petrochemical feedstocks.
The range of products is staggering: roofing materials, ink, guitar strings, contact lenses, lipstick, artificial turf, and solar panel components all rely on oil or gas somewhere in their supply chain. Roughly 6,000 everyday items contain petroleum derivatives, which is why oil and gas remain deeply embedded in the global economy even as energy systems gradually shift toward renewable sources.