Lubrication

Lubrication
Oils are commonly used as lubricants. Mineral oils are more commonly used as machine lubricants than biological oils are. Whale oil is preferred for lubricating clocks, because it does not evaporate, leaving dust, although its use was banned in 1980.[11] As no suitable substitute is available, whale oil is still used in space (in small quantities).[12]
Fuel
Some oils burn in liquid or aerosol form, generating light, and heat which can be used directly or converted into other forms of energy such as electricity or mechanical work. To obtain many fuel oils, crude oil is pumped from the ground and is shipped via oil tanker to an oil refinery. There, it is converted from crude oil to diesel fuel (petrodiesel), ethane (and other short-chain alkanes), fuel oils (heaviest of commercial fuels, used in ships/furnaces), gasoline (petrol), jet fuel, kerosene, benzene (historically), and liquefied petroleum gas. A 42 gallon barrel (U.S.) of crude oil produces approximately 10 gallons of diesel, 4 gallons of jet fuel, 19 gallons of gasoline, 7 gallons of other products, 3 gallons split between heavy fuel oil and liquified petroleum gases,[13] and 2 gallons of heating oil. The total production of a barrel of crude into various products results in an increase to 45 gallons.[13] Not all oils used as fuels are mineral oils, see biodiesel and vegetable oil fuel.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, whale oil was commonly used for lamps, which was replaced with natural gas and then electricity.[14]
Chemical feedstock
Crude oil can be refined into a wide variety of component hydrocarbons. Petrochemicals are the refined components of crude oil and the chemical products made from them. They are used asdetergents, fertilizers, medicines, paints, plastics, synthetic fibers, and synthetic rubber.
Organic oils are another important chemical feedstock, especially in green chemistry.