Gas oil

WHERE DOES GAS OIL COME FROM?

Gas oil comes from crude oil. Depending on the way that the crude oil is distilled, a variety of fuels can be made. Please see the illustration below for a more detailed view of how gas oil and different fuels are made from crude oil.

WHAT IS GAS OIL?

Gas oil is the same as normal road diesel but with one difference. Gas oil has been given a red marker dye so VOSA or the Police can easily trace the fuel if it’s being misused. This is important, given that gas oil pays a much lower tax than the diesel you buy at the petrol station.

Gas oil is intended to be used in construction, farming, and heating. It should not be used in vehicles that use public roads. If you did use gas oil on a public road, this could possibly lead to a prison sentence or a hefty fine.

WHO & WHAT USES GAS OIL?

One of the main users of gas oil is the construction sector, with excavators, generators, cranes, dumper trucks and lots of other machines & vehicles. The sheer number of uses in construction gives you an idea of how much fuel the typical construction site will use.

Another common sector is farming. With farmers using many different machines and vehicles on a farm, these will mostly be powered by gas oil. Don’t think it’s just tractors and combine harvesters; farmers also have grain dryers and heaters.

Another sector which you might not normally think of is the smelting industry. They use gas oil to power their furnaces which melt the metals. These need lots of fuel to get the heat up to the required temperatures.

One more sector which doesn’t usually spring to mind is data centers. These need fuel for their backup generators in case they have a power failure and want to avoid hard drives and computers shutting down.