VI Energy Politics & Supply Security
Distillates (middle distillates)
The middle-weight products obtained by distilling crude oil in a refinery, chiefly diesel, heating oil and jet fuel.
How it works
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) defines distillate fuel oil as one of the petroleum fractions separated in conventional distillation. The category covers diesel fuels and fuel oils. They power the engines of lorries, cars, locomotives and farm machinery, and the same product family is used for heating and power generation.
In the market, 'middle distillates' means the slice that is heavier than petrol and lighter than residual fuel. Diesel, heating oil and kerosene (jet fuel) come from the same refinery cut, so output can shift between them: if a refinery raises jet fuel production, the diesel share shrinks.
Measurement comes from two places. On the physical side, the EIA publishes weekly US distillate stocks in million barrels and compares them with the five-year average. On the price side, analysts track diesel's margin over Brent, the spread a refiner earns by turning a barrel of crude into diesel.
The trap is that crude and distillates need not move together. If refining capacity or product exports are constrained while crude flows recover, distillate stocks keep falling and margins keep widening. Judging from the crude price that a fuel shortage is over is therefore misleading.
Why it matters here
Distillates, not crude, are the main channel through which an energy shock reaches the economy: freight, farming, construction and military logistics all run on diesel. When refined product exports from big suppliers such as the Gulf recover more slowly than crude, importers pay for expensive diesel even as crude prices calm. Türkiye relies on imports for diesel, so the distillate margin feeds straight into Ankara's bill through pump prices and inflation.