![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Bunkering-or-taking-fuel.jpg/640px-Bunkering-or-taking-fuel.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Fuel oil
heavy fraction obtained from petroleum distillation that is burned to generate power / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue at the oil refinery.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Bunkering-or-taking-fuel.jpg/320px-Bunkering-or-taking-fuel.jpg)
Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash point of approximately +40 °C and oils burned in cotton or wool-wick burners. In this sense, diesel is a type of fuel oil. Fuel oil is made of long hydrocarbon chains, particularly alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatics. The term fuel oil is also used in a stricter sense to refer only to the heaviest commercial fuel that can be obtained from crude oil, heavier than gasoline and naphtha.