Classification Detail

This division is based on the transformation of crude petroleum and coal into usable products and also includes the nuclear industries. It constitutes the manufacturing part of the energy sector which begins in section C (extraction) and is also present in section E (electricity, gas and water supply). The dominant process is petroleum refining which involves the separation of crude petroleum into component products through such techniques as cracking and distillation. This division also covers the manufacture for own account of characteristic products (e.g. coke, butane, propane, petrol, kerosene, fuel oil, nuclear fuel etc.) as well as processing services (e.g. custom refining, treatment of nuclear waste). This division includes the manufacture of gases such as ethane, propane and butane as products of petroleum refineries. Not included is the manufacture of such gases in other units (2411), manufacture of industrial gases (2411), extraction of natural gas (methane, ethane, butane or propane) (1110), and manufacture of fuel gas, other than petroleum gases (e.g. coal gas, water gas, producer gas, gasworks gas) (4020). Units that manufacture petrochemicals from refined petroleum are classified in division 24.