Only about 10% of all existing types of crude oil can be used to produce bitumen. The quality of the bitumen is highly dependent on the composition of the crude oil from which it is derived. Crude oil deposits can vary significantly depending on their geographical location, geological conditions, and origin history. Therefore, the production of bitumen requires careful selection and processing of crude oil sources to achieve high-quality products with the necessary properties.

The bitumen manufacturing process begins with crude oil refining. In this process, raw bitumen is separated from other components of the crude oil. The process starts with distillation. By distilling crude oil in two stages, distillation bitumen is produced. Initially, gasoline, diesel, and heating oil are vaporized at atmospheric pressure. In the subsequent vacuum distillation, the second stage, further oils such as machine oil or gas oil are extracted. The non-vaporized residues are the high-quality distillation bitumen.