Introduction The extraction of lubricating oils from crude oil is a multistep procedure as mentioned earlier in the paper (Speight, 1980, p.71). The reason behind this is the inability to achieve constant liquid phases as certain temperatures. For that matter, single stage extraction of lubricating oils is difficult. In the ancient times, the extraction process was single stage thus giving a product with many undesirable compounds, which could be termed as impurities. This is what led to the invention of the solvent extraction method, which produces high yield of the lubricating oil. Nevertheless, the solvents have been used in the multi-stage extraction process to dissolve the crude oil and make it easy to get sufficient yields of lubricating oils among other products such as asphalt, gasoline, and gases just to mention a few. In solvent extraction, phenol, NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone), and furfural are the preferred solvents given their high yields of the lubricating oils from crude oil. In fact, research conducted indicates that in solvent extraction, the yield is normally as high as 70-80 per cent of the total input. In this extraction, there are also significant quantities of waste materials. When using solvents to extract lubricating oils, a single type of solvent or a combination of two solvents could be used. Research has shown that the yield from a combination of two solvents is greater than that from a one type of solvent. Nevertheless, given the negative health and environmental effects of phenol, furfural is the most preferred solvent, which is mostly combined with NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone). This paper is therefore an in-depth analysis of the extraction of lubricating oils by looking at the methods of extraction, description of processes, purpose of extraction and new developments in lubricating oil extraction with emphasis on furfural extraction method. Methods used to extract oil The extraction of lubricating oils is highly dependent on the solvents used. Several methods can be used to extract lubricating oils after they have passed the other stages of separation. The commonly used method of lube oil extraction entails the use of solvents in the crude oil. These solvents include phenol, NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone), and furfural just to mention a few. Membrane extraction is also another method that could be used in the extraction of lubricating oil (Sankey, 2009, p.6). Below is a typical chart showing the extraction of lube oil using furfural as a solvent. Fig 1. (Speight, 1980, p.89) Phenol Extraction Method This is one of the most recent methods of extracting lubricating oil from crude oil. In this method, phenol is used as the refining solvent. Just like in furfural extraction, the phenol is put in the extraction unit to act as a solvent. However, unlike furfural, phenol is easily recovered after the extraction process (Stratford, Moor, and Pokorny, 1933, p.1). Phenol is selective in the derivation of a variety of distillates thus producing lubricating oils of high quality. Phenol is the preferred solvent by many because of its non-reactive characteristic as well as because it does not decompose in oil during the extraction process unlike other solvents. Secondly, phe