Short Courses and Conferences

Economics of Petroleum Refining

Two Sessions: March 28-30, 2012 and September 26-28, 2012

The March 14-16, 2012 session in Houston, Texas has been canceled. Please register for one of the other sessions to be held at Colorado School of Mines instead.

Course Syllabus

Crude oil
The cost of crude oil is approximately 70-80% of the cost of operating refineries. Understanding crude oil reserves and characteristics is therefore important.
- World-wide crude supply
- Crude oil pricing
- Future production trends

Petroleum products
Environmental concerns are resulting in increasingly stringent transportation fuels specifications, and this has a significant impact on refinery operations. This session will review product consumption trends and key specifications.
- Product demand trends
  - Gasoline
  - Distillate
  - Fuel oil
- Product specifications
  - Gasoline
  - Jet fuel
  - Diesel
  - Fuel oil
- Product pricing
  - Refining centers
  - Import/export parity

Crude Oil Quality
A discussion of crude oil composition and properties is presented in this session
- Crude oil composition
- Bulk crude oil properties

Refinery process technology
This is an overview of process technology, with a focus on heavy oil conversion options. The range of refinery process technology will be discussed. This session is divided into the following sections:
- Separation
  - Distillation fundamentals
  - Atmospheric distillation
  - Vacuum distillation
  - Gas plants
- Conversion Processes
  - Hydrocracking
  - Fluid catalytic cracking
  - Delayed coking
  - Fluid coking
  - Visbreaking
  - Solvent deasphalting
  - Resid hydrocracking
- Upgrading Processes
  - Hydrotreating
  - Catalytic reforming
  - Isomerization
  - Alkylation
- Supporting Processes
  - Acid gas removal
  - Sulfur recovery
  - Hydrogen production
  - Benzene Reduction
  - Utilities and offsites
  - Product blending

The technology is described along with important feedstock characteristics and typical product yields.

Refinery types, complexity
Refineries vary in type and complexity depending on many factors such as market demand and company investment objectives.
- Refinery types
  - Topping
  - Hydroskimming
  - Cracking
  - Coking
- Nelson complexity index

Other related technology
A number of refineries around the world produce petrochemicals in addition to transportation fuels. The technology involved in producing these products are discussed. An overview of biofuels is also presented.

Petrochemicals
- Aromatics
- Olefins
Biofuels
- Ethanol
- Biodiesel

Refinery margins
Refiners use several types of refinery margins to describe their profitability. Each of these margins is described and how each is applied.

Gross
Variable
Net
Incremental

Refinery Planning and Economics
This session will begin with an overview of refinery economics modeling which involves the linear programming technique. Refinery planning applications are then discussed in detail.
- Linear programming
- Crude oil assays
- Refinery modeling
- Planning applications
  - Crude oil evaluation
  - Production planning
  - Product blending
  - Shutdown planning
  - Configuration studies
  - Technology evaluation

Best practices regarding model building, crude oil evaluation, and other key economics planning applications are also discussed.

Refinery project economics
A case study for a new refinery project is presented.
- Configuration study
- Utility balance
- Capital cost
- Operating cost
  - Fixed
  - Variable
- Yearly cash flow projection
- Discounted rate of return

Options for Improving Refinery Profitability
This session will include a discussion of several means refiners are using to improve profitability
- Refinery/petrochemical integration
- Supply chain business process improvement
- Energy efficiency