First two days’ programs run from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM; last day 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Breaks are scheduled in the morning and afternoon.

Day One

• 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 and consumption
  • Future production trends
  • Key crude oil qualities

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

• Crude Oil Quality
  A discussion of crude oil composition and properties is presented in this session.
  • Crude oil composition
  • Typical elemental breakdown
  • Hydrocarbon types
  • Bulk crude oil properties
  • API gravity
  • Sulfur content
  • Distillation range
  • Other important properties

• Refinery process technology
  Refineries are designed to match their local product market and crude oil supply. For this reason, refiners utilize a variety of process units to achieve economic viability. This session presents an overview of major process options, with a focus on heavy oil conversion options. The range of refinery process technology will be discussed. The discussion is divided into the following sections:
  • Crude Oil Separation
    • Distillation fundamentals
    • Atmospheric distillation
    • Vacuum distillation
    • Gas plants

Day Two

• Refinery process technology (Continued)
  • 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
  • Other Related Technology
    • Petrochemicals
      • Aromatics
      • Olefins
    • Lube oil

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

Day Three (half-day)

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