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RFT - Economics of Refining and Oil Quality

Course Dates:    1st - 3rd December 2010

Møller Centre, Cambridge, UK

This course opens the Refinery 'Black Box' and explains the capabilities and constraints of each main process, enabling delegates to be more effective in their jobs.   Crude oil selection and the effects of crude quality on key properties of both intermediaries and finished products are explored.  The value and opportunities presented by quality slacks are identified.

Delegates will discover the key trading profit opportunities through a Processing Deal that has recently been agreed at one of Invincible's fictional refineries.  The Deal not only has the advantage of enabling this highly flexible complex refinery to now run at near capacity, but also highlights how the capabilities of its hardware and the qualities of its product pools generate opportunities for making additional profits.

It is the delegate's ability to identify, evaluate and fully exploit these opportunities that enables additional gains to be realised.  Emphasis is placed in the interface between the refining activity and international oil trading.

As with all Invincible training, the course will consist of a mixture of formal lectures, exercises and plays demonstrating the main commercial aspects of the refining/oil trading interface.

The work on a number of exercises is performed in syndicates, with comprehensive debriefs studying the consequences of the decisions made.  The course expects a high degree of participation from delegates and there is a high staff-to-pupil ratio.

 
Course fees:  UK Pounds Sterling £1,850 plus VAT

Course Timetable

Day 1 Crude oil evaluation and selection criteria;  capabilities and limitations of the main refining processes;  scheduling constraints;  processing deals;  capacity constraints;  costs of crude changeover and reprocessing;  cost of under-running refineries;  crude oil blending;  speciality crudes;  cut points and severities.

Day 2  Product quality measurement;  key product quality parameters (naptha, mogas, middles distillates and fuel oils);  product blending;  additives;  selection of fuel oil viscosity cutter stock;  problem crude oils;  petrochemical return streams refinery operating costs;  refinery fuel selection.  

Day 3  Comparison of crude oil and fuel oil feedstocks;  valuation of reformer feedstocks;  supply chain optimization;  refinery linkages and operational limitations;  refinery benchmarking.

What will you learn?

From this course you will be able to:

• Recognise the capabilities and constraints of the main refining process
• Construct and understand the elements of a processing deal
• Differentiate between the cost and value of refinery feedstocks, intermediates and products
• Perform linear blending calculations

You will understand:

The economic features of the main refining units

• Refiners' flexibilities
• The value of key quality parameters
• Contaminants and the effect of reprocessing
• The value of additives
• Refinery hardware limitations
• The opportunities presented by the refinery from the oil trader's perspective

Who should attend?

Anyone with a role in the refinery/supply/trading interfaces such as:

• Crude and product traders
• Oil trading managers
• Supply programmers and analysts
• Supply managers
• Staff employed in storage and distribution companies