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Home » Learning Programme Directory » Oil, Gas & Energy » Refining

Refinery - Operations, Technology, Economics, Commercial and Trading

Who should attend: 

All people inside and outside the oil & gas and related industries, who want to understand or extend their understanding of the operations, economics and commercial aspects of refinery including:

  • Management and supporting staff.
  • Project, Engineering, Operations, Plant Maintenance, Technical, Exploration & Production
  • Supply, Trading, Sales and Marketing
  • Planning, Project Development, Business Performance Analysis, Business Development
  • Finance, Investment Analysis & Appraisal, Bankers, Stock Market, Accountants, Analysts, Economists, Risk Managers, Lawyers, Consultants, contractors, subcontractors, etc
  • Legislators, Government, Regulatory and Development Agency officials, etc
5 days
Course aims: 

This programme is designed to equip participants with a comprehensive understanding of the overall process operation of an integrated petroleum refinery and the extensive vocabulary unique to this industry. Each refinery process will be presented, covering operating description and conditions.

Participants will gain good knowledge of crude oil properties and fuel product tests; environmental pressures on the oil industry; the results of these pressures on fuel specifications; and the changes demanded of the oil industry.

The technical characteristics of major process units and how they impact refinery margin will be outlined. The programme will also provide participants with good understand the economic and commercial aspects of the business, including knowledge of crude/product trading and margin management.
Course outline: 
  • Overview: Origin, characteristics and classifications of crude oil, world demand & supply, recent developments and trends
  • Refinery flowsheet: refinery operations, terminology, storage, interrelationship of processes
  • Product slate, motor fuels, petrochemical feedstocks, specifications
  • Feedstocks: chemistry, properties and types of crude oils, effects of properties on refinery operation
  • Refining processing: Desalting, atmospheric and vacuum distillation
  • Heavy oil processing: trends in technology for high-boiling feedstocks with high sulfur, nitrogen and metal content;
  • Processes for improving fuel performances: reforming, isomerization, alkylation, polymerization, hydrotreating, hydrogenation
  • Blending for product specification: octane, cetane, oxygen, sulfur, olefin, and aromatics contents
  • Gas plants
  • Health and safety in refinery operations: products and equipment related risks, hazard identification and management systems
  • Environmental concerns and effects on oil product specifications,
  • Air Pollution Control
  • Prices of crude oil and products
  • Operating costs
  • Economic margin of a refinery
  • Refining industry evolution, trends and future
  • Refining management