| |
SAP for Oil & Gas: Flexibility to
Adapt to Market Volatility and Complexity
This industry faces the challenge of profitable and sustainable
growth of reserves, production, and delivery of refined products to meet
global, demand for energy. The business environment is increasingly
complex and volatile due to growing geopolitical uncertainty and limits
on access to new resources that require greater complexity and
globalization to exploit.
Learn how SAP can help your industry segment face these challenges:
SAP for Oil & Gas: The Business Process of Upstream
Management
SAP for Oil & Gas solutions support processes related to the
exploration, development, and production of crude petroleum, enabling
key activities such as:
- Exploration and appraisal -- With SAP solutions, you can
maintain your portfolio of assets by finding and developing new
petroleum reserves. Integrated solutions support the full
exploration cycle, enabling you to assess your current asset and
production portfolio, identify exploration targets, acquire leases
and licenses, manage surveys and appraisals, and model reservoirs.
- Exploration and production contract management -- SAP
solutions facilitate the acquisition of petroleum reserves through
mergers, acquisitions, or joint ventures. Our solutions enable
opportunity analysis, strategic planning, venture equity trading, as
well as the development and management of joint operating agreements
and production sharing contracts.
- Field development -- SAP solutions helps you establish
the size of the field, work out the most efficient production
method, and assess whether the field will cover the costs of
development and day-to-day operation and yield a profit.
- Liquid and gas production -- With capabilities for well
mapping, production planning and execution, volume and capacity
management, and quality assurance, you can ensure 24/7 production
cycles and maximize quantities produced. You can also comply with
corporate, industry, and governmental standards for safety and
environmental protection while maintaining all facilities in good
working order.
- Allocation and settlement -- SAP solutions enable you to
allocate volumes and value to owners who have an equity share in a
producing well or to sales contracts, indicating what you have
promised to purchasers. You can also submit reports and pay
royalties to governments and other public bodies.
- Oil field service and repair operations -- With SAP
solutions, you can conduct long-range planning to optimize
resources. You can also deploy and schedule resources as needed,
when customer service requests come in or as planned service
activities occur. Plus, you can outsource services, procure and
source services, and carry out billing and payment activities.
Upstream management is enabled with SAP offerings such as
SAP xApp
Integrated Exploration and Production and
mySAP ERP.
SAP xApp Integrated Exploration and Production:
Driving Value Throughout the Upstream Life Cycle
To stay competitive in today's challenging marketplace, upstream oil
companies must increase operational efficiencies and squeeze every
additional drop of profit out of production. Yet increasingly complex
technologies and business partnerships are creating a tremendous
integration and data challenge -- and stressing operating conditions.
The SAP xApp Integrated Exploration and Production (SAP xIEP)
composite application optimizes upstream operations, including
appraisal, development, production, and abandonment activities --
driving value at all stages of the exploration and production (E&P) life
cycle through online services and systems.
SAP xIEP allows real-time integration of applications and data from
technical, project management, knowledge management, and virtual
collaboration systems -- creating powerful project- and process-based
teaming environments for sharing best practices and organizational
know-how.
With SAP xIEP, you can reduce time to market, accelerate the prospect
evaluation process, and coordinate well planning, rig selection,
scheduling, and drilling across the enterprise. The application can be
adapted and used in all major upstream areas, including exploration,
production management, upstream financials, project and well delivery,
asset management, oil field procurement, and logistics.
SAP
NetWeaver
SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL OIL
FIELD PROGRAMS
After working with
companies that initiate digital oil field of
the future (DOFF) projects, Accenture and
SAP have identified critical factors for a
well-executed DOFF program -- such as
optimizing processes and data, aligning
requirements, and establishing a stable data
architecture and communication
infrastructure. SAP solutions, including SAP
xIEP, can help accomplish these factors.
Read The Report
Our Server
SAP for Oil & Gas: The Business Process of Supply,
Transmission, and Trading
SAP for Oil & Gas supports the management and execution of bulk
supply chain activities, from initial planning to final settlement. Our
solutions automate and streamline key activities, including:
- Bulk supply chain planning and optimization -- SAP
solutions enable you to plan and optimize key aspects of your supply
chain, from long-term forecasting to operational planning,
integrating them into daily operations and scheduling processes. You
can also use information from execution and settlement activities to
create plans, ensuring that all processes within the supply chain
have a common heritage.
- Bulk supply chain operations and scheduling -- With SAP
solutions, you can manage immediate and short-term operations and
scheduling. You can also schedule transportation and pipelines,
manage inventory and contract operations, and capture custody
transfer documentation.
- Bulk supply chain execution and settlement -- SAP
solutions streamline the deal-to-cash process loop, enabling you to
update inventory, monitor product movements, and manage inbound and
outbound invoicing. You can also apply execution information to
planning and operations process cycles for ongoing and long-term
planning.
- Bulk supply chain reporting and analytics -- SAP
solutions support decision-making and strategy setting, helping you
gather activity and performance data from many different sources.
Using flexible report structures, analysts and planners can monitor
supply chain activity at every process step and provide feedback on
an ongoing basis as well as at periodic review points.
- Physical oil and gas commodity trading -- Working with
the most heavily traded commodities in the world, you can capture
deals, manage contracts, monitor positions, and integrate trading
into the bulk supply chain. Because trade volumes are very large,
companies can use bulk transport methods, such as marine vessels and
pipelines, to achieve delivery.
- Oil and gas paper trading and risk management -- With SAP
solutions, you can mitigate the risks of volatile market conditions
-- hedging your positions in commodity markets by executing paper
trades for futures, options, and swaps. You can use a trading
exchange or work directly with partners in over-the-counter deals.
You can also use mark-to-market and value-at-risk calculations to
monitor and evaluate risk from both physical and paper trading.
Supply, transmission, and trading is enabled with SAP applications
such as
mySAP Supply Chain Management and
SAP Global
Trade Management.
SAP for Oil & Gas: The Business Process of Refining
and Manufacturing
SAP for Oil & Gas helps you manage business processes related to the
transformation of crude oil into refined, finished products ready to be
marketed -- supporting process areas such as:
- Refinery operations -- With SAP solutions, you can
procure crude oil and feedstock and manage the associated inventory.
You can forecast demand, plan and schedule production, blend
semifinished products to produce the final refined products, and
deliver finished products to the distribution market.
- Lubes manufacturing operations -- SAP solutions enable
you to plan the demand for lubes products, ensure the supply of base
oils and additives, blend the product, and manage packaging-plant
operations to provide finished products. You can cover all processes
internally, or you can split the processes into separate steps and
outsource each step.
Refining and manufacturing is enabled with SAP offerings such as
mySAP Supply Chain Management and
SAP
Manufacturing.
SAP for Oil & Gas: The Business Process of Downstream
Marketing and Retailing
SAP for Oil & Gas solutions provide comprehensive support for key
marketing and retailing activities, including:
- Marketing planning and execution -- With SAP solutions,
you can design, execute, coordinate, and monitor all marketing
initiatives. You can create personalized and segment-specific
campaigns and monitor enterprisewide profitability at the program,
product, customer, and partner levels.
- Sales planning and account management -- SAP solutions
enable you to streamline your sales planning and promote your most
profitable products to your most profitable customers. You can also
segment customers and target segments with well-differentiated
products and services.
- Opportunity-to-cash management -- SAP solutions provide
complete visibility into opportunities -- enabling you to convert
them into contracts or customer orders. You can take orders, create
proposals, determine pricing, check product availability and
customer credit, and manage and track contracts across all
interaction channels.
- Customer service -- With SAP solutions, you can deliver
superior service through multichannel interaction centers, including
Web-based customer self-services. You can also ensure optimum
customer service levels with powerful tools to analyze service
performance.
- Terminal management -- SAP solutions enable you to
monitor goods movements and compare stock levels in terminal tank
farms. By implementing terminal automation systems, you can optimize
internal processes for taking orders and managing tank stocks and
shipments.
- Hydrocarbon products transportation -- With SAP
solutions, you can plan and execute bulk and packaged-products
shipments. You can calculate freight costs for bulk and non-bulk
shipments with evaluated receipt settlement for invoice processing
with carriers. You can also use end-of-day data collation to
consolidate actual delivery quantities with scheduled quantities.
- Service station fuel management -- SAP solutions enable
you to derive fuel sales quantities from point-of-sale (POS) data or
calculate them from meter readings that are reconciled with physical
dip readings. You can analyze and adjust fuel pricing throughout
retail networks to remain competitive.
- Convenience retailing -- With SAP solutions, you can
manage pricing and promotions, merchandising activities, and
accounting at stores and headquarters. You can use POS data to
analyze customer loyalty, and store employees can access the system
at headquarters to optimize store operations.
Downstream marketing and retailing is enabled with SAP applications
such as
mySAP Customer Relationship Management and
SAP Oil & Gas Secondary Distribution.
Please also see
Training & Talent Management
Back to
the Top
Also
HR &
Training
Back to
the Top
Adventures in Energy Online Interactive Module
Adventures in Energy is an interactive Flash-based
demonstration of some of the cutting-edge technologies being used in the
exploration, production, and transportation of oil and natural gas.
Explore some of the innovative practices that are being used to provide
us with the safe, reliable energy supply that helps to power our
everyday lives.
Adventures in Energy provides an exciting overview of where oil and
gas comes from, the industry's use of cutting-edge technologies and
environmental practices to find and develop these resources, and the
many innovative products made from oil and natural gas that you use
everyday.
Classroom Energy
Energy Outlook
Each year, ExxonMobil prepares a detailed, long-term outlook of
worldwide economic growth and energy demand. We use this outlook to help
us plan our business.
View presentation
Our Server or
read more.
Oilfield Glossary
How an oil refinery works
Ever wondered how an oil refinery works? Now you can learn more
about the technology involved in refining crude oil into the
thousands of petroleum-based products you use everyday.
Related HowStuffWorks
Articles
Oil Education
More Great Links
Guide to OPEC
OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, was founded
at a conference in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1960. The principal aim of the
organization is to coordinate crude production output in order to
protect the interests of its 11 member states.
OPEC production estimates- table
OPEC production map
Map of OPEC member countries
Figures for total OPEC production since 1998
Percentage shares of OPEC output since 1988
Glossary of Terms
OPEC calendar
| An Example from,the American Petroleum Institute
Industry Sectors
[1]Exploration
& Production (Upstream)
[2]Fuel
Segments
[3]Marine
[4]Marketing
Marketing Infrastructure
The right product, at the right place, at the right
time.Marketing
Infrastructure
File Size: 1.45 MB / Version Date: December 2006 / License: Free
[5]Pipeline
Welcome to
pipeline 101
| Pipelines
are really the energy lifelines of almost every daily
activity. Pipelines play a role in
everyone's lives and are essential to the nation's
industries. Yet few people are aware of the work done by
the country's 200,000-mile petroleum pipeline network
that delivers the products that are integral parts of
America's economy. It is a network that delivers the
nation's crude oil and petroleum products (such as
gasoline, jet fuel, home heating oil) reliably, safely,
efficiently, and economically.
Why Pipeline 101?
The term "101" refers to introductory courses on any
given topic. "Pipeline 101" seeks to be your
introductory resource for energy pipeline information,
expanding in the future to provide more comprehensive
content to meet the needs of various audiences. We
invite you to explore the pipeline industry, from the
steel in the ground, to the people and technologies that
ensure reliable energy delivery and safe operation.
The information in Pipeline 101 has been compiled
from industry, government and research experts and
published materials.
|
|
[6]Refining
How a Refinery Works
Explore the critical role refining plays in unleashing the potential of
a barrel of crude oil and turning it into the specially formulated
products that we rely on every day. These products include gasoline,
agricultural chemicals, heating oil, plastics, and even prescription
medicines. Demonstrated in this section are the sophisticated
technologies involved in several key processes, including distilling,
reforming, blending and treating that safely and efficiently help
deliver energy in all its usable forms to American consumers.
Click here to view an interactive Flash HTML file
Refinery Turnarounds
A turnaround is a planned, periodic shut down (total or partial) of a
refinery process unit or plant to perform maintenance, overhaul and
repair operations and to inspect, test and replace process materials and
equipment.
Refining Safety
API members are committed to protecting the environment and the health
and safety of all that share it. API's safety activities and programs
support this commitment through research, standards development,
training, information sharing and transfer and advocacy. In addition,
API member company refineries comply with safety regulations such as OSHA
Process Safety Management (PSM).
[7]Service
and Supply
Service and supply companies are an
integral part of the oil and natural gas industry. In the
United States, there are more than 10,000 companies identified
as providing oil and natural gas services and supplies to the
industry. Many of these are local companies that provide oil
and gas services to operations in their area, while others are
global manufacturers selling products for oil and gas operations
around the world. They include:
Manufacturers of equipment used in all
aspects of the oil and natural gas industry. This includes some
of the most technologically advanced equipment used in the
search for oil and gas. This equipment allows the industry to
operate in an environmentally safe way. These include
manufacturers of equipment used in refineries as well as in oil
and natural gas exploration and production.
Drilling contractors, who supply both the
drilling rigs and the crews that search for oil and natural gas
both onshore and offshore. Economists often measure the health
of the industry based on the number of drilling rigs that are
operating both on land and in the waters off the Outer
Continental Shelf in the ocean. These drilling rigs undertake
the initial search for oil and gas, and when their work is
completed, they move on to the next site.
Service companies that assist oil and gas
producers in maintaining the facilities that keep oil and
natural gas production flowing.
Engineering companies that design and
support the sophisticated oil and natural gas operations,
including those operations that improve the refining capacity of
existing refineries or companies that design complex systems for
oil and natural gas exploration and production.
Inspection companies that provide qualified
inspectors in all areas of the industry, including aboveground
storage tank inspectors and pipeline inspectors.
[8]Information
Technology
[9]Finance
& Accounting
Sponsored by the General Committee on
Finance (GCF), which is composed of oil industry chief financial
officers, the Finance and Accounting Program of the API focuses
on issues related to accounting, internal audit, insurance and
risk management. These issues are both external -- formulating
industry responses to government, regulatory and legislative
initiatives, and internal -- examining alternative means of
handling problems that arise in the oil and natural gas finance
areas as a result of changes in the general business and
petroleum environment. In addition, the General Committee serves
as a source of expertise to the API Board of Directors on
financial matters pertinent to the industry and to the
management of the Institute on internal financial matters.
The General Committee on Finance (GCF)
is composed of industry Chief Financial Officers. The
committee's activities include exchanging information related to
the financial status of the industry. The GCF is composed of an
Executive Committee and four subcommittees:
- Accounting: The purpose of the
Accounting Committee is to share information, discuss best
practices, and study more efficient accounting methods in
use by petroleum companies.
- Internal Audit: The focus of the
Internal Audit Committee is on how petroleum companies
manage and evaluate their programs, services and assets
financially.
- Upstream Accounting: The Upstream
Committee's goal is to focus on accounting and financial
mechanisms being utilized by the industry's exploration and
production sector.
- Risk Control: The Risk Control
Committee is composed of corporate risk managers and the
goal of the committee is to identify best practices relative
to the control of corporate risks.
External Links:
Outside Agencies & Organizations
Publications & Information of Interest
|
The World
Of Chevron- History
| Steeped in a colorful
tradition, Chevron has more than 120 years of
history producing, refining and marketing
petroleum products. Learn about the science of
exploration, and take a look at what happens to
crude oil once it's produced.
Chevron History — Read about
Chevron's history since its first well strike in
California in 1876, chronicled by time period
and topic.
What is Crude Oil? — Read about the
history and science of crude oil — once known as
"snake oil" and "black gold."
Petroleum Prospecting Primer — Look
underground to see how modern petroleum
prospecting works to find an oil or gas field.
What is a Refinery? — Learn how
crude oil becomes gasoline and other products.
What is a Service Station? — Read
about service station technology and design.
Employee Resource & Training Center
— An internationally recognized training center
for offshore oil & gas production. |
|
|
Chevron
Corporation at Wikipedia
Publications EXXON MOBIL
Exxon Mobil at Wikipedia
Reports and publications BP
|
Frontiers |
|
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Lubricants at large
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Issue 16
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Archives |
BP at Wikipedia
Royal Dutch Shell
at Wikipedia
Shell Oil at
Wikipedia
Earth From World Book @ NASA
World Book Encyclopedia and NASA worked together to provide this article
about Earth.
+ Read More
Join geologist Richard Cowen for an exploration of the relationship between
geology and ancient people.
Few people know that iron was first mined for face painting.
Join visiting geologist Richard Cowen for an exploration of
the relationship between geology and ancient people.
Petroleum
Engineering at Wikipedia
Petroleum engineering is involved in the exploration and
production activities of
petroleum as an upstream end of the
energy sector. Upstream refers to the process of finding and
extracting oil, which is usually buried deep beneath the earth's
surface, to provide a continuous supply to consumers
"downstream". Petroleum engineering covers a wide range of
topics, including economics,
geology,
geochemistry, geomechanics,
geophysics,
oil drilling, geopolitics, knowledge management, seismology,
tectonics, thermodynamics, well logging, well completion, oil
and gas production, reservoir development, and pipelines.
Overview
Petroleum engineering has become a technical profession that
involves extracting oil in increasingly difficult situations as
the "low hanging fruit" of the world's oil fields are found and
depleted. Improvements in computer modeling, materials and the
application of statistics, probability analysis, and new
technologies like
horizontal drilling and
enhanced oil recovery, have drastically improved the toolbox
of the petroleum engineer in recent decades. As mistakes may
be measured in millions of dollars, petroleum engineers are held
to a high standard. Deepwater operations can arguably be
compared to space travel in terms of technical challenges.
Arctic conditions and conditions of extreme heat have to be
contended with. High Temperature and High Pressure (HTHP)
environments that have become increasingly commonplace in
today's operations require the petroleum engineer to be savvy in
topics as wide ranging as thermohydraulics, geomechanics, and
intelligent systems.
Petroleum engineers must implement high technology plans with
the use of manpower, highly coordinated and often in dangerous
conditions. The drilling rig crew and machines they use become
the remote partner of the petroleum engineer in implementing
every drilling program. Understanding and accounting for the
issues and communication challenges of building these teams
remain just as vital to the petroleum engineer as ever.
The
Society of Petroleum Engineers is the largest
professional society for petroleum engineers and publishes
much information concerning the industry. Petroleum engineering
education is available at 17 universities in the
United States and many more throughout the world - primarily
in oil producing states - but not only top producers, and some
oil companies have considerable in house petroleum engineering
training classes.
Petroleum engineers have historically been one of the highest
paid engineering disciplines; this is offset by a tendency for
mass layoffs when oil prices decline. According to a survey
published in Dec 2006 the average income was $116,834.
Types
Petroleum engineers divide themselves into several types:
-
Reservoir engineers work to optimize production of oil
and gas via proper well placement, production levels, and
enhanced oil recovery techniques.
-
Drilling engineers manage the technical aspects of
drilling both production and injection wells.
-
Subsurface engineers (also known as completion
engineers) manage the interface between the reservoir and
the well, including perforations, sand control,
artificial lift, downhole flow control, and downhole
monitoring equipment.
See also
Engineering
External Links
-
The Society of Petroleum Engineers
-
Marietta College, Edwy R. Brown Department of Petroleum
Engineering
-
KFUPM Department of Petroleum Engineers
-
PennEnergyJOBS; The Career Site for Petroleum Engineers
-
Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary: An Online Glossary of
Oilfield Terms
-
The Colorado School of Mines, Department of Petroleum
Engineering
-
Imperial College, London
-
USC Petroleum Engineering, Los Angeles
-
The Indian School of Mines
-
Mining University of
Leoben,
Austria
-
Texas A&M University, Department of Petroleum Engineering
-
Texas Tech University, Petroleum Engineering Department
-
The University of Texas at Austin, Petroleum & Geosystems
Engineering
-
University of Oklahoma, Mewbourne School of Petroleum
Engineering
-
Stanford University, Department of Petroleum Engineering
-
The University of Tulsa, Petroleum Engineering Department
-
Indian School of Mines, Department of Petroleum Engineering
-
University of Missouri-Rolla, Department of Geological
Sciences & Engineering
-
Montana Tech of the University of Montana, School of Mines &
Engineering
-
School of Petroleum Engineering, UNSW, Sydney
-
Institut Français du Pétrole
-
Australian School of Petroleum
-
Heriot Watt, Institute of Petroleum Engineering
-
NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
Department of
-
LSU, Craft & Hawkins School of Petroleum Engineering
Petroleum Engineering & Applied Geophysics
-
Robert Gordon University, The Energy Centre
-
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Petroleum Engineering
Department
-
Institute of Petroleum Engineering, TU Clausthal, Germany
-
JobMonkey - Petroleum Engineering Jobs Overview and Listings
-
Universidad de Oriente, Monagas, Venezuela
See also
Geophysical Prospecting:
How to find oil!
The Making of Oil: Birth of a Reservoir. Schlumberger Excellence in
Educational Development.
What is a Reservoir?. Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development.
Rise and Fall of the North Sea. Schlumberger Excellence in Educational
Development.
What is a Reservoir? - What are some characteristics?. Schlumberger
Excellence in Educational Development.
Evolution of the Reservoir. Schlumberger Excellence in Educational
Development.
History of jet fuels (by
AirBP)
Aviation Fuels (by
Chevron)
From
 The
Oxford Princeton Programme, Inc.
Trading, Derivatives, Hedging and Risk Management
Trading, Derivatives, Hedging and Risk Management Competency Path
A Guided Tour of Commodity Derivatives
Our Server
Back to the Futures
Our Server Options Always Die
Our Server Charting a Course through Commodity Risk
Our Server All Aboard the Hedge Express
Our
Server Forwards and Swaps from the Flight Deck
Our
Server Hedging with Futures and Options
Our Server Understanding the Value-at-Risk Concept
Our Server Using Weather Derivatives
Our Server Tracking Correlation Risk
Our Server Hedging Foreign Exchange Exposures
Our Server Introduction to Credit Risk Management
Our Server
The Oil
Industry:
Power Industry, Oil Industry, and Natural Gas Industry Competency Paths
Industry Overview
An Introduction
to the Oil Industry
Our Server
Wonders of
Petroleum Chemistry Our
Server
Commercial Management of Refining
Petroleum
Refining Made Easy
Our Server Chemistry in
the Petroleum Refinery
Our Server
Petrochemicals
A Basic Overview of Petrochemicals
Our Server
The Natural Gas Industry
An Overview of The Natural Gas Industry Our
Server
Gas Markets and Deregulation Our
Server
The Power Industry Introduction to the Power
Industry
Our Server
Power Trading in Europe OurServer
European Power Markets and Infrastructure
OurServer
The Coal Industry
Spotlight on the Coal Industry Our Server
Majors & Mini-Majors. Majors are the largest integrated oil
companies. They are huge, international, fully integrated oil companies
and include companies such as BP Amoco, Exxon Mobil, and Shell.
Mini-majors are integrated oil companies who operate on a smaller scale.
These include Conoco and TotalFinaElf. Integrated companies are
involved in every part of the oil industry, from exploration and
production through to retailing. Non-integrated companies are
involved in just one or two activities in the oil industry, like
refining or marketing. Upstream refers to any activity "upstream"
of refining and so covers all exploration and production activities.
Upstream activities include locating oil, drilling wells, producing
crude oil, and moving it to a refinery. Downstream is any
activity "downstream" of and including refining. Downstream activities
include refining, supply and logistics, trading, and marketing.
Primary distribution is transporting crude oil from the oil field
where it is produced to a refinery, or transporting petroleum products
from a refinery to an oil terminal. Secondary distribution is the
transportation of products from an oil terminal to an end-user, such as
a gasoline filling station or heating oil supplier. A wellhead is the top of a well.
Refining is the process of separating out the various fractions
present in crude oil and converting them into usable products. An oil field is an oil reservoir that is
formed as oil flows upward and reaches an impermeable rock layer where
it is trapped. An oil seep is oil that reaches the
surface of the earth as it naturally flows upward to an area where the
pressure is less. An anticline is where the rocks have
been formed into a dome or arch under the surface of the earth. Oil and
gas are often found in a reservoir below the anticline. A beam pump, which is also known as a nodding
donkey, is installed to pump the oil out of a well artificially. A blow-out is where oil in a reservoir
is forced upward by pressure in a violent uncontrolled surge when the
drill breaks through the impermeable rock layer. This surge is not only
hazardous, but wastes oil and pollutes the surrounding area. Associated gas: Associated gas is gas that is found with
oil in a reservoir. Non-associated gas is gas that is found on
its own in a reservoir rather than with oil. A Christmas tree is an assembly of pipes
and valves installed at the wellhead, or top of the well. This pipe and
valve assembly controls the flow of oil from the well. API Gravity: API (American Petroleum Institute)
gravity is an arbitrary scale that measures the density of crude oil in
degrees. The higher the API gravity, the less dense or lighter the crude
is. Gases: Gases are finished oil products that include liquefied
petroleum gases, known as LPGs, such as propane and butane. These
products are used for domestic heating and cooking. They are also used
in the petrochemical industry. Gasolines are finished oil
products that include motor gasoline and naphtha. Motor gasoline is used
as a fuel for cars. There are many different grades of gasoline used
throughout the world. Naphtha is used for producing gasoline and for
making petrochemicals Grades are the types of crude oils produced
from different oil fields. These crude oils are all unique, and there
are hundreds of different types. Hydrocarbons are compounds made
of the basic elements of hydrogen and carbon. They are the building
blocks of all fossil fuels. Middle distillates are finished oil
products that include kerosene, jet fuel, and heating oil. Kerosene is
used for lamps and home heating. Jet fuel is similar to kerosene but is
used for aviation and has to meet very strict quality standards. Heating
oil, or gasoil, and diesel are used as a fuel for road vehicles and for
industrial and home heating. Refining yields are the volume of
each product produced from crude oil measured as a percentage. This
percentage varies depending on the quality of the crude oil and the type
of refinery. Residuals are finished oil products that include
fuel oil that is used as a heating oil, as a fuel in power stations, and
for powering ships. They also include special products such as
lubricants which are used as engine oils, and bitumen, which is used for
roads and roofing. Separation is the first step in the refining
process where crude oil is separated, or distilled, into groups of
hydrocarbons called fractions. Sour crude oils contain a lot of
sulfur. Sweet crude oils contain less sulfur. Treatment is
the refining process that puts the "finishing touches" to intermediate
components in order to turn them into finished products. These include
blending, purifying, and improving products to meet certain
specifications.
The purpose of a refinery is to create market grade products with the
qualities and quantities required for its physical market through
separation, conversion, and blending. This is possible because of a
basic property of crude oil.
Refining is based on the fact that crude oil is not a single compound
but a mixture of different hydrocarbon compounds that boil at different
temperatures. If I were to heat a barrel of crude oil, you would see
that each type of hydrocarbon boils and vaporizes at different
temperatures. When these vapors condense we are able to separate them
into a variety of useful petroleum products.
Having said that, let’s make it a little more complicated!
Refining is a three-stage process: separation, conversion,
and blending. We’ll look at each of these stages more closely in
a few moments, but for now, I’ll give you a quick overview of each of
them.
Alkylation: A polymerization process uniting olefins
and isoparaffins: particularly, the reacting of butylene and isobutane,
with sulfuric acid or hydrofluoric acid as a catalyst, to produce a
high-octane, low sensitivity blending agent for gasoline. Aromatics: Cyclic hydrocarbons in which five, six,
or seven carbon atoms are linked in a ring structure with alternating
double and single bonds. Commons aromatics in refinery streams are
benzene, toluene, xlyene, and naphthalene. Atom: The smallest component of an element that has the
same chemical properties of that element. Atoms consist of a nucleus,
which contains protons and neutrons, and electrons that revolve around
or "orbit" the nucleus. Bond: An electrical force that
ties two atoms together. Blending: One of the final operations in refining, in which
two or more components are mixed to obtain a specified range of
properties in the finished product. Butane isomerization unit: A unit that takes butane, a gas, and
converts it into iso-butane. This product will end up in the gasoline
blend. Catalytic Reformer: A rearranging or alteration unit. The
cat reformer takes the molecules and moves them around to create
products that are required for the refinery. Cetane Number: A number of designating the percentage of pure
cetane in a blend of cetane and alphamethylnaphthalene that matches the
ignition quality of a diesel fuel sample. This number, specified for
middle distillate fuels, is synonymous with the octane number of
gasolines. Coking: A thermal cracking refining process
which uses high temperature and pressure to break up large hydrocarbon
molecules into smaller ones with the generation of petroleum coke. Combining: The type of conversion that takes
smaller molecules and unites them to make larger molecules. Combining is
cracking in reverse, which results in a volume decrease. Conversion: Conversion is where fractions from the separation or
distillation process are transformed into intermediate components that
eventually become finished products. Cracking: The breaking down of higher-molecular-weight
hydrocarbons to lighter components by application of heat. Cracking in
the presence of a catalyst improves product yield and quality over those
obtained in simple thermal cracking. Fractions are the generic names for all
the compounds or groups of hydrocarbons that boil between any two
temperatures. Gas processing: A type of conversion that takes a mixed
stream of gases and separates them into individual products. The gas
plants purpose in life is to take these mixed streams and to separate
them into single products that continue on in the refinery. Hydrotreating: A process used to saturate olefins and improve
hydrocarbon streams by removing unwanted materials such as nitrogen,
sulfur, and metals utilizing a selected catalyst in a hydrogen
environment. |
