206 PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMICS, AND POLITICS
The refining industry has been the subject of the four major forces
that affect most industries and which have hastened the development of new petroleum refining processes:
1. The demand for products such as gasoline, diesel, fuel
oil, and jet fuel
2. Feedstock supply, specifically the changing quality of
crude oil and geopolitics between different countries
and the emergence of alternate feed supplies such as
bitumen from tar sand, natural gas, and coal
3. Environmental regulations that include more stringent regulations in relation to sulfur in gasoline and
diesel, and
4. Technology development such as new catalysts and
processes.
Petroleum refineries were originally designed and operated to
run within a narrow range of crude oil feedstock and to produce a
relatively fixed slate of petroleum products. Since the 1970s, refiners
had to increase their flexibility in order to adapt to a more volatile
environment. Refiners, to increase their flexibility within existing
refineries, may use several possible paths. Examples of these paths
are change in the severity of operating rules of some process units
by varying the range of inputs used, thus achieving a slight change
in output. Alternatively, refiners can install new processes and this
alternate scenario offers the greatest flexibility, but is limited by the
constraint of strict complementarity of the new units with the rest
of the existing plant, and involves a higher risk than the previous
ones. It is not surprising that many refiners decide to modify existing processes.
The means by which a modern refinery operates depends not
only on the nature of the petroleum feedstock, or, nowadays, the
different crude oils that make up the blended feedstock, but also
on its configuration (i.e., the number of types of the processes that
are employed to produce the desired product slate). This is strongly
influenced by the specific demands of a market. Therefore, refineries need to be constantly adapted and upgraded to remain viable
and responsive to ever changing patterns of crude supply and product market demands. As a result, refineries have been introducing
increasingly complex in order to produce higher yields of, for example, hydrocarbon fuels, from higher boiling fractions and residua.
The refining industry has been the subject of the four major forces
that affect most industries and which have hastened the development of new petroleum refining processes:
1. The demand for products such as gasoline, diesel, fuel
oil, and jet fuel
2. Feedstock supply, specifically the changing quality of
crude oil and geopolitics between different countries
and the emergence of alternate feed supplies such as
bitumen from tar sand, natural gas, and coal
3. Environmental regulations that include more stringent regulations in relation to sulfur in gasoline and
diesel, and
4. Technology development such as new catalysts and
processes.
Petroleum refineries were originally designed and operated to
run within a narrow range of crude oil feedstock and to produce a
relatively fixed slate of petroleum products. Since the 1970s, refiners
had to increase their flexibility in order to adapt to a more volatile
environment. Refiners, to increase their flexibility within existing
refineries, may use several possible paths. Examples of these paths
are change in the severity of operating rules of some process units
by varying the range of inputs used, thus achieving a slight change
in output. Alternatively, refiners can install new processes and this
alternate scenario offers the greatest flexibility, but is limited by the
constraint of strict complementarity of the new units with the rest
of the existing plant, and involves a higher risk than the previous
ones. It is not surprising that many refiners decide to modify existing processes.
The means by which a modern refinery operates depends not
only on the nature of the petroleum feedstock, or, nowadays, the
different crude oils that make up the blended feedstock, but also
on its configuration (i.e., the number of types of the processes that
are employed to produce the desired product slate). This is strongly
influenced by the specific demands of a market. Therefore, refineries need to be constantly adapted and upgraded to remain viable
and responsive to ever changing patterns of crude supply and product market demands. As a result, refineries have been introducing
increasingly complex in order to produce higher yields of, for example, hydrocarbon fuels, from higher boiling fractions and residua.