Petroleum Refining & Petrochemicals for Non-Technical Personnel

What are the Goals?

By the end of this training course, participants will:

• Comprehend the basic differences between exploration, and refining and petrochemicals
• Understand the basics of the various refining and petrochemical processes
• Examine the fundamental differences in various refinery types, their complexity and impact on their profitability
• Identify the basics of the different building blocks of petrochemicals
• Appreciate that aromatic based petrochemicals are important to the polymer industry even though the refining industry is trying to minimize these in gasoline due to its toxic properties
• Appreciate that olefinic and aromatic petrochemical precursors are specialty chemicals produced by the refining processes from refineries of high complexity numbers

Who is this Training Course for?

This training course is specifically designed to be of substantial benefit to non-technical personnel within the Oil and Gas Industries. The training course is also suitable to a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:

• Non-technical professionals assigned to positions in refineries and petrochemical plants, corporate offices, suppliers and other interrelated companies
• Support Personnel including Environmental professionals, Accountants, Business managers, Administrative and legal staff, Sales and marketing personnel, Insurance representatives, Personnel managers, Financial professionals and other professionals who desire a better understanding of subject matter
• Newly-hired refinery or petrochemical plant personnel and current semi-technical personnel who require further training
• Other support staff who have an interest in increasing their understanding of Petroleum Refining & Petrochemicals production and operations
• Business Development Managers, Corporate Planning professionals and business analysts switching disciplines who are required to have a better understanding of this stimulating field
• Energy industry journalists and reporters
• Professional personnel such as legal, banking, insurance, finance dealing with oil supply, Petrochemicals, refining and transportation

Daily Agenda

Day One: Origin and Nature of Petroleum

• Chemistry of fossil fuels
• Basic petroleum geology
• Origins, formation and trapping of oil & gas
• Exploration and production methods
• Transportation Logistics
• Course Exercise - Estimation of Reserves

Day Two: Overview of Refining

• Classification of hydrocarbons
• Surface processing of oil and gas
• Refinery types and complexity
• Hydroskimming, Cracking and Coking Refineries
• Refining Margins and Profitability
• Course Exercise - Netback & Complexity Factors

Day Three: Refinery Process Operations

• Physical separation – Crude and Vacuum Distillation
• Chemical conversion processes, Gasoline Production
• Hydrotreating, Catalytic Reforming, Alkylation, and Isomerization
• Residue Reduction I: Cat Cracking, Hydrocracking, Visbreaking, Hydrocracking
• Residue Reduction II: Coking, Asphalt and Residual Fuel
• Course Exercise - Blending

Day Four: Petrochemicals I - Production and Uses

• Production and segregation of olefinic and aromatic compounds
• Olefin based compounds
• Ethylene
• Propylene
• Butadiene
• Isobutylene
• Aromatic based compounds
• Benzene
• Toluene
• Xylene

Day Five: Petrochemicals II - Production and Uses

• Commoditization of natural gas
• Natural Gas based compounds
• Ammonia
• Methanol
• Gas to liquid technologies
• Case study - Petrochemical production – Major Companies
• Course roundup and discussions