Crude Feed Selection

High Sulphur Crudes (Dubai-Brent crude spread)

Heavy Crudes

High TAN crude

High nitrogenous / mercuric crude

Tar Sands, Oil Shales

 Trend in Crude Processing
Heavy/Sour Crudes
• Over half of world’s oil supply is heavy & sour crude

• New refineries built with capability to handle heavy crudes.

• Marker Crude Dubai rose higher than Brent in Dec ‘08 due to
• Rise in demand for sour crude
• OPEC production cuts, etc.

• Not only is sour crude seeing more demand growth, it also outstrips
light, sweet crude in production growth.

• Share of sour, heavy crude is likely to increase vis-a-vis light, sweet

crude.
 Processing of Opportunity Crudes
High TAN Crudes
• The Total Acid Number (TAN) is the amount of potassium hydroxide in milligrams that is needed to neutralize
the acids in one gram of oil

• TAN >1.0 leads to NAC (naphthenic acid corrosion)

• Share of High TAN crude in overall oil production

• Current - 20%
• In next five years - 25%

• Acidic Crudes Characteristics

• Yield low ‘S’ Gas Oil
• Low Cetane value

• Handling of Acidic Crudes

• Blending with non-acidic crudes & Specialized Metallurgy & Chemical Injection for corrosion abatement

• E.g.)– Penglai (Australian), Duri (Indonesian), Marlim (Latin America), etc.

 Processing of Opportunity Crudes

High Pour Crudes

• High Pour Crudes need to be blended with normal crude for
pipeline transportation.

• Pricing benchmark of these crudes need to be considered for

economic viability.

• Processing of high pour crudes also require Coker facilities within

the refinery.

• For example: Handil (Indonesian), Rajasthan crude

Types of Refineries

• Topping Refinery

• Skimming Refinery

• Cracking (hydro/catalytic) Refinery

• Coking refinery

• Integrated Refinery

• Lube Refinery
Processing Units in Oil Refineries

• Primary Processing Units

• Distillation
• Blending
• Secondary Processing Units
• Catalytic Cracking
• Hydro-cracking
• Catalytic Reforming
• Isomerization / Alkylation, etc
• Bottom Upgradation Units
• Visbreaking
• Delayed Coking
• Treating Units
• Hydrotreating