Downstream Oil Industry Research Articles

Integration of Renewable Energy and Blue Carbon Ecosystems for Coastal Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Indonesia's Oil and Gas Industry

This study investigates the potential of integrating renewable energy and blue carbon ecosystems for coastal climate change mitigation and adaptation in Indonesia's upstream and downstream oil and gas industry. The urgency for the integration is also discussed, including climate change mitigation, energy security, technological innovation, social and environmental justice, and long-term planning and resilience. The study uses Army Design Methodology to identify the key challenges and opportunities of integrating renewable energy and blue carbon ecosystems. The findings suggest that the integration of renewable energy and blue carbon ecosystems can play a crucial role in coastal climate change mitigation and adaptation, particularly in Indonesia's oil and gas industry. The paper concludes with recommendations for further research and policy development in this area.

To optimize gas flaring in Kirkuk refinery in various seasons via artificial intelligence techniques

Unavoidable flaring in downstream oil industry causes pollutant emission in large amounts which is potentially harmful to nearby cities or farms. Hence one must manage exhaust toxic gases to raise enough in atmosphere or redirect from such places. Since Kirkuk refinery in north Iraq is next-door to agricultural farms on west yet to residential areas on east optimizing its layout for flare stacks is something acute. In this work we wrote codes in MATLAB software to simulate incomplete rather than complete oxidation as well as pollutant generation reactions. Then we made use of FLEUENT software to simulate pollutant propagation in Kirkuk oil purifier complex yet also farther to city as well as farms with respect to seasonal air currents on lowest troposphere layer. Finally, we set neural network approach to train on simulation data thereafter to unify outcomes to turn into a fast technique for layout optimization. Results show that optimization process efficiency relies on air current velocities as well as its direction. At intermediate air flow rates optimum layout includes only a selective portion of existent flare stacks. Outcomes also illustrate that heuristic techniques that have stronger local search such as particle swarm or artificial immune system can improve flare layout in seasons with intermediate air currents here summer plus early months in autumn while approaches with weak local search like Monte Carlo are more appropriate in winter for which we have no or low air flows in Kirkuk governorate.

Reflections on the Indigenization of Ghana’s Petroleum Downstream Industry (OMC AND BDC activities) and the Possible Upshot on the Country

In developing countries, indigenization is a common policy and legislation tool implemented to increase and promote local content and local participation in the various sectors especially the natural sector. However, these policies and legislation produce mixed results as reported by industry players and researchers. In 2005, the act setting up the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the regulator of Ghana’s petroleum downstream, placed enormous responsibility on the authority to enhance the indigenization of the oil and gas industry in the downstream sector. In relation to this key mandate, the National Petroleum Authority, led by its new chief executive, Dr. Mustapha Al-Hamid, unveiled a major change in state policy with regards to the indigenization of the structure of the sector. This paper seeks to identify and thoroughly examine the possible impact of this impending indigenization of Ghana’s downstream oil and gas industry. Positive impacts such as the infrastructural development in the country, the reduction on foreign control of the economy, the increment in revenue, the indigenous participation and self-reliance it brings to the country are the essential benefits. However, the discouragement of foreign investment as well as the wealthy hijacking the economy will have an adverse effect on the positive impact.

Study the Effectiveness of ISO 27001 to Mitigate the Cyber Security Threats in the Egyptian Downstream Oil and Gas Industry

As Egyptian oil and gas downstream information technology has grown digitally over the past decade, security breaches against these digitally connected systems have also increased. These cyber security threats could have devastating effects on the operations and reputation of these companies. Preventing such cyberattacks is crucial. Especially, with the significance of the Egyptian oil and gas downstream sector to the local economy and the fact that many of these connected systems are sometimes managed remotely. This paper examines the value of the ISO 27001 standard in mitigating the effect of cyber threat and seeks to inspire decision-makers to the importance of the proactive measures to strengthen their organization’s cybersecurity posture and protect information critical assets. The study stresses the importance of improving the local educational system to bridge the gap between supply and demand for cybersecurity specialists by implementing a structured approach that emphasizes behavior modification to get a high return on investment in cybersecurity awareness.

A field study on human factor and safety performances in a downstream oil industry

Safety culture and awareness by workers are pivotal tools for the implementation of systematic procedures aiming to risk mitigation in the process industry. The evaluation of human factors on safety performance can reveal unsafe attitudes and failures in training, supervision and management, whose correction greatly contribute to the enhancement of safety program. In this work, the role of human factors in an oil industry was studied by the collection of field data through a structured questionnaire filled by shift, daily and outsourced workers. A deep investigation on the variables involved in the process was carried out, firstly quantifying three conceptual key dimensions (individual, human resource management, equipment and technology) and then analyzing data by means of Response Surface Methodology (RSM), to identify the statistical significant factors and the overall level of safety awareness, behaviour and risk perception of the respondents.

High Safety Risk Assessment in the Time of Uncertainties (COVID-19): An Industrial Context.

BackgroundThe complexities of the workplace environment in the downstream oil and gas industry contain several safety-risk factors. In particular, instituting stringent safety standards and management procedures are considered insufficient to address workplace safety risks. Most accident cases attribute to unsafe actions and human behaviors on the job, which raises serious concerns for safety professionals from physical to psychological particularly when the world is facing a life-threatening Pandemic situation, i.e., COVID-19. It is imperative to re-examine the safety management of facilities and employees’ well-being in the downstream oil and gas production sector to establish a sustainable governance system. Understanding the inherent factors better that contribute to safety behavior management could significantly improve workplace safety features.ObjectiveThis study investigates employees’ safety behavior management model for the downstream oil and gas industry to consolidate the safety, health and wellbeing of employees in times of COVID-19.MethodsNominal Group Technique (NGT) was first employed to screen primary behavioral factors from 10 workplace health and safety experts from Malaysia’s downstream oil and gas industry. Consequently, 18 significant factors were identified for further inquiry. Next, the interpretive structural modeling technique was used to ascertain the complex interrelationships between these factors and proposed a Safety Behavioral Management Model for cleaner production.ResultsThis model shows that management commitment, employee knowledge and training, leadership, and regulations contribute significantly to several latent factors. Our findings support the Social Cognitive Theory, where employees, their environment, and their behaviors are related reciprocally.ConclusionIt is postulated that identifying safety factors and utilizing the proposed model guides various stakeholder groups in this industry, including practitioners and policymakers, for achieving long-term sustainability.

A comprehensive thermodynamic analysis of an integrated solar enhanced oil recovery system for applications in heavy oil fields

In this work, we present an integrated energy system for solar enhanced oil recovery (SEOR) process accompanied with electricity generation, fresh water and elemental sulfur production. The system shows the possibilities of integrating solar energy in upstream and downstream oil industry applications while offering the same quality of service. Such studies are of great interest to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region where solar irradiance is high during the year and where an abundance of mature heavy oil reservoir is present. We harness the solar energy from the sun to produce high quality steam at elevated temperature by the means of concentrated solar power technology through solar towers. The steam is used in generating electricity that is used for artificial lift purpose in the production wells, and provides steam suitable for injection purposes in tertiary recovery phase for hydrocarbon reservoirs. The overall system is analyzed in terms of energy and exergy efficiencies and the effects of different operating system parameters are evaluated. The steam generator and the furnace have the highest exergy destruction rates at a relative percentage of 41.3% and 39%. The energy and exergy efficiencies for the Claus process is reported at 78.2% and 18.2%, while the energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system are calculated as 84% and 33.7%, respectively. Assuming that around 16% of the oil in place in the analyzed reservoir is accessible through Huff n’ Puff, then 3,822,250kg of oil is produced while injecting 67,500kg of steam of density 0.54kg/bbl at reservoir conditions.

Risk Mitigation Strategy and Efficiency Improvement of PT Gasses Logistic Transportation using Six Sigma DMAIC Method

PT Gasses Logistic is one of the companies that operates in the downstream oil and gas industry that focuses on providing logistic services and other support. From oil, gasses, to lubricant, together with their partnership, PT Gasses Logistic are responsible of transporting those goods to their consumers across Indonesia. Also, PT Gasses Logistic is the subsidiary/child company from one of the biggest state-owned enterprises in Indonesia. The core business of PT Gasses Logistic is transportation, that is why every type of problem in transportation needed to be solved quickly. Through this research, it is identified 4 problems by using Pareto Chart. The problems are work & traffic accident, losses while loading & unloading operation, risk in damaging MESRAN MIN 40, and risk in damaging RORED EPA MIN 90. Those problems will be evaluated with risk management framework and analyse further using Six Sigma DMAIC method. Risk management framework will be used to identify the risk rating for each risk, which will be used when planning the mitigation strategies. Six Sigma DMAIC method will identified what is the problem, how it the performance regarding the process related to the problem, what is the root causes, how to improve it, and how to control it. After using the risk management framework and Six Sigma DMAIC method, it is found that the root causes of the problems, which is identified by using fishbone diagram tools, is People and Machine. The author then provided the risk mitigation strategies solution of improvement, the implementation plan, and how to control it. With this research, the author hopes that it will help reducing/mitigating any losses received by PT Gasses Logistic incurred by those problems.

Deregulation of the downstream petroleum industry: An overview of the legal quandaries and proposal for improvement in Nigeria

The study investigates the necessity for deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector to tackles shortfalls and to enhance quantities of petroleum commodities in Nigeria. The objective is to boost proficiency in the industry via governance, statutory transformations and vigorous business competition by learning from other advanced countries' skills to transform and fortify the downstream oil industry laws. The study embraces a conceptual legal approach utilising existing literature to aid a doctrinal legal study technique. The research also utilizes primary and secondary founts of legislations, such as, constitutional and case laws. The finding of the research is the absolute authority of the government in the industry and incongruous valuing of oil commodities which made the industry unappealing to financiers to found private refineries that will ensure adequate supply of petroleum and reasonable profits on their investments owing to excessive regulation of the industry by the government. The study designed a model to halt continuous increment in the fuel price and to ensure efficient downstream petroleum industry. The study concludes with the recommendations, for instance, the necessity of high-tech fusion of policies and encouragements for investment in the downstream to boosts swift enactment of the awaiting Petroleum Industry Governance Bill 2017 and absolute deregulation of the industry to foster private investments and to halt subsidy disbursements being a new fountain of corruption.

Establishment of Industrial Energy Benchmarking in Malaysian Downstream Palm Oil Industry

The second largest energy demand in Malaysia comes from industrial sector (28 % of the total demand) and one of the main industries in Malaysia is palm oil industry. The energy consumption in Malaysian palm oil industry must be reduced in order to reduce the environmental impact (GHG emission). The main objective of this research is to establish energy benchmarking in Malaysian downstream palm oil industry using product-based energy benchmarking. The method for energy benchmarking consists of four main steps, which is data collection, data analysis, set-up baseline SEC and establishment of industrial energy benchmarking. The data used in this research was obtained from Malaysian Green Technology Corporation. An equation to estimate baseline SEC value has been obtained and energy benchmarking in this industry has been successfully established. Data analysis revealed that the average SEC for this industry is determine to be 2.59 GJ/t and the lowest SEC (0.04 GJ/t) was obtained by Company D while the highest SEC (5.99 GJ/t) is obtained by Company C. Apart from that, the recommendation of no cost, low cost, medium cost and high cost energy saving measures for this industry has been done. Finally, the best practice in this industry has been determined as maximizing the plant utilization rate and implementing ESMs.

Identifying and prioritizing factors of the formation of investment strategy in the Ghana’s downstream oil and gas industry

We present a new model to identify and prioritize factors affecting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) investment intentions by integrating existing models. Structured questionnaire is used to sam...

Future scenario of China's downstream oil reform: Improving the energy-environmental efficiency of the pipeline networks through interconnectivity

Improving energy supply efficiency and quality is regarded as a key pathway to shifting towards a fully sustainable energy system. To address the low efficiency and high emissions in the downstream oil industry caused by the problem of vertically integrated monopoly, the Chinese government is making an effort to promote a multiproduct pipeline network reform. The fundamental and indispensable step for this goal is the pipeline network interconnectivity. This paper quantifies the energy-environmental impacts of the pipeline network interconnectivity reform on China's downstream oil supply chain to 2030. An integrated framework is developed to obtain the detailed design-scale information required for assessment, introducing demand forecasting and demand reallocation into a pipeline network optimal planning model. The model is formulated as a fuzzy mixed integer linear programming that optimizes the infrastructure development scheme and supply chain operation plan simultaneously while taking into account demand uncertainty. The results show that, compared with the baseline, the pipeline interconnectivity reform could reduce yearly energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 9.7–19.8% and 12.5–17.9%, respectively. It is shown that this reform policy could overcome infrastructure constraints, increase pipeline utilization, and improve both energy and environmental performance. The proposed framework can be a theoretical guideline for policymakers within and beyond China.

Downstream oil supply security in China: Policy implications from quantifying the impact of oil import disruption

Unavoidable disruptions in the international oil supply create heavy pressures on the downstream oil market for oil-importing countries, especially China, whose high dependency on imported oil makes its downstream oil supply security an urgent issue. However, little attention has been paid to the supply security of the downstream oil industry with respect to dealing with import disruptions. Here, an integrated quantitative assessment framework is established to identify the impact of crude oil import disruptions on downstream oil supply security from the supply chain perspective. The dynamic scheduling process of the downstream oil supply chain under 72 import disruption scenarios is simulated by coupling a mathematical programming model with Latin hypercube sampling. The improved grey incidence evaluation method is applied for the comprehensive assessment of province-level and region-level oil product supply security based on the simulation results. The case of 31 provincial-level administrative regions in China in 2017 and 2020 is analysed as an example to demonstrate the framework. We find significant differences among provinces. The southwest and eastern coastal areas of China are vulnerable to potential oil supply disruptions, while the northwest China enjoys high supply security. Based on the results of this paper, policy implications are provided for the Chinese government. The design framework is not case-specific and can be applied for the quantitative assessment of other countries or regions.

Big Data analytics in oil and gas industry: An emerging trend

This paper reviews the utilization of Big Data analytics, as an emerging trend, in the upstream and downstream oil and gas industry. Big Data or Big Data analytics refers to a new technology which can be employed to handle large datasets which include six main characteristics of volume, variety, velocity, veracity, value, and complexity. With the recent advent of data recording sensors in exploration, drilling, and production operations, oil and gas industry has become a massive data intensive industry. Analyzing seismic and micro-seismic data, improving reservoir characterization and simulation, reducing drilling time and increasing drilling safety, optimization of the performance of production pumps, improved petrochemical asset management, improved shipping and transportation, and improved occupational safety are among some of the applications of Big Data in oil and gas industry. Although the oil and gas industry has become more interested in utilizing Big Data analytics recently, but, there are still challenges mainly due to lack of business support and awareness about the Big Data within the industry. Furthermore, quality of the data and understanding the complexity of the problem are also among the challenging parameters facing the application of Big Data.

PROPOSED CO2 HYDRATE TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION FOR CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE IMPLEMENTATION IN INDONESIA

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (0r Storage)known as CCS needs to be implemented in various development activities in Indonesia including downstream oil and gas industry because the government of Indonesia has adopted the Paris Agreement on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction. Various capture techniques have been developed for capturing CO2 from post combustion emission. One of the new approaches considered for capturing CO2 and hence reducing to atmospheric emissions is based on gas hydrate (crystallization) technology. The basis of the technology is the selective partition of the target component between the hydrate phase and the gaseous phase. It is expected that CO2 is preferentially trapped and encaged into the hydrate crystal phase compared to the other components. Previous study found that the gas/hydrate equilibrium pressure and temperature for the fl ue gas mixture in the range of 7.6 MPa and 11.0 MPa at 274 K and 277 K respectively, are inappropriate to the downstream oil and gas industrial reality because the operating cost will be expensive to compress the gas to the hydrate formation pressure. Suitable hydrate promoters including Tetrahydrofuran (THF) and Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) can be used to achieve moderate hydrate formation pressure and energy consumption appropriate to the industrial reality. In the presence of THF and SDS about 62.3 Nm3/m3 CO2 hydrate can be formed at 30 bar pressure and 274 to 277 K temperature within around 15 minutes reaction time.Many experiments result indicates that continuous hydrates formation will be feasible for scale-up to industrial settings including downstream oil and gas industry emission reduction if the technology assures an optimal contact between gas and liquid phases plus the proper hydrate promoter. However, compared to current international carbon credit, the feasibility of onshore CO2 abatement cost in downstream oil and gas industry sensitively depends on the distance of CO2 hydrate pipeline transportation.

Hydrogen Jet-Fire: Accident Investigation and Implementation of Safety Measures for the Design of a Downstream Oil Plant

As amply known, hydrogen plays a very significant role in the process industry exerting a vital functionality in oil refineries, namely for secondary level refining units such hydro-treating and hydrocracking sections. This paper starts from a statistical analysis on hydrogen accidents and a thorough investigation on the sequence and causes of an accident involving a hydrogen leakage in a downstream oil industry. We present some key features of the accident and comment some practical implications for setting up risk reduction options at the plant level. The applicative phase of the paper states the main prevention strategies and suggest possible mitigation measures for hydrogen leaks events, discussing some practical solutions applied in the design of a large refinery. The experience and lessons learned gained from the event investigation and the comparison of the accident with the predictions of the safety report leads to the formulation of proposals and design modifications aiming at preventing or at least minimizing the consequences.

UV‐curable sol–gel based protective hybrid coatings

UV‐curable, novel, fluorinated polyether ether ketone urethane acrylate oligomer (FPEEKUA) has been synthesized and used as corrosion‐protector in sol–gel hybrid coatings for metallic substrates. Incorporation of FPEEKUA and sol–gel in the formulations improved coatings’ physical properties such as gel content, hardness, adhesion, gloss, flexibility, and contact angle. Due to strong interaction between acrylate and highly crosslinked structures, mechanical properties improved drastically with homogenously dispersed structures throughout the organic matrix, while water uptake values decreased and thermal stability and char yields increased. Highest contact angle values were measured up to 94° with shinny coatings. The results are important for two reasons. First, polyether ether ketone (PEEK) immiscibility problem are overcome by using reactive oligomer and benefitted from high performance properties of poly(arylene ether ketones) (PAEK)s in hybride coating applications. Second, Coatings combine the advantages of sol–gel with poly(arylene ether ketone urethane acrylate) (PAEKUA) oligomer and they can be used as barrier coatings in metal corrosion protection. Performance tests in corrosive mediums at room temperature of chlorine solution (bleach) for 24 h and also in a 10 wt% HCl solution for 92 h produced promising results for use in corrosion mitigation applications in highly corrosive downstream oil and gas industry. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:E146–E154, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers

A short-cut analytical model of hydrocarbon pool fire of different geometries, with enhanced view factor evaluation

Abstract In analyzing pool fires and the potential for domino effects, the most important aspects to be addressed on the basis of a proper consequence analysis are the evaluation of thermal radiation, the issues of interplant spacing, the employees’ safety zones and fire wall specifications. Even if scientific literature on pool-fire is sparse and modeling is well developed, the usual approach considers circular geometry, pseudo steady-state conditions, uniform flame temperature, cylindrical/conical flame shape with height depending on pool diameter. The specific analysis of rather complicated situations (partial confinement, irregular shapes, complex kinetics, heavy hydrocarbon fire, unsteady-state) usually requires the use of sophisticated integral models and/or time consuming CFD calculations, but when conservative results are enough, analytical models can be more useful especially in hazard assessment. We propose a modelling of a pool fire of a multi-component hydrocarbon mixture, under semi-confined geometry. The physical model of the pool is solved to provide a description of a variable heat emitting flame area, as a function of the vertical flame axis, thus representing a peculiar novelty of the approach. Starting from a real accident in a downstream oil industry involving pool fire of a heavy liquid HC mixture and domino effect, the application to an industrial case study is presented, in order to evidence the effective potentialities of the method.

A new approach for quality control of reservoir fluid composition data using live oil solubility parameter

Precise physical and chemical description of reservoir fluid is essential for accurate petroleum reservoir evaluation as well as for optimization of development plans of oil and gas fields. The uncertainties in the description of the reservoir oil composition data are the most serious issues for studying the thermodynamic phase behavior of the reservoir fluid. These data are widely used as the basis for calculation of reservoir fluid properties, and for simulation and modeling of underground oil reservoirs. Assumption of correct reservoir fluid (oil) composition is the basis of the most quality control methods presented in the literature, which are used for checking the accuracy of related experiments for thermodynamic phase behavior of reservoir oil (PVT experiments). This assumption may not be satisfied in most cases and affects seriously all related applications in chemical and petroleum engineering. Here, a new approach is introduced to resolve the uncertainties in reservoir fluid (oil) composition using solubility parameter concept of live oil. The solubility parameter of five live oil samples from different Iranian oil reservoirs was used for sensitivity analysis with respect to the molecular weight of the plus fraction to check the accuracy and consistency of the reservoir fluid composition data. Obtained results show that the solubility parameter of live oils at pressure and temperature conditions of oil reservoirs typically varies within a specified rang, which strongly depends on thermodynamic properties and composition of the oil sample as well as pressure and temperature range. The acceptable range of molecular weight of the plus fraction provides the best match for typical range of live oil solubility parameters. This approach provides a new insight into consistency and reliability of reservoir fluid composition data, which is highly beneficial and of special importance for optimization of different processes in both upstream and downstream oil industry.

Performance prediction of a reservoir under gas injection, using output error model

The pursuit of knowledge on the future performance of reservoirs is a longstanding subject in the downstream oil and gas industry. Current methods employed are time-consuming and sometimes less reliable. In this study, we propose output error model structure for developing a forecasting model of a reservoir under gas injection. A case study which involves a synthetic reservoir model under gas injection has been utilized to prove the hypothesis that system identification using output error model structure is useful for performance prediction of a reservoir under gas injection. The case study was a medium sized reservoir model with 18017 active cells. It consists of five gas injectors and seven producers. Output error model structure was utilized to develop forecasting models for oil production rate, gas-oil ratio, and water-cut. The models were cross validated using dataset which were not used during modelling. The result of the study confirms that system identification by output error model structure has a very good potential for use in reservoir performance prediction under gas injection. © 2016 Berihun M. Negash et al.