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ThomsonOil Refining3
ThomsonOil Refining3
Outline
1. What is Oil Refining?
2. Oil Refining Globally
Physical, Economic and Political Vulnerabilities
3. Oil Refining in Asia
Vulnerabilities
4. Conclusion
Refinery Operations
PP Categories
There are basically four types of crude:
light
heavy (asphaltic, bitumen)
sweet (non-sulphurous)
sour (sulphurous)
- High quality crude oil is increasingly harder to find
Refining splits fractions based on boiling points and relative
solubility.
The crude is refined into:
- fuels
- lubricants
- feedstock in petrochemical processes that make plastics,
detergents, solvents, elastomers and fibers such as nylon
and polyesters
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Main PPs
Light distillates
LPG, gasoline (petrol), naphtha
Middle distillates
kerosene and related jet aircraft fuels, diesel
Heavy Distillates and Residuum
fuel oils, lubricating oils, paraffin wax, asphalt and tar
Vulnerabilities
Physical
Economic
Political
Attacks on Refineries
Attacks (cont)
Physical Vulnerabilities
-
Capital intensive industrial facilities which require intricate technical coordination to function, making them vulnerable to sabotage and sensitive to
structural attacks.
Skilled manpower can become direct targets for saboteurs and terrorists.
The oil, waste gases, chemicals, etc., are typically flammable and can cause
significant damage to surrounding civilian facilities when ignited. Many
refineries around the world are in close proximity to major urban
concentrations.
Refineries and their associated infrastructure have high media visibility which
increases their attraction to saboteurs whom are intent on making a major
statement.
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Economic
Vulnerabilities:
Perpetual Imbalance
Economic Vulnerabilities
(cont)
The current low oil prices have helped cushion the economic
recession, but many refinery projects around the world have
been cancelled. Many refineries are not operating at full
capacity.
Refinery Investment
Political Vulnerabilities:
Energy Nationalism
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Political Vulnerabilities
(cont)
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Refining in Asia
(cont)
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Asian Refineries
(cont)
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Strategic Petroleum
Reserves
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Conclusion
1. Refineries are indispensable in modern society.
2. Many new refinery installations are under construction in Asia
now and more are planned.
3. Spurred by various local and/or international political
motivations, these refineries, as refineries anywhere, are
potential targets.
4. A successful attack on a refinery would potentially cause not
only loss of life and economic disruption, but also serious
environmental damage.
5. Great care must be taken to ensure the security of the new
Asian refineries from within and without.
6. Refineries can never be 100% secure but can be made almost
completely impenetrable if the physical vulnerabilities are all
well-considered in their design.
7. For practical and economic reasons, refineries must be made
as flexible as possible with respect to the types of crude oil
they can process.
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THE END
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