Geographical site locations

An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is being processed and further
refined in order to get the final useful products like gasoline, diesel, Naphtha, kerosene etc. For a
new refinery to set up, one of the most important parts in the design as well as commissioning
phase is the site selection for the industry set up. Revenue generation, environmental
friendliness, various govt.policies compliances etc. are all something which are directly related
with the perfect site location for the new refinery. That’s why it’s one of the most important
factors for setting up the refinery in the commissioning phase. The basic requirement for the
refinery site location is given below:
 Effective disposal of effluents and other waste
 Manpower requirements
 Availability of Land
 Raw material availability
 Power availability
 Raw water requirement and availability
 Transportation facility
 Environmental impact
 Government policies
After focusing & considering all the mentioned factors, laying out project on the basis of above
mentioned factors, few more points that needs to be taken care are given below::
Site should be in favour of rational allocation of resources and industrial layout.
It should be conducive so as to utilize supplies.
It should be land-saving favoring
It should be set up in a place which could easily get support from the society and nearby
communities.
It should be good for investment saving, for reduction in saving cost, reinforcing product
competiveness, and so as to improve economic returns.
Site should be at point from where transportation of raw materials should be easy.
In compliance with sustainable development.
After choosing sites of our choice let’s say Site-A, Site-B, Site-C and assigning the importance
to each mentioned factor on the scale of 10 to check whether it is feasible for our requirement or
not, likewise the final selection of site could be make.
 Factors Weightage (%) Site-A Site-B Site-C
Effective disposal 8 5 8 7
of effluent
Manpower/labor 15 13 15 14
Req.
Availability of 12 11 11 12
Land
Raw material 15 15 13 12
availability
Power availability 12 9 9 11
Raw water 8 8 6 7
availability
Transportation 15 12 14 15
Environmental 15 14 12 13
factor
Total 100 87 88 91
Note: Total points is 100

Out of all the available site, Site-C proves to be feasible according to the factors necessary for
our project, so Site-C would be selected.
In every oil refinery when it is in commissioning phase, an extensive study is made to research
about the various factors that impacts environment. There are factors which sometime directly
impact the environment, and some are indirect. It is considered as the most important part, on
which the foundation has been laid off for setting up new refinery. To study the environmental
impacts, an assessment is to be made which is generally known as EIA (Environmental impact
assessment)

Factors Description
New Refining Technology With time, technology changes and it requires update, so
best updated technology which could help in reduction
of waste so that less effect of such waste can be
observed in the environment.
Environmental Regulations Strictness of govt.clearance policy also affects the
environment indirectly. If the clearance policy is
relaxed, more likely the setup of new refinery would be
easy which could have direct and indirect environmental
impacts.
Crude oil price After all the operation, price is to be considered at a rate
so that it couldn’t be exploited, as such fuels are non-
renewable resource.
Waste generation Waste generated by refinery is toxic and has extreme
impact on the environment, so it’s an important factor
that needs to be considered.
Development of supporting facilities With new refinery, various facilities would be developed
for the supply chain management and logistics, its
construction too impact the environment.
Infrastructure Lot of new infrastructure is required to be constructed in
order to meet the required demand, but it should be
studied properly in order to reduce the environmental
impact.
Supply industries Many auxiliary industries functions with the new
refinery for raw materials, or for utilities.
Table-1: Factors and its description

After all the factors taken into consideration, studies to be made on the impact that occurs while
setting up a new refinery which is given below.

Environmental impacts

Table-2: impact and severity

Cumulative impact highlight