Mapúa Institute of Technology

School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

Research No. 1
OIL INDUSTRY

Seat No.: 14
Name: Marasigan, Neil Darren P.
Group No.: 3
Course/Section: ME139L / A1 Date of Submission: February 16, 2016
Student Number: 2013151631

Grade

Engr. Teodulo A. Valle

Instructor
Table of Contents

Overview ....................................................................................................................................................... 1
History .......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Oil Exploration.............................................................................................................................................. 5
Surveying Methods ................................................................................................................................... 6
Geophysical Surveys ............................................................................................................................. 6
Remote Sensing .................................................................................................................................... 7
Wildcat .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Oil Extraction .............................................................................................................................................. 10
Oil Recovery ............................................................................................................................................... 10
Primary Recovery ................................................................................................................................... 10
Secondary Recovery ............................................................................................................................... 10
Tertiary Recovery ................................................................................................................................... 11
Oil Refining ................................................................................................................................................ 13
Oil Transportation ....................................................................................................................................... 21
Waterborne Transportation ..................................................................................................................... 21
Storage Facilities..................................................................................................................................... 21
Oil Pipelines ............................................................................................................................................ 22
Primary Production ..................................................................................................................................... 23
Products from Crude Oil ............................................................................................................................. 24
Safety and Environmental Concerns ........................................................................................................... 26
References ................................................................................................................................................... 27
Overview

Crude oil, also called petroleum, is a thick liquid found in underground rock formations. The
petroleum industry extracts crude oil out of the ground and then refines it into products such as gasoline.
Crude oil contains a complex mixture of compounds made of carbon chains with hydrogen molecules
attached to each link in the chain. Extracted crude oil also contains small amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and
nitrogen compounds mixed with the hydrocarbons. The principle of oil refining is to remove
crude oil’s impurities, that is, anything that is not a hydrocarbon. Oil refineries clean up crude oil by
heating it to drive off the impurities. This heating step to purify a liquid is called distillation. Light,
volatile (easily vaporized) materials such as gases leave crude oil first, and the least volatile components,
such as asphalt, remain in the mixture the longest.

Refineries recover the following components from crude oil, listed from the most to the least
volatile: gases, gasoline, aviation fuel, heating oil, diesel oil, naphtha solvents, greases, lubricants, waxes,
and asphalt. Refineries further distill some of the components to collect specific chemicals called
petrochemicals. Different industries have a need for specific petrochemicals that vary mainly by the types
of hydrocarbons they contain. Petrochemicals currently go into the production of the following materials:
organic solvents, pesticides, plastics, synthetic fibers, paints, and some medicines. Present global crude
oil reserves still contain enough to last several decades. At some point, however, finding new reserves,
drilling, and extracting the oil will not occur fast enough to meet the world’s oil appetite. The United
States reached that critical point about 1970 when crude oil production for the first time stopped
increasing in this country and began declining. The United States turned to imports from Saudi Arabia,
Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Iraq, plus small amounts from other countries, to make up the

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difference. Overall, U.S. oil supplies come from the places listed in the following table. The rest of U.S.
oil requirements come from domestic sources mainly in the Gulf of Mexico. Of all U.S. oil production,
the Gulf of Mexico supplies more than twice the amount of oil from any other region.

History

The modern history of petroleum began in the 19th century with the refining of kerosene from
crude oil. Although the Russian Dubinin brothers had purified kerosene directly from petroleum in their
factory in 1823, and the process of refining kerosene from coal was discovered by Nova Scotian Abraham
Pineo Gesner in 1846, it was only after Ignacy Łukasiewicz had improved Gesner's method to develop a
means of refining kerosene from the more readily available "rock oil" seeps, in 1852, that the first rock oil
mine was built in Bóbrka, near Krosno in central European Galicia (Poland) in 1853. In 1854, Benjamin
Silliman, a science professor at Yale University in New Haven, was the first person to fractionate
petroleum by distillation. These discoveries rapidly spread around the world, and Meerzoeff built the first
modern Russian refinery in the mature oil fields at Baku in 1861. At that time Baku produced about 90%
of the world's oil.

The question of what constituted the first commercial oil well is a difficult one to answer. Edwin
Drake's 1859 well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, discussed more fully below, is popularly considered the
first modern well. Drake's well is probably singled out because it was drilled, not dug; because it used a
steam engine; because there was a company associated with it; and because it touched off a major boom.
However, there was considerable activity before Drake in various parts of the world in the mid-19th
century. A group directed by Major Alexeyev of the Bakinskii Corps of Mining Engineers hand-drilled a
well in the Baku region in 1848. There were engine-drilled wells in West Virginia in the same year as
Drake's well. An early commercial well was hand dug in Poland in 1853, and another in nearby Romania
in 1857. At around the same time the world's first, but small, oil refineries were opened at Jasło, in
Poland, with a larger one being opened at Ploiești, in Romania, shortly after. Romania is the first country
in the world to have its crude oil output officially recorded in international statistics, namely 275 tonnes.
By the end of the 19th century the Russian Empire, particularly the Branobel Company in Azerbaijan, had
taken the lead in production.

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 In addition to the activity in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, an important early oil well in North
America was in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada in 1858, dug by James Miller Williams. The discovery at
Oil Springs touched off an oil boom which brought hundreds of speculators and workers to the area. New
oil fields were discovered nearby throughout the late 19th century and the area developed into a large
petrochemical refining center and exchange. The modern US petroleum industry is considered to have
begun with Edwin Drake's drilling of a 69-foot (21 m) oil well in 1859, on Oil Creek near Titusville,
Pennsylvania, for the Seneca Oil Company (originally yielding 25 barrels per day (4.0 m3/d), by the end
of the year output was at the rate of 15 barrels per day (2.4 m3/d)). The industry grew through the 1800s,
driven by the demand for kerosene and oil lamps. It became a major national concern in the early part of
the 20th century; the introduction of the internal combustion engine provided a demand that has largely
sustained the industry to this day. Early "local" finds like those in Pennsylvania and Ontario were quickly
outpaced by demand, leading to "oil booms" in Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, and California.
By 1910, significant oil fields had been discovered in Canada (specifically, in the province of
Alberta), the Dutch East Indies (1885, in Sumatra), Persia (1908, in Masjed Soleiman), Peru (1863, in
Zorritos District), Venezuela, and Mexico, and were being developed at an industrial level.
Access to oil was and still is a major factor in several military conflicts of the twentieth century,
including World War II, during which oil facilities were a major strategic asset and were extensively
bombed.
Until the mid-1950s coal was still the world's foremost fuel, but after this time oil quickly took
over. Later, following the 1973 and 1979 energy crises, there was significant media coverage on the
subject of oil supply levels. This brought to light the concern that oil is a limited resource that will
eventually run out, at least as an economically viable energy source. Although at the time the most
common and popular predictions were quite dire, a period of increased production and reduced demand in
the following years caused an oil glut in the 1980s. This was not to last, however, and by the first decade
of the 21st century discussions about peak oil have returned to the news.
Today, about 90% of vehicular fuel needs are met by oil. Petroleum also makes up 40% of total
energy consumption in the United States, but is responsible for only 2% of electricity generation.
Petroleum's worth as a portable, dense energy source powering the vast majority of vehicles and as the
base of many industrial chemicals makes it one of the world's most important commodities.
The top three oil producing countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United States. About 80%
of the world's readily accessible reserves are located in the Middle East, with 62.5% coming from the
Arab 5: Saudi Arabia (12.5%), UAE, Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait. However, with high oil prices (above
$100/barrel), Venezuela has larger reserves than Saudi Arabia due to its crude reserves derived from
bitumen.
HISTORY OF REFINING

Year Process name Purpose By-products, etc.

1862 Atmospheric distillation Produce kerosene Naphtha, tar, etc.

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1870 Vacuum distillation Lubricants (original) Asphalt, residual
Cracking feedstocks (1930's) coker feedstocks

1913 Thermal cracking Increase gasoline Residual, bunker fuel

1916 Sweetening reduce sulfur & odor Sulfur

1930 Thermal reforming Improve octane number Residual

1932 Hydrogenation Remove sulfur Sulfur

1932 Coking Produce gasoline base stocks Coke

1933 Solvent extraction Improve lubricant viscosity Aromatics

index

1935 Solvent dewaxing Improve pour point Waxes

1935 Cat. polymerization Improve gasoline yield Petrochemical

& octane number feedstocks

1937 Catalytic cracking Higher octane gasoline Petrochemical

feedstocks

1939 Visbreaking reduce viscosity Increased distillate, tar

1940 Alkylation Increase gasoline octane & High-octane aviation

yield gasoline

1940 Isomerization Produce alkylation feedstock Naphtha

1942 Fluid catalytic cracking Increase gasoline yield & Petrochemical feedstocks
octane

1950 Deasphalting Increase cracking feedstock Asphalt

1952 Catalytic reforming Convert low-quality naphtha Aromatics

1954 Hydrodesulfurization Remove sulfur Sulfur

1956 Inhibitor sweetening Remove mercaptan Disulfides

1957 Catalytic isomerization Convert to molecules with high Alkylation feedstocks

octane number

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1960 Hydrocracking Improve quality and reduce Alkylation feedstocks
sulfur

1974 Catalytic dewaxing Improve pour point Wax

1975 Residual hydrocracking Increase gasoline yield from Heavy residuals

residual

Oil Exploration

In order to find crude oil underground, geologists must search for a sedimentary basin in which
shales rich in organic material have been buried for a sufficiently long time for petroleum to have formed.
The petroleum must also have had an opportunity to migrate into porous traps that are capable of holding
large amounts of fluid. The occurrence of crude oil in Earth's crust is limited both by these conditions,
which must be met simultaneously, and by the time span of tens of millions to a hundred million years
required for the oil's formation.
Petroleum geologists and geophysicists have many tools at their disposal to assist in identifying
potential areas for drilling. Thus, surface mapping of outcrops of sedimentary beds makes possible the
interpretation of subsurface features, which can then be supplemented with information obtained by
drilling into the crust and retrieving cores or samples of the rock layers encountered. In addition,
increasingly sophisticated seismic techniques—the reflection and refraction of sound waves propagated
through Earth—reveal details of the structure and interrelationship of various layers in the subsurface.
Ultimately, however, the only way to prove that oil is present in the subsurface is to drill a well. In fact,
most of the oil provinces in the world have initially been identified by the presence of surface seeps, and
most of the actual reservoirs have been discovered by so-called wildcatters who relied perhaps as much
on intuition as on science. (The term wildcatter comes from West Texas, where in the early 1920s drilling
crews encountered many wildcats as they cleared locations for exploratory wells. Shot wildcats were
hung on the oil derricks, and the wells became known as wildcat wells.)

Oil Field

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 An oil field, once found, may comprise more than
one reservoir—that is, more than one single, continuous,
bounded accumulation of oil. Several reservoirs may be
stacked one above the other, isolated by intervening shales
and impervious rock strata. Such reservoirs may vary in size
from a few tens of hectares to tens of square kilometers, and
from a few meters in thickness to several hundred or more.
Most of the oil that has been discovered and exploited in the
world has been found in a relatively few large reservoirs. In
the United States, for example, 60 of approximately 10,000
oil fields have accounted for half of the productive capacity
and reserves.
Oil exploration typically depends on highly sophisticated geophysical technology to detect and
determine the extent of potential structures. Areas thought to contain hydrocarbons are initially subjected
to a gravity survey, magnetic survey and regional seismic reflection surveys to detect large scale features
of the sub-surface geology. Features of interest (known as “leads”) are subjected to more detailed seismic
surveys to refine the understanding of the sub-surface structure. Finally, if a prospect is identified and
positively evaluated, an exploration well is drilled in an attempt to conclusively determine the presence or
absence of oil or gas. Oil and gas exploration is an expensive, risky operation with a high likelihood that
nothing will be found, or that hydrocarbons will be found in such small quantities that it is not worthwhile
producing them. In the North Sea only about one in eight exploration wells find quantities of oil and gas
that are economic to develop. It often takes several years from being awarded an exploration licence to
the drilling of the first well.

Surveying Methods
There are three (3) primary methodologies used to find hydrocarbons in the subsurface:
Geophysical, Remote Sensing, and Wildcatting.

Geophysical Surveys
Geophysical techniques used for petroleum exploration utilize equipment to measure such things
as: electrical currents, gravitational and magnetic anomalies, heat flow, geochemical relationships, and
density variations from deep within the earth. Each technique records a different set of characteristics
which can be used to locate hydrocarbons beneath the surface of the earth.
Seismic surveys use vibration (induced by an explosive charge or sound generating equipment) to
provide a picture of subterranean rock formations at depth, often as deep as 30,000 feet below ground
level (BGL). This is accomplished by generating sound waves downward into the earth's crust which
reflect off various boundaries between different rock strata. On land, the sound waves are generated by
small explosive charges embedded in the ground or by vibrator trucks, sometimes referred to as thumpers
which shake the ground with hydraulically driven metal pads. The human ear can barely hear the thump,
but the frequency generated penetrates the earth's crust. The echoes are detected by electronic devices
called geophones which receive the reflected sound waves and the data are recorded on magnetic tape
which is printed to produce a two-dimensional graphic illustrating the subsurface geology.
Offshore surveys are conducted in a slightly different manner. Boats tow cables containing
hydrophones in the water, which is similar to geophones on land. Sound waves use to be created by

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dynamite, but this method killed a variety of sea life. The most acceptable method today is to generate
sound waves using pulses of compressed air which creates large bubbles that burst beneath the water
surface creating sound. The sound waves travel down to the sea floor, penetrate the rocks beneath, and
return to the surface where they are intercepted by the hydrophones. Processing and illustration is the
same as the dry land method.
In this type of survey, sound waves are sent into the earth where they are reflected by the
different layers of rock. The time taken for them to return to the surface is measured as a function of time.
This measurement reveals how deep the reflecting layers are; the greater the time interval, the deeper the
rock layer. Moreover, this technique also can determine what type of rock is present because different
rocks transmit sound waves differently.
The most sophisticated seismic surveys are three-dimensional (3-D). The recorded data is
processed by computer and the results are a detailed, 3-D picture of the formations and structures below
the surface. The process is expensive, on the order of $30,000 per mile (Satterwhite, pers comm). But
drilling a well can cost multiple millions of dollars, so time and money spent on accurate seismic surveys
can be a good investment since it helps locate prospects and minimize dry holes. In general, seismic
surveys can be carried out without disturbing people or damaging the environment, whether they are
being conducted on land or water. It is a primary tool used by exploration geologists to locate
[hydrocarbon] prospects.
There are a number of other geophysical techniques such as magnetometers and gravimeters, and
geochemical prospecting, a relatively new technique. A magnetometer is a device that is pulled behind an
airplane on a long cable that detects variations in the earth's magnetic field. Sedimentary rocks generally
have low magnetic properties compared to other rock types. A gravimeter measures minute differences in
the pull of gravity at the earth's surface. Mapping these differences reveals large masses of dense
subsurface rock which allows geologists to have a better idea of the structures below ground.
Geochemical prospecting uses sensitive instruments to detect minute quantities of gases that seep upward
from petroleum deposits. This is a relatively new technique, but is one that is gaining wider acceptance.

Remote Sensing
Remote Sensing (RS) is the use of aerial photographs to locate and map surface features.
Increasing use of satellite imagery is being made because it shows large areas on the surface of the earth.
Even though the photographs are taken from several hundred miles up in space, they are able to show
features only a few feet in size. And satellite imagery not only indicates what the human eye can see, but
they can also reveal subtle variations in soil moisture, mineral and vegetation distribution, and soil type,
all of which are import pieces to the exploration puzzle.

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 Once an area is selected and the satellite
imagery obtained, the exploration geologist
utilizes mapping techniques to produce a
geologic map (a map that indicates geological
structures by using conventional symbols) for
the area. The series of lines and arrows indicate
the type of structure that exists at the surface.
For example, , taken in November 1972 by a
NASA satellite orbiting over 500 miles out in
space, shows the surface topography very
clearly for an area in Southeastern Oklahoma
known as the Ouachita Mountains. These
mountains are comprised of folded and faulted
Paleozoic strata which are buried beneath
younger sediments toward the south. These
mountains are made of a combination of structures called anticlines, synclines, and faults, all of which
form various types of hydrocarbon traps.
Another type of RS technique uses imagery that was created from radar looking at the ground
called Side Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR). Some of this imagery is flown with an aircraft while some
of it is on board satellites or the US Space Shuttle. It produces an image much like a photograph that also
shows earth structure at the surface. This figure is an area in South America that has never been explored.
Until this SLAR image was made, there were no accurate maps of the region because the area is usually
covered by clouds. But now, there are new opportunities based on this image.

Wildcat
A wildcat well is one that is drilled in a new area where no other wells exist and generally with
scant information. It is drilled in an effort to locate undiscovered accumulation of hydrocarbons. About 1
in 10 wildcat wells strike oil or gas, but only one in perhaps 50 locate economically significant amounts.
Many wildcat wells are drilled on a hunch, intuition, or a small amount of geology. Many times they are
based on photography and experience in a particular area. Wildcat wells are generally drilled at a smaller
diameter than normal because this saves money (the average onshore well at present costs about 10 MM
dollars to drill).
One of the earliest exploration tools was referred to as Creekology, discussed earlier. But recent
technological advances have led to computer-enhanced capabilities using laptops that have had a major
effect on the petroleum industry. New seismic techniques, for example, have created more mobile, less
expensive, and easier to operate exploration tools that has created a wealth of information designed
specifically for hydrocarbon exploration. Field equipment is smaller, lighter, more accurate and reliable
and provides far greater detailed data.
But the basic tool needed for the search for hydrocarbons still remains knowledge of the Earth
and earth processes of formation, lithology, and structure. But even with all of this, wildcat wells are still
drilled, but their success rate is substantially lower than a well spudded in (to begin a new well) using all
of the geological tools available.

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 DRILLING
Because all hydrocarbon production declines over time, E&P companies must drill new wells in
order to grow revenue and earnings. Therefore, a key analytical consideration is the company's drilling
program. Investors should read about what the E&P has been doing and what it plans to do in its drilling
program to understand where revenue and earnings growth could come from.
Three types of rigs
In shallower water of up to 100 metres, we use what is called a jack-up unit. It starts out as a
barge, which is towed into place. Legs extend to the sea floor and then the barge lifts out of the water,
becoming a stable drilling platform.
In rougher seas or water up to 300 metres deep we use some of the water itself as a
counterweight. A semi-submersible drilling rig is a platform attached to submerged pontoons. When the
pontoons are flooded with water they lower into the ocean, meaning waves don’t affect the platform
nearly as much.
In the most extreme deepwater situations we bring in the most heavyweight drilling option
available, the drill ship. Drill ships are held in place by large anchors or by dynamic positioning systems,
which use computer-controlled propellers to help the ship stay in place.
Studying the mud
Even at this stage, with crews and heavy machinery in place, there is a possibility that nothing
will be found. Or the oil and gas discovered could be of such small quantities that extracting it would not
be worthwhile.
As the diamond or tungsten drill bit goes into the hard rock, a substance called ‘mud’ is pumped
down through the pipe. This mud isn’t really mud. It’s a fluid consisting of water, clay, additives and
thickeners. It both cools the drill bit, which can get really hot, and flushes out the shards of cut rock from
the reservoir.
As the mud comes back up through the outer part of the pipe, we get the first hard evidence
showing whether we were right about the resources at the site. Geologists monitor the cuttings to check
whether they’re coming out in the sequences they expected, while records of the mud and rock fragments
are kept for further study later on.
Once the exploratory well has been drilled, various instruments are lowered into it so we can
learn more about the reservoir. This way we measure the natural radioactivity and electrical resistance of
the rocks, as well as the pressure and temperature of the fluids or gases.
Safety first
Because crude oil and natural gas are hot and highly pressurized, we have to take great care to
control pressure during the drilling process.
Everyone involved in a drilling project undergoes rigorous safety training. Risks are assessed at
every step. Increasingly we plan exploration projects remotely, using data instead of site visits, which
means fewer employees and contractors are exposed to potential dangers on the actual rig.

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Oil Extraction
After the rig is removed, a pump is placed on the well head. The extraction of petroleum is the
process by which usable petroleum is extracted and removed from the earth.
Extracting oil and natural gas from deposits deep underground isn’t as simple as just drilling and
completing a well. Any number of factors in the underground environment – including the porosity of the
rock and the viscosity of the deposit -- can impede the free flow of product into the well. In the past, it
was common to recover as little as 10 percent of the available oil in a reservoir, leaving the rest
underground because the technology did not exist to bring the rest to the surface. Today, advanced
technology allows production of about 60 percent of the available resources from a formation.
In the pump system, an electric motor drives a gear box that moves a lever. The lever pushes and
pulls a polishing rod up and down. The polishing rod is attached to a sucker rod, which is attached to
a pump. This system forces the pump up and down, creating a suction that draws oil up through the well.
In some cases, the oil may be too heavy to flow. A second hole is then drilled into the reservoir
and steam is injected under pressure. The heat from the steam thins the oil in the reservoir, and the
pressure helps push it up the well. This process is called enhanced oil recovery.

Oil Recovery
Oil recovery refers to the processes by which crude oil is extracted from beneath the Earth’s
surface. Oil recovery can be categorized into three phases:

Primary Recovery
Primary oil recovery is the first phase, which happens once a well has been drilled from the
surface to an underground reserve. Gravity, along with the pressure inside the reservoir, forces the oil into
the wellbore. The wellbore is another name for the hole that was drilled to extract the oil. From here, the
oil is brought to the surface through mechanical means, like a pump jack. The primary phase of oil
recovery continues until the pressure inside the well is no longer enough to produce oil in quantities that
make it financially worthwhile.
Primary recovery is an important step in the process because the natural pressure inside the
underground reservoir must be equalized before any equipment can be installed. While it’s necessary, it’s
not all that effective -- this phase only produces about 10 percent of a reserve’s supply. According to the
U.S. Department of Energy, there are 600 billion barrels of oil available within the 50 states. But if
primary oil recovery methods were our only way to access these reserves, more than 400 billion barrels
would be irretrievable.

Secondary Recovery
Secondary oil recovery is employed when the pressure inside the well drops to levels that make
primary recovery no longer viable. Pressure is the key to collecting oil from the natural underground rock
formations in which it forms. When a well is drilled, the pressure inside the formation pushes the oil
deposits from the fissures and pores where it collects and into the well where it can be recovered.
But this initial pressure is finite. In order to continue collecting the oil, the pressure must be
maintained through other means. These tactics are referred to as secondary recovery techniques.

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 The most widely used method of secondary oil recovery is gas injection. Once gas, such as
nitrogen or carbon dioxide, is introduced into the reservoir, it expands. This expansion forces oil through
the formation and into the well. Gas injection accounts for 60 percent of secondary oil recovery in the
U.S.
Thermal recovery is used in about 40 percent of oil wells and relies on heat to facilitate
production. Injecting steam or heated water into the reservoir lowers the viscosity of oil, thinning it so
that it flows more easily through rock formations and into the well.
The third method, chemical injection, is the least prevalent and is used in less than 1 percent of
U.S. oil wells. This approach, also known as chemical flooding, uses solutions composed of micellar
polymers and water to reduce the friction between oil and water. Like thermal recovery, this lowers the
viscosity of the oil and increases flow.

Tertiary Recovery
Producers have attempted several tertiary, or enhanced oil recovery (EOR), techniques that offer
prospects for ultimately producing 30 to 60 percent, or more, of the reservoir's original oil in place. Three
major categories of EOR have been found to be commercially successful to varying degrees:
Thermal recovery, which involves the introduction of heat such as the injection of steam to lower
the viscosity, or thin, the heavy viscous oil, and improve its ability to flow through the reservoir. Thermal
techniques account for over 40 percent of U.S. EOR production, primarily in California.
Gas injection, which uses gases such as natural gas, nitrogen, or carbon dioxide that expand in a
reservoir to push additional oil to a production wellbore, or other gases that dissolve in the oil to lower its
viscosity and improves its flow rate. Gas injection accounts for nearly 60 percent of EOR production in
the United States.
Chemical injection, which can involve the use of long-chained molecules called polymers to
increase the effectiveness of water floods, or the use of detergent-like surfactants to help lower the surface
tension that often prevents oil droplets from moving through a reservoir. Chemical techniques account for
about one percent of U.S. EOR production.
There currently are several different methods of enhanced oil recovery including steam flood and
water flood injection and hydraulic fracturing. Enhanced oil recovery extraction methods consume large
quantities of water and natural gas. "Petroleum from the Canadian oil sands extracted via surface mining
techniques can consume 20 times more water than conventional oil drilling. However, by 2011 there was
inadequate data on the amount of water used in the increasingly important steam-assisted gravity drainage
technique (SAGD) method.
Crude oil development and production in U.S. oil reservoirs can include up to three distinct
phases: primary, secondary, and tertiary (or enhanced) recovery. During primary recovery, the natural
pressure of the reservoir or gravity drive oil into the wellbore, combined with artificial lift techniques
(such as pumps) which bring the oil to the surface. But only about 10 percent of a reservoir's original oil
in place is typically produced during primary recovery. Secondary recovery techniques extend a field's
productive life generally by injecting water or gas to displace oil and drive it to a production wellbore,
resulting in the recovery of 20 to 40 percent of the original oil in place.
However, with much of the easy-to-produce oil already recovered from U.S. oil fields, producers
have attempted several tertiary, or enhanced oil recovery (EOR), techniques that offer prospects for

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ultimately producing 30 to 60 percent, or more, of the reservoir's original oil in place. Three major
categories of EOR have been found to be commercially successful to varying degrees:
 Thermal recovery, which involves the introduction of heat such as the injection of steam to
lower the viscosity, or thin, the heavy viscous oil, and improve its ability to flow through the
reservoir. Thermal techniques account for over 40 percent of U.S. EOR production, primarily in
California.
 Gas injection, which uses gases such as natural gas, nitrogen, or carbon dioxide that expand in a
reservoir to push additional oil to a production wellbore, or other gases that dissolve in the oil to
lower its viscosity and improves its flow rate. Gas injection accounts for nearly 60 percent of
EOR production in the United States.
 Chemical injection, which can involve the use of long-chained molecules called polymers to
increase the effectiveness of waterfloods, or the use of detergent-like surfactants to help lower the
surface tension that often prevents oil droplets from moving through a reservoir. Chemical
techniques account for about one percent of U.S. EOR production.
Each of these techniques has been hampered by its relatively high cost and, in some cases, by the
unpredictability of its effectiveness.
In the U.S., there are about 114 active commercial CO2 injection projects that together inject over
2 billion cubic feet of CO2 and produce over 280,000 BOPD (April 19, 2010, Oil and Gas Journal).
CO2 Injection Offers Considerable Potential Benefits
The EOR technique that is attracting the most new market interest is carbon dioxide (CO2)-EOR.
First tried in 1972 in Scurry County, Texas, CO2 injection has been used successfully throughout the
Permian Basin of West Texas and eastern New Mexico, and is now being pursued to a limited extent in
Kansas, Mississippi, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Alaska, and Pennsylvania.
Until recently, most of the CO2 used for EOR has come from naturally-occurring reservoirs. But
new technologies are being developed to produce CO2 from industrial applications such as natural gas
processing, fertilizer, ethanol, and hydrogen plants in locations where naturally occurring reservoirs are
not available. One demonstration at the Dakota Gasification Company's plant in Beulah, North Dakota is
producing CO2 and delivering it by a 204-mile pipeline to the Weyburn oil field in Saskatchewan,
Canada. Encana, the field's operator, is injecting the CO2 to extend the field's productive life, hoping to
add another 25 years and as much as 130 million barrels of oil that might otherwise have been abandoned.
Next Generation CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery

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 DOE’s R&D program is moving
into new areas, researching novel
techniques that could significantly
improve the economic performance and
expand the applicability of CO2 injection
to a broader group of reservoirs;
expanding the technique out of the
Permian Basin of West Texas and Eastern
New Mexico into basins much closer to
the major sources of man-made CO2.
Next generation CO2-EOR has the
potential to produce over 60 billion
barrels of oil, using new techniques
including injection of much larger
volumes of CO2, innovative flood design
to deliver CO2 to un-swept areas of a
reservoir, and improved mobility control
of the injected CO2.

Oil Refining
Crude Oil and Oil Refining Process
Most people are aware that motor oil and gasoline are generated from the oil refining process. However
many do not realize that the crude oil processed in the oil refining process also produced chemical
components that are the building block of diverse products such as medical equipment, vitamin capsules,
tires, electronics or clothes.
The feed in the oil refining process, crude oil, is actually the remnant of organic creatures that died and
buried in the earth for millions of years ago. Such organic remains underwent high temperature and
pressure inside the earth crust. Crude oil for oil refining process has a unique smell of sulfur and nitrogen.
It is generally blackish in color.

Different types of Crude Oil

In the world, there is variety of crude oil grades. Each grade has a specific composition that is
determined by the original decomposed source materials as well as the properties of the surrounding soil
or rock formations. Properties of a crude oil will determine the type of oil refining process that should be
implemented.
In the OIL REFINING PROCESS, crude oil can be categorized based on two different properties.
The first categorization of crude oil in oil refining process refers to the density of the raw oil. Crude oil is
categorized into light or heavy crude. Another reference of crude is based on the sulfur content of the
crude oil to be used in the oil refining process. Sweet crude contain less sulfur, approximately less than
0.5% sulfur composition. Meanwhile sour crude oil contains higher sulfur in its chemical.

13
The Importance of Oil Refining Process
Crude oil in its raw form is of little use for human. Oil refining process is an important step that
refined crude oil into useable products or chemicals. Different oil refining process will be implemented to
maximize the output of different crude oil. In general, an oil refining process are able to turn raw crude oil
into waxes, fuels, plastics, lubricating oils, chemicals and many other products that are useful for society.

Once oil has been produced from an oil field, it is treated with chemicals and heat to remove
water and solids, and the natural gas is separated. The oil is then stored in a tank, or battery of tanks, and
later transported to a refinery by truck, railroad tank car, barge, or pipeline. Large oil fields all have direct
outlets to major, common-carrier pipelines.
a. Basic Distillation
The basic refining tool is the distillation unit. In the United States after the Civil War (1861-
1865), more than 100 still refineries were already in operation. Crude oil begins to vaporize at a
temperature somewhat less than that required to boil water. Hydrocarbons with the lowest molecular
weight vaporize at the lowest temperatures, whereas successively higher temperatures are required to
distill larger molecules. The first material to be distilled from crude oil is the gasoline fraction, followed
in turn by naphtha and then by kerosene. The residue in the kettle, in the old still refineries, was then
treated with caustic and sulfuric acid, and finally steam distilled thereafter. Lubricants and distillate fuel
oils were obtained from the upper regions and waxes and asphalt from the lower regions of the distillation
apparatus.
In the later 19th century the gasoline and naphtha fractions were actually considered a nuisance
because little need for them existed, and the demand for kerosene also began to decline because of the
growing production of electricity and the use of electric lights. With the introduction of the automobile,

14
however, the demand for gasoline suddenly burgeoned, and the need for greater supplies of crude oil
increased accordingly.
b. Thermal Cracking
In an effort to increase the yield from distillation, the thermal cracking process was developed. In
this process, the heavier portions of the crude oil were heated under pressure and at higher temperatures.
This resulted in the large hydrocarbon molecules being split into smaller ones, so that the yield of
gasoline from a barrel of crude oil was increased. The efficiency of the process was limited, however,
because at the high temperatures and pressures that were used, a large amount of coke was deposited in
the reactors. This in turn required the use of still higher temperatures and pressures to crack the crude oil.
A coking process was then invented in which fluids were recirculated; the process ran for a much longer
time, with far less buildup of coke. Many refiners quickly adopted the process of thermal cracking.
c. Alkylation and Catalytic Cracking
Two additional basic processes, alkylation and catalytic cracking, were introduced in the 1930s
and further increased the gasoline yield from a barrel of crude oil. In alkylation small molecules produced
by thermal cracking are recombined in the presence of a catalyst. This produces branched molecules in
the gasoline boiling range that have superior properties—for example, higher antiknock ratings—as a fuel
for high-powered engines such as those used in today's commercial planes.
In the catalytic-cracking process, the crude oil is cracked in the presence of a finely divided
catalyst. This permits the refiner to produce many diverse hydrocarbons that can then be recombined by
alkylation, isomerization, and catalytic reforming to produce high antiknock engine fuels and specialty
chemicals. The production of these chemicals has given birth to the gigantic petrochemical industry,
which turns out alcohols, detergents, synthetic rubber, glycerin, fertilizers, sulfur, solvents, and the
feedstocks for the manufacture of drugs, nylon, plastics, paints, polyesters, food additives and
supplements, explosives, dyes, and insulating materials. The petrochemical industry uses about 5 percent
of the total supply of oil and gas in the United States.
d. Product Percentages
In 1920 a U.S. barrel of crude oil, containing 42 gallons, yielded 11 gallons of gasoline, 5.3
gallons of kerosene, 20.4 gallons of gas oil and distillates, and 5.3 gallons of heavier distillates. In recent
years, by contrast, the yield of crude oil has increased to almost 21 gallons of gasoline, 3 gallons of jet
fuel, 9 gallons of gas oil and distillates, and somewhat less than 4 gallons of lubricants and 3 gallons of
heavier residues.
Oil Refining Process
The oil refining process starts with a fractional distillation column. The problem with crude oil is
that it contains hundreds of different types of hydrocarbons all mixed together. You have to separate the
different types of hydrocarbons to have anything useful. Fortunately there is an easy way to separate
things, and this is what oil refining is all about.
Different hydrocarbon chain lengths all have progressively higher boiling points, so they can all
be separated by distillation. This is what happens in an oil refinery - in one part of the process, crude oil is
heated and the different chains are pulled out by their vaporization temperatures. Each different chain
length has a different property that makes it useful in a different way.

15
A barrel of crude oil has a mixture of all sorts of hydrocarbons in it. Oil refining separates everything into
useful substances. Chemists use the following steps:
1. The oldest and most common way to separate things into various components (called fractions),
is to do it using the differences in boiling temperature. This process is called fractional
distillation. You basically heat crude oil up, let it vaporize and then condense the vapor.
2. Newer techniques use chemical processing on some of the fractions to make others, in a process
called conversion. Chemical processing, for example, can break longer chains into shorter ones.
This allows a refinery to turn diesel fuel into gasoline depending on the demand for gasoline.
3. Refineries must treat the fractions to remove impurities.
4. Refineries combine the various fractions (processed, unprocessed) into mixtures to make desired
products. For example, different mixtures of chains can create gasolines with different octane
ratings.
The products are stored on-site until they can be delivered to various markets such as gas stations, airports
and chemical plants. In addition to making the oil-based products, refineries must also treat the wastes
involved in the processes to minimize air and water pollution.
A. Fractional Distillation
The various components of crude oil have different sizes, weights and boiling temperatures; so, the first
step is to separate these components. Because they have different boiling temperatures, they can be
separated easily by a process called fractional distillation. The steps of fractional distillation are as
follows:
1. You heat the mixture of two or more substances (liquids) with different boiling points to a high
temperature. Heating is usually done with high pressure steam to temperatures of about 1112
degrees Fahrenheit / 600 degrees Celsius.
2. The mixture boils, forming vapor (gases); most substances go into the vapor phase.
3. The vapor enters the bottom of a long column (fractional distillation column) that is filled with
trays or plates. The trays have many holes or bubble caps (like a loosened cap on a soda bottle) in
them to allow the vapor to pass through. They increase the contact time between the vapor and
the liquids in the column and help to collect liquids that form at various heights in the
column. There is a temperature difference across the column (hot at the bottom, cool at the top).
4. The vapor rises in the column.
5. As the vapor rises through the trays in the column, it cools.
6. When a substance in the vapor reaches a height where the temperature of the column is equal to
that substance's boiling point, it will condense to form a liquid. (The substance with the lowest
boiling point will condense at the highest point in the column; substances with higher boiling
points will condense lower in the column.).
7. The trays collect the various liquid fractions.
8. The collected liquid fractions may pass to condensers, which cool them further, and then go to
storage tanks, or they may go to other areas for further chemical processing

16
Fractional distillation is useful for separating a mixture of substances with narrow differences in boiling
points, and is the most important step in the refining process.
The oil refining process starts with a fractional distillation column. Very few of the components come out
of the fractional distillation column ready for market. Many of them must be chemically processed to
make other fractions. For example, only 40% of distilled crude oil is gasoline; however, gasoline is one of
the major products made by oil companies. Rather than continually distilling large quantities of crude oil,
oil companies chemically process some other fractions from the distillation column to make gasoline; this
processing increases the yield of gasoline from each barrel of crude oil.
B. Chemical Processing
You can change one fraction into another by one of three methods:
 breaking large hydrocarbons into smaller pieces (cracking)
 combining smaller pieces to make larger ones (unification)
 rearranging various pieces to make desired hydrocarbons (alteration)
a. Cracking
Cracking takes large hydrocarbons and breaks them into smaller ones.
There are several types of cracking:
 Thermal - you heat large hydrocarbons at high temperatures (sometimes high pressures as well)
until they break apart. High temperature steam (1500 degrees Fahrenheit / 816 degrees Celsius)
is used to break ethane, butane and naphtha into ethylene and benzene, which are used to
manufacture chemicals.
 Visbreaking - residual from the distillation tower is heated (900 degrees Fahrenheit / 482 degrees
Celsius), cooled with gas oil and rapidly burned (flashed) in a distillation tower. This process
reduces the viscosity of heavy weight oils and produces tar.
 Coking - residual from the distillation tower is heated to temperatures above 900 degrees
Fahrenheit / 482 degrees Celsius until it cracks into heavy oil, gasoline and naphtha. When the
process is done, a heavy, almost pure carbon residue is left (coke); the coke is cleaned from the
cokers and sold.
 Catalytic - uses a catalyst to speed up the cracking reaction. Catalysts include zeolite, aluminum
hydrosilicate, bauxite and silica-alumina.
 Fluid catalytic cracking - a hot, fluid catalyst (1000 degrees Fahrenheit / 538 degrees Celsius)
cracks heavy gas oil into diesel oils and gasoline.
 Hydrocracking - similar to fluid catalytic cracking, but uses a different catalyst, lower
temperatures, higher pressure, and hydrogen gas. It takes heavy oil and cracks it into gasoline and
kerosene (jet fuel).
After various hydrocarbons are cracked into smaller hydrocarbons, the products go through another
fractional distillation column to separate them.
b. Unification

17
Sometimes, you need to combine smaller hydrocarbons to make larger ones -- this process is called
unification. The major unification process is called catalytic reforming and uses a catalyst (platinum,
platinum-rhenium mix) to combine low weight naphtha into aromatics, which are used in making
chemicals and in blending gasoline. A significant by-product of this reaction is hydrogen gas, which is
then either used for hydrocracking or sold.
c. Alteration
Sometimes, the structures of molecules in one fraction are rearranged to produce another. Commonly, this
is done using a process called alkylation. In alkylation, low molecular weight compounds, such as
propylene and butylene, are mixed in the presence of a catalyst such as hydrofluoric acid or sulfuric acid
(a by-product from removing impurities from many oil products). The products of alkylation are high
octane hydrocarbons, which are used in gasoline blends to reduce knocking
C. Treating and Blending the Fractions
Distillated and chemically processed fractions are treated to remove impurities, such as organic
compounds containing sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, water, dissolved metals and inorganic salts. Treating is
usually done by passing the fractions through the following:
 a column of sulfuric acid - removes unsaturated hydrocarbons (those with carbon-carbon double-
bonds), nitrogen compounds, oxygen compounds and residual solids (tars, asphalt)
 an absorption column filled with drying agents to remove water
 sulfur treatment and hydrogen-sulfide scrubbers to remove sulfur and sulfur compounds
After the fractions have been treated, they are cooled and then blended together to make various products,
such as:
 gasoline of various grades, with or without additives
 lubricating oils of various weights and grades (e.g. 10W-40, 5W-30)
 kerosene of various grades
 jet fuel
 diesel fuel
 heating oil
 chemicals of various grades for making plastics and other polymers
The Crude Oil Refining Process

18
Major Processes in Oil Refining Process
In brief, oil refining process or petroleum refining involves the following three major processes, namely:
1. Separation
Separation, also generally known as distillation process, is the very first step in oil refining process. It
involves application of heat to evaporate components in the raw crude oil. The heated components are
later separated based on its boiling point.
2. Conversion

19
In oil refining, the product generated from separation process is not fully customizable to suit market
demand. A conversion process in oil refining process provides flexibility in generating more valuable
product.
3. Purification
While separation and conversion steps in oil refining process generate different chemical from the crude
oil. Purification process helps oil refining process people to come out with product with lower sulfur
content. This means a cleaner product will be generated in the oil refining process.

The image below is a schematic flow diagram of a typical oil refinery that depicts the
various unit processes and the flow of intermediate product streams that occurs between the inlet crude oil
feedstock and the final end products. The diagram depicts only one of the literally hundreds of different
oil refinery configurations. The diagram also does not include any of the usual refinery facilities
providing utilities
such as steam,
cooling water, and
electric power as
well as storage
tanks for crude oil
feedstock and for
intermediate
products and end
products.

20
Oil Transportation
Crude oil must be moved from the production site to refineries and from refineries to consumers.
These movements are made using a number of different modes of transportation. Crude oil and
refined products are transported across the water in barges and tankers. On land crude oil and
products are moved using pipelines, trucks, and trains.

Waterborne Transportation

Crude Oil Tankers

Crude oil tankers are used to transport crude oil from fields in the Middle East, North Sea, Africa,
and Latin America to refineries around the world. Product tankers carry refined products from refineries
to terminals.
Tankers range in size from the small vessels used to transport refined products to huge crude
carriers. Tanker sizes are expressed in terms of deadweight (dwt) or cargo tons. The smallest tankers
are General Purpose which range from 10 to 25,000 tons.
These tankers are used to transport refined products. The Large Range and Very Large Crude
Carriers (VLCC) are employed in international crude oil trade. The size of tanker that can be used in any
trade (commercial voyage between a port of origin and destination) is dependent on the tanker's length
and loaded depth and the size of the loading and unloading ports.
The larger ships are used because they reduce the cost to transport a barrel of crude oil.

Storage Facilities

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 Oil Storage Tanks
Crude oil and refined products are stored in tanks for shipment to other locations or processing
into finished products. There are four basic types of tanks used to store petroleum products: (1) Floating
Roof Tank used for crude oil, gasoline, and naphtha, (2)Fixed Roof Tank used for diesel, kerosene,
catalytic cracker feedstock, and residual fuel oil, (3) Bullet Tank used for normal butane, propane, and
propylene, and (4) Spherical Tank used for isobutane and normal butane.
The amount of crude oil and refined products in storage is reported by Energy Information
Administration. While the actual volume is important, a better index is the number of days of supply
available. This number reflects the volume that can be supplied to run refineries (crude oil) or the volume
of refined products that are available to meet demand.

Oil Pipelines

Oil Pipeline

22
 Pipelines are the most efficient method to transport crude oil and refined products. Pipelines are
used to move crude oil from the wellhead to gathering and processing facilities and from there to
refineries and tanker loading facilities. Product pipelines ship gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel fuel from the
refinery to local distribution facilities.
Crude oil is collected from field gathering systems consisting of pipelines that move oil from the
wellhead to storage tanks and treatment facilities where the oil is measured and tested. From the gathering
system the crude oil is sent to a pump station where the oil delivered to the pipeline.
The pipeline may have many collection and delivery points along route. Booster pumps are
located along the pipeline to maintain the pressure and keep the oil flowing. The delivery points may be
refineries, where the oil is processed into products, or shipping terminals, where the oil is loaded onto
tankers.
A pipeline may handle several types of crude oil. The pipeline will schedule its operation to
ensure that the right crude oil is sent to the correct destination. The pipeline operator sets the date and
place when and where the oil is received and the when the oil will arrive at its destination. Crude oil may
also move over more than one pipeline system as it journeys from the oil field to the refinery or shipping
port. Storage is located along the pipeline to ensure smooth continuous pipeline operation.
After crude oil is converted into refined products such as gasoline, pipelines are used to transport
the products to terminals for movement to gasoline stations. In addition to gasoline, products pipelines are
used to ship diesel fuel, home heating fuel, kerosene, and jet fuel. Because product pipelines are used to
move many different products, the different types of products are shipped in batches.
Batching is used to move two or more different liquids through the same pipeline. The liquid are
transported in a series of batches. The adjoining batches mix where they come into contact. This mixed
stream may be sent to refinery for re-refining, sold as a lower valued product such as a mixture of
premium unleaded gasoline with regular unleaded gasoline, or sold as mixture. Many product pipelines
have standard product specifications. This allows one company to ship gasoline over the line and get not
be concerned whether he receives gasoline from that same batch. Its all the same quality. Individual
additive packages are added at the distribution terminals.

Primary Production
Most oil wells in the United States are drilled by the rotary method that was first described in a British
patent in 1844 assigned to R. Beart. In rotary drilling, the drill string, a series of connected pipes, is
supported by a derrick. The string is rotated by being coupled to the rotating table on the derrick floor.
The drill bit at the end of the string is generally designed with three cone-shaped wheels tipped with
hardened teeth. Drill cuttings are lifted continually to the surface by a circulating-fluid system driven by a
pump.
Trapped crude oil is under pressure; were it not trapped by impermeable rock it would have continued to
migrate upward, because of the pressure differential caused by its buoyancy, until it escaped at the surface
of Earth. When a well bore is drilled into this pressured accumulation of oil, the oil expands into the low-
pressure sink created by the well bore in communication with Earth's surface. As the well fills up with
fluid, however, a back pressure is exerted on the reservoir, and the flow of additional fluid into the well
bore would soon stop, were no other conditions involved. Most crude oils, however, contain a significant

23
amount of natural gas in solution, and this gas is kept in solution by the high pressure in the reservoir. The
gas comes out of solution when the low pressure in the well bore is encountered, and the gas, once
liberated, immediately begins to expand. This expansion, together with the dilution of the column of oil
by the less dense gas, results in the propulsion of oil up to Earth's surface.
Nevertheless, as fluid withdrawal continues from the reservoir, the pressure within the reservoir gradually
decreases, and the amount of gas in solution decreases. As a result, the flow rate of fluid into the well
bore decreases, and less gas is liberated. The fluid may not reach the surface, so a pump (artificial lift)
must be installed in the well bore to continue producing the crude oil.
Eventually, the flow rate of the crude oil becomes so small, and the cost of lifting the oil to the surface
becomes so great, that the well costs more to operate than the revenues that can be gained from selling the
crude oil (after discounting the price for operating costs, taxes, insurance, and return on capital). The
well's economic limit has then been reached and it is abandoned.

Products from Crude Oil

To understand the diversity contained in crude oil, and to understand why refining crude oil is so
important in our society, look through the following list of products that come from crude oil:
Petroleum gas - used for heating, cooking, making plastics
 small alkanes (1 to 4 carbon atoms)
 commonly known by the names methane, ethane, propane, butane
 boiling range = less than 104 degrees Fahrenheit / 40 degrees Celsius
 often liquefied under pressure to create LPG (liquefied petroleum gas)
Naphtha or Ligroin - intermediate that will be further processed to make gasoline
 mix of 5 to 9 carbon atom alkanes
 boiling range = 140 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit / 60 to 100 degrees Celsius
Gasoline - motor fuel
 liquid
 mix of alkanes and cycloalkanes (5 to 12 carbon atoms)
 boiling range = 104 to 401 degrees Fahrenheit / 40 to 205 degrees Celsius
Kerosene - fuel for jet engines and tractors; starting material for making other products
 liquid
 mix of alkanes (10 to 18 carbons) and aromatics
 boiling range = 350 to 617 degrees Fahrenheit / 175 to 325 degrees Celsius
Gas oil or Diesel distillate - used for diesel fuel and heating oil; starting material for making other
products

24
  liquid
 alkanes containing 12 or more carbon atoms
 boiling range = 482 to 662 degrees Fahrenheit / 250 to 350 degrees Celsius
Lubricating oil - used for motor oil, grease, other lubricants
 liquid
 long chain (20 to 50 carbon atoms) alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics
 boiling range = 572 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit / 300 to 370 degrees Celsius
Heavy gas or Fuel oil - used for industrial fuel; starting material for making other products
 liquid
 long chain (20 to 70 carbon atoms) alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics
 boiling range = 700 to 1112 degrees Fahrenheit / 370 to 600 degrees Celsius
Residuals - coke, asphalt, tar, waxes; starting material for making other products
 solid
 multiple-ringed compounds with 70 or more carbon atoms
 boiling range = greater than 1112 degrees Fahrenheit / 600 degrees Celsius
Specialty End Products
These require blending various feed stocks, mixing appropriate additives, providing short term storage,
and preparation for bulk loading to trucks, barges, product ships, and railcars:
 Gaseous fuels such as propane, stored and shipped in liquid form under pressure in specialized
railcars to distributors.
 Lubricants (produces light machine oils, motor oils, and greases, adding viscosity stabilizers as
required), usually shipped in bulk to an offsite packaging plant.
 Wax (paraffin), used in the packaging of frozen foods, among others. May be shipped in bulk to a
site to prepare as packaged blocks.
 Sulfur (or sulfuric acid), byproducts of sulfur removal from petroleum which may have up to a
couple percent sulfur as organic sulfur-containing compounds. Sulfur and sulfuric acid are useful
industrial materials. Sulfuric acid is usually prepared and shipped as the acid precursor oleum.
 Bulk tar shipping for offsite unit packaging for use in tar-and-gravel roofing.
 Asphalt unit. Prepares bulk asphalt for shipment.
 Petroleum coke, used in specialty carbon products or as solid fuel.
 Petrochemicals or petrochemical feed stocks, which are often sent to petrochemical plants for
further processing in a variety of ways. The petrochemicals may be olefins or their precursors, or
various types of aromatic petrochemicals.

25
Safety and Environmental Concerns
The refining process releases a number of different chemicals into the atmosphere and a
notable odor normally accompanies the presence of a refinery. Aside from air pollution impacts there are
also wastewater concerns, risks of industrial accidents such as fire and explosion, and noise health effects
due to industrial noise.
Many governments worldwide have mandated restrictions on contaminants that refineries release, and
most refineries have installed the equipment needed to comply with the requirements of the pertinent
environmental protection regulatory agencies. In the United States, there is strong pressure to prevent the
development of new refineries, and no major refinery has been built in the country
since Marathon's Garyville, Louisiana facility in 1976. However, many existing refineries have been
expanded during that time. Environmental restrictions and pressure to prevent construction of new
refineries may have also contributed to rising fuel prices in the United States. Additionally, many
refineries (over 100 since the 1980s) have closed due to obsolescence and/or merger activity within the
industry itself.
Environmental and safety concerns mean that oil refineries are sometimes located some distance away
from major urban areas. Nevertheless, there are many instances where refinery operations are close to
populated areas and pose health risks such as in the Campo de Gibraltar, a CEPSA refinery near the towns
of Gibraltar, Algeciras, La Linea, San Roque and Los Barrios with a combined population of over
300,000 residents within a 5-mile (8.0 km) radius and the CEPSA refinery in Santa Cruz on the island
of Tenerife, Spain which is sited in a densely populated city.

26
References

 How Stuff Works. Oil Refining. Retrieved from:

[Link]

 Petrostrategies. Oil Transportation. Retrieved from:

[Link]

 World Petroleum Organization. Petroleum Refining. Retrieved from:

[Link]

 Petrolyte. Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil. Retrieved from:

[Link]

 U.S. Department of Energy. Enhanced Oil Recovery. Retrieved from:

[Link]

 [Link]. Oil Industry. Retrieved from:

[Link]

 Hendrik Engineering. Methods of Locating Oil. Retrieved from:

[Link]

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