On a daily basis, OGJ editors receive many phone calls and e-mails from readers asking industry-related questions. The questions can range from the easily answerable to those that would require a week’s research.
The technical editors probably receive the bulk of the questions, especially those that relate to the specific editor’s area of coverage in the industry. Last week, for example, this editor received phone calls and e-mails with questions regarding refinery maintenance trends, refining margins, diesel sulfur quality, and the latest OGJ refinery survey.
A few years ago a schoolteacher from Australia sent an e-mail asking how many gallons were in a barrel of oil. After a quick response, the teacher started e-mailing numerous questions, which apparently her second-grade students were asking.
A polite reference to the search engine google.com and the US Department of Energy’s web site stemmed the barrage of questions.
For refining, the most common questions relate to, in order of frequency: the refinery survey, refinery complexity, and refining statistics.
OGJ Online
One of the most anticipated issues of the year, especially for refiners, is the annual Worldwide Refining Survey, which appears in the last issue of each year. Starting with the Dec. 22, 2003, issue, the actual survey has been available only through the OGJ web site, OGJ Online at www.ogjonline.com.
This caused much confusion even though the link to the survey appeared in the accompanying article. The confusion continued with the December 2004 survey-a redesigned OGJ web site invalidated the link provided in that issue’s article, which was written about a month before the redesign occurred.
Survey Editor Jeannie Stell reports that she receives daily inquiries, especially in January, regarding the whereabouts of the survey. The frequency of inquiries tapers off in March but then picks up again in October, according to Stell.
The correct link for subscribers to access all of the OGJ surveys is http://ogj.pennnet.com/datastats/survey.cfm. They are all available in PDF format. Some of the shorter surveys still appear in print form, including the upcoming ethylene survey.
Refinery complexity
The second most common refining-related question is how to calculate the Nelson Refinery Complexity Index, which was developed to quantify the relative cost of components that make up a refinery. These inquiries are valid, considering that the last article on the actual calculation method appeared 9 years ago (OGJ, Mar. 18, 1996, p. 74).
For those wondering, the calculation is simple. First, rate the capacity of each refinery unit as a percentage of atmospheric distillation capacity (e.g., a 40,000 b/cd catalytic reformer in a 200,000 b/cd refinery would have a factor of 0.2). Then multiply each unit’s rating by its complexity index and sum up all the units.
Generalized complexity indices for more common units are: atmospheric distillation = 1 by definition, vacuum distillation = 2, delayed coking = 6, FCC = 6, reforming = 5, hydrocrack-ing = 6, hydrotreating = 2, alkylation/polymerization = 10, aromatics/isomerization = 15, oxygenates = 10, hydrogen (Mcfd) = 1.
The previously mentioned survey web site also has a link for those readers interested in buying the surveys in spreadsheet format. One version of the spreadsheet also has the Nelson Refinery Complexity Index calculated for each refinery.
Other questions
Other common questions relate to gasoline statistics. One recurring question is: How much gasoline is produced from a barrel of oil?
Answers to these and many other questions are available on DOE’s Energy Information Administration (www.eia.doe.gov) and International Energy Agency’s (www.iea.org) web sites.
The nice thing is that all the information there is free. The amount of industry information available there is vast-too much to mention here.
Oh, yes: The answer, according to EIA, is that in the US an average of 19.7 gal of gasoline is produced from 1 bbl of oil. ✦
