Introduction to Petroleum Refining

Study Notes

Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons and natural gas (NG)
Also known as crude oil, it is made up of hydrocarbons containing hydrogen and carbon, and natural gas containing oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur

1846: Canadian archeologist Abraham Gesner developed a petroleum distillation process, with kerosine as the main product
1850s: Distillation process started to be used widely in the USA, with 8 million barrels of kerosene produced per year
1859: Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well for petroleum extraction, marking the beginning of mechanical drilling
1860s: Rapid growth of petroleum companies in North America
1895: Standard Oil tried to share the petroleum market with the Russian government but was rejected
1911: Standard Oil broke up into 34 companies
1928: Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco, Gulf, British Petroleum (BP), and Shell formed an international organization called Seven Sisters

Onshore drilling involves positioning the hoisting equipment and lowering the bit and drill collar into the well hole
Offshore drilling allows for exploration of underwater oil reserves
The petroleum product life cycle involves upstream (exploration and production), midstream (transportation and processing), and downstream (marketing and sales) aspects

Midstream business consists of transportation and processing through pipelines and other transport systems
Downstream business deals with marketing and sales, which reaches consumers through gasoline stations, and involves processing and purifying of raw NG

Quality of crude oil is described based on density/specific gravity and sulfur content
Lighter colors indicate higher quality
Classification of oil is based on maturation, with higher quality oils having a lighter color

Distillation is a refining process that separates crude oil into various products
The transformation of crude oil into various products involves a refining process

Malaysia's oil and gas fields are mainly found offshore of Peninsula Malaysia and east coast
Most of the country's oil fields contain low-sulfur, high-quality crude
37 oil fields and 11 gas fields are under development
The Tapis field is the largest oil producer, producing very light and sweet crude with API gravity of 44° and sulfur content of 0.08% by weight

Malaysia has 6 refineries, with a total processing capacity of 544,832 bbl/d
The 3 largest refineries are Shell Port Dickson refinery, Petronas Melaka-I, and Melaka-II refineries