COURSE OVERVIEW:

This course provides a comprehensive and practical overview of petroleum refining processes and how they are integrated with production planning and economics. It covers crude oil characterization, major refinery process units, product specifications, blending, linear programming models, and day to day production planning and scheduling. Participants will learn how refinery hardware and process constraints translate into planning models, how different crudes and operating modes impact yields and margin, and how to align refinery operation with market demand, product quality, and corporate objectives. Emphasis is placed on linking technical refining knowledge with practical planning, scheduling, and economic decision-making.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

After completion of the course, the participants will be able to:

1. Describe the role of petroleum refining within the overall upstream, midstream, and downstream value chain.
2. Explain how crude oil properties and assays influence refinery configuration, yields, and product quality.
3. Identify the main refinery process units and describe their functions and interactions in the overall process flow scheme.
4. Explain the operating principles of atmospheric and vacuum distillation and their impact on product cut points and yields.
5. Describe key conversion processes such as catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, and coking and how they upgrade heavy fractions.
6. Explain the role of hydrotreating and reforming in meeting clean fuel specifications and producing petrochemical feedstocks.
7. Interpret basic product specifications for major fuels and relate them to process unit performance and blending strategies.
8. Describe the structure of a typical refinery linear programming (LP) model and how it represents units, yields, and constraints.
9. Use refinery LP concepts to understand crude selection, operating mode choice, and product slate optimization.
10. Recognize key inputs required for production planning, including crude availability, unit capacities, maintenance, and demand forecasts.
11. Explain the difference between long-term planning, midterm production planning, and short-term operations scheduling.
12. Outline methods for developing and managing product blending plans, minimizing specification giveaway, and controlling inventories.
13. Identify the main utility and energy systems in refineries and explain their influence on operating cost and constraints.
14. Interpret basic economic indicators such as margin, netback, and contribution, and relate them to planning decisions.
15. Diagnose common coordination problems between planning, scheduling, and operations and suggest practical improvement measures.
16. Communicate refinery processing options, planning scenarios, and economic tradeoffs effectively to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

-Process and operations engineers working in refineries and integrated facilities

-Production planners, economists, and scheduling engineers in downstream operations

-Refinery technologists and unit engineers responsible for key process units

-Crude supply, trading, and crude evaluation professionals

-Laboratory, quality, and technical service staff supporting product specifications and blending

-Project engineers and consultants involved in refinery debottlenecking and configuration studies

-Managers and supervisors seeking a better understanding of how refining assets are planned and operated

TRAINING COURSE METHODOLOGY:

A highly interactive combination of lectures, discussion sessions, and case studies will be employed to maximise the transfer of information, knowledge, and experience. The course will be intensive, practical, and highly interactive. The sessions will start by raising the most relevant questions and motivating everybody to find the right answers. The attendants will also be encouraged to raise more of their questions and to share in developing the right answers using their analysis and experience. There will also be some indoor experiential activities to enhance the learning experience. Course material will be provided in PowerPoint, with necessary animations, learning videos, and general discussions.

The course participants shall be evaluated before, during, and after the course.

COURSE CERTIFICATE:

National Consultant Centre for Training LLC (NCC) will issue an Attendance Certificate to all participants completing a minimum of 80% of the total attendance time requirement.