24-11-2015

Chinese refiners looking for more product out of the Bottom Of The Barrel

Chinese refiners are looking to get more product out of every barrel of oil – especially the hard-to-refine "bottom of the barrel" residue – over the next decade, according to a comprehensive survey of both state-owned and independent Chinese refiners. The survey was conducted on behalf of Honeywell UOP, which is a recognized leader in refining technology.

The industry survey of managers and technical engineers was conducted by Chem1, a Beijing-based firm specializing in providing consulting services to the refining and petrochemical industries. The survey found that interest in upgrading technology is driven by a refiner's need to better process heavy crude oil and get more useable, high-value products such as transportation fuel from every barrel.

"China is the world's largest importer of crude oil. Getting more useable products from each barrel is critical to their operations, especially as they seek to take advantage of low-priced heavy crude, which is significantly harder to refine," said Zhiming Huang, general manager of Honeywell UOP in China. "Coupling that challenge with increasingly stringent fuel and emission standards, Chinese refineries are hungry for a breakthrough technology to enable more profitable operations by finding more 'gold' in the bottom of every barrel."

Among the survey findings:
* Each of the 150 respondents said residue upgrading technologies are of "great importance" to their current business and that upgrading crude residue will remain a top priority in the next decade.

* Respondents expect profitability to increase significantly after upgrading to residue processing technology.

* Of those surveyed, 83 percent said the need to upgrade heavy crude oil and improve conversion of light oil was a driving factor in their interest in upgrading technology.

* Respondents were asked which products they prefer to manufacture in higher quantities. One-hundred percent of respondents chose gasoline and diesel, which help improve the profitability and level-up cost pressure of the enterprise.

* The majority of respondents believe hydrotreating and hydrocracking are the best technology routes to process crude residue at Chinese refineries. Most also said they were not optimistic about the future prospects of traditional delayed coking processes due to their lower light oil yield, high output of lower-value coke and overall lower economic benefits.

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