Refinery of the Future - Securing a Future through Integration
Wednesday, March 2
Keith Couch
In the past, refinery owner-operators have typically evaluated the worthiness of investment opportunities by using historical comparative analysis. This approach, however, assumes that the future will behave the same as the past. It also did not inform as to many of the tradeoffs inherent in an investment decision.
This reflective approach was also applied by traditional firms in historical markets. Markets are changing, and the hurdles have increased for access to cash. While the COVID-19 pandemic changed many aspects of daily life, it also created an environment in which investors and corporate boards accelerated their focus on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG). It is no longer good enough for projects to simply have a strong financial return. Many projects now require a focus on decarbonization, carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS), incorporation of renewable feedstocks and/or plastic circularity to be bankable. This requires a different perspective on project development. It requires a new strategic framework and methodology that enables firms a better way to objectively quantify how well an investment opportunity will perform relative to six key resources: carbon, hydrogen, utilities, emissions, water — treated as a scarce resource — and capital.
As firms pursue increased efficiency, demand for fuels is projected to decline gradually, while demand for petrochemicals is forecasted to grow. This projected shift has stimulated innovations in technology that improve the economic prize for striking the optimal balance at each point in time.
The Refinery of the Future will have the flexibility to meet rapidly changing market needs -- and integrate petrochemicals -- to unlock additional value. Connected technologies will provide additional benefits through performance optimization. The Refinery of the Future provides a strategic and stepwise method to invest in new process technologies that target higher value uplift of distressed and merchant product streams. In this presentation, we will highlight recent advances in crude-to-chemicals and provide some integration strategies that enable refiners to improve their economics in fuels markets, improve their market position through diversification into petrochemicals, or both.
Please join Keith Couch, Sr. Director of Global Technology Sales and Integrated Projects, for an overview of the efficiency driven Six Efficiencies (E6) framework and how it is used as an enabler to help each firm realize their Refinery of the Future.