1. Big West of California, LLC Bakersfield Refinery REFINING 101
July 2008

2. Outline Where Does The Crude Oil Come From? Crude Oil Basics
Refining Concepts
Flowcharts of Petroleum Refineries
Basic Refinery Operations and Optimization
Conversion
Refinery Overview

3. Where does the Crude Oil Come From?
Kern County produces about 550,000 barrels of crude oil per day, 68% of the state’s total production; enough to fuel about 5 ½ million automobiles.
Three of the six largest oil fields in the U.S. are located in Kern County
Kern County represents approximately 10% of the Nation’s total oil production.
Source: Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce

4. What is Crude Oil?
Crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons formed from organic matter.
Crude varies significantly in color and composition
Composition varies
Sulfur content
Density varies
Contains sediment and water

5. Crude Oil Characteristics
Crude density is commonly measured by API gravity
API gravity provides a relative measure of crude oil density. The higher the API number, the lighter the crude
Sulfur content measures if a crude is sweet (low sulfur) or sour (high sulfur)
Typically less than 0.5% sulfur content = sweet
Typically greater than 1.5% sulfur content = sour
High sulfur crudes require additional processing to meet regulatory specs

6. Crude Types Versus Demand

7. Supply and Demand California
CA now consumes 44 to 45 million gallons of gasoline and 10 million gallons of diesel fuel per day.
Demand for transportation fuels increased nearly 50% in last 20 years
Number of refineries producing gasoline in California dropped from 32 in mid-1980s to 14 today
California now imports 3.5 million gallons of gasoline per day.
Source: California Energy Commission

8. Basic Refining Concepts Crude Separation

9. Basic Refining Concepts

10. Basic Flowchart of Petroleum Refinery (1915)

11. Simplified Flowchart of a Complex Refinery

12. Basic Refinery Operations
Separation – Distillation
Conversion – Changing the size or shape of molecules
Re-shape molecules to improve product quality
Catalytic Reforming Unit
Upgrading – breaking large molecules into smaller
Coking
Hydrocraking
Treatment / Blending – Making on specification products
Removal of impurities – desalting, desulfurization, denitrofication
Mixtures of components to meet specifications

13. Refinery Optimization
Two areas can not be compromised
Safety
Reliability
Ecomonic optimization is a series of trade-offs
Feedstocks
Availability (crude, Intermediate products), Yields, Cost
Refinery Complexity, Flexibility + Constraints
Crude rate
Maximize to spread fixed costs
Products
Meet market demands
Value added and margins
Operations
Maximize yields, minimize giveaway / inventories
Optimize energy use

14. Conversion

15. REFINERY OVERVIEW

16. Utilities

17. For More Information www.bigwestca.com www.energy.gov

18. Thank you