Under the Patronage of H.E. Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil, and with the support of the National Oil & Gas Authority (NOGA) and Bapco as Principal Sponsor, BBTC MENA has become one of the most insightful conferences for the refining industry in the Middle East, especially as more and more focus is given to residue upgrading.
The increasing demand for transportation fuels and the decrease in demand for residual fuel oil together with the low sulfur limits worldwide make “squeezing out” the maximum distillates from every barrel of crude oil refined critical. Competition in the petroleum refining industry remains strong. In order to reduce fuel oil production, refiners are looking into changing their asset configurations by integrating deep conversion processes.
Established 18 years ago, Euro Petroleum Consultants’ BBTC – Bottom of the Barrel Technology Conference Series remains, to this day, the only event focusing on technologies, project trends and equipment innovations relating to residue upgrading in refineries. The MENA edition will take place from 10–11 December at the 5-star Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel in Manama, Bahrain.
A key driver for residue conversion projects is the new international maritime organization (IMO) sulphur specification for bunker fuels, which will come into force one month following the BBTC technology conference.
The interest for developing new technologies that upgrade heavy oils has continuously been increasing. Carbon Rejection and Hydrogen addition processes are the principal categories when looking to upgrade these heavy materials - however, when it comes to extra heavy oils, these two commercially proven technology routes show certain limitations and therefore need to be developed further and/or improved.
Carbon rejection, used since 1913, remains to this day a preferred conversion route, it includes residue catalytic cracking (RCC) and thermal conversion processes such as delayed coking, visbreaking & thermal cracking.
When it comes to converting oil residues, delayed coking is the most popular process – during BBTC there is a session dedicated to delayed coking with presentations from Wood and MOL Group. Also, ExxonMobil will present on Flexicoking process that is another type of Carbon Rejection.
The other main conversion route is Hydrogen addition, which consists of reducing the carbon-to-hydrogen ratio by adding hydrogen – these technologies (including Hydrocracking, Ebullated Bed & Slurry Hydrocrackers) produce a high yield of products and upgraded crudes with a commercial value larger than that of the carbon rejection technology, but require a larger investment and more natural gas availability to produce the amounts of Hydrogen and steam required for these processes.
Technology providers are constantly looking at ways to improve conversion through innovation, better performing catalysts and also by combining different technologies for greater flexibility and products slate.
Simple refinery configurations are no longer competitive and the drive for residue upgrading is continuously increasing whatever the crude type processed. However, there is no ‘one fits all’ solution for refineries. Numerous factors such as market trends, local demands, oil/product prices, refinery configuration, physical/chemical properties of the available heavy oil/residue, and various other factors must be taken into consideration to define a specific upgrading process scheme.
Delegates attending BBTC MENA 2019 will become updated with the latest innovations and developments in the field of residue upgrading. They will hear from major producers: BAPCO, SATORP, ADNOC, MOL and SOCAR. They will also hear from analysts, licensors and other solution providers including Nexant, Honeywell UOP, Axens, ExxonMobil, Wood, HTI, Air Liquide, TechnipFMC, Fluor and many others who will discuss key issues including market overview and trends, impact of IMO 2020, current and future projects (case studies, best practices, capex optimization & efficient project management & execution), residue upgrading innovation (technologies, tools & equipment), thermal, ebullated bed & slurry hydrocracking technologies, the growing importance of integration with petrochemicals, and much more.
BBTC MENA 2019 – Bottom of the Barrel Technology Conference takes place from 10-11 December in Bahrain. To register your attendance at the event, kindly visit bbtc-mena.biz.