Blog
The latest news and updates from Imubit.
Economic Engineering Update | April 2021
Fuels demand projected to increase, although less than 2019 The US Government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) released their take on how gasoline and diesel demand might recover in their Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) this week. The forecast shows that...
Economic Engineering Update | March 2021
Vaxications, a Texas Deep Freeze, and Summer Driving Season – finally a booster shot for refining margins? Last time I wrote (January of this year) we were in the midst of the second wave of Covid-19 in many places around the world and things were not looking so great...
Economic Engineering Update | January 2021
With higher refined product prices, conversion margins improve Despite a new and more severe wave of Covid-19 and its restrictions, product prices and demand have been surprisingly resilient. We have seen diesel and gasoline cracks hold up nicely over the last few...
Economic Engineering Update | December 2020
Distillate production back in favor, but will it reverse again before the winter is over? As you may recall, I wrote about distillate pricing relative to gasoline (a large determinant of refining operating strategy) a couple months back. At that time, we had finally...
Complexities of Applying AI in Refining
As industry increasingly recognizes the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI), companies are seeking how to best fit AI into their business strategy. AI, however, is relatively young and the extensive benefits it provides demand creative solutions to unique...
Economic Engineering Update | November 2020
Second wave of COVID increases risk for already challenged refiners Over the last several weeks, we have once again seen COVID-19 cases in the US (and globally) rise significantly. In the initial stages of the outbreak the...
Your LP may be giving you a false sense of optimality
Most complex facilities such as refineries and chemical plants utilize some type of Linear Programming (LP) software to optimize and help plan for feedstocks, unit conditions, and even future investments. These models generally optimize a system of linear equations...
Economic Engineering Update | October 2020
US Distillates Market begins to feel the pinch Since the pandemic started and we saw Jet demand drop to levels unseen in many years, I have postulated that distillates will go long in a significant and difficult to deal with way in the US. This is due to the need to...
Minimizing Jet Fuel Production in an Existing Refinery
The recent COVID-19 outbreak caused a major disruption to peoples’ movements around the world, resulting in a very sharp curtailment of international air travel. Demand for jet fuel, normally a high value refined product and one of the easiest products to sell, was...
The Right AI Solution: Vertical Domain-Driven or Generic Industry 4.0?
The pitch “So, how does your platform work?,” you ask the artificial intelligence (AI) Industry 4.0 vendor. “Well, our agnostic AI technology feeds on all of your data sources in real time, and generates predictions, warnings, prescriptions, and recommendations that...