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 seen gasoline start to lift away from diesel as relentless inventory […]
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 challenges. Successfully implementing AI requires a deliberate and dedicated approach that sometimes differs from implementing more standard […]
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 against a set of constraints given an objective function (usually profitability). Specialized LP engineers are needed […]
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 suddenly at record lows with negative crack spreads recorded in all markets. […]
