Petrochemicals III – Feedstocks

Benefits to you and your company:

Get a deeper knowledge of the petrochemicals business and markets by understanding how products from oil refining, natural gas processing and other operations feed into the petrochemical sector. The course will give you insights into the upstream industries that provide the raw materials for making petrochemical building blocks, as well as what can be expected in the future, ensuring that you are fully aware of their effect on your business.

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By the end of the course, you will learn about:

• Crude oil history and terminology: The rise of national oil companies and OPEC, crude oil consumption and production, and major crude types set the stage for the oil refining presentations.
• Oil refining and economics: After describing the development of the oil refining industry, we work through the major separation, conversion and purification steps employed in concise terms without technical jargon. We describe the refining processes needed to meet end-use demand with the concept of simple and complex refineries explained. A further presentation looks at refining economics and the tools to measure profitability.
• Natural gas processing and liquefaction: The natural gas industry and the terminology used are explained, including natural gas processing, where the natural gas liquids (NGLs) are separated out.
• The petrochemicals conversion technologies: At this point, the relevant products derived from oil and natural gas are drawn together to show how they can be used to make petrochemical building blocks. This includes an overview of the different technologies used to make basic petrochemicals.
• Synthesis gas for making petrochemicals: The production and conversion of synthesis gas to petrochemicals is next examined including gas-to-liquids via the Fischer-Tropsch process. This leads to a discussion on coal-based petrochemicals and the chemicals that can be produced from coal gasification.
• Future routes to petrochemicals: The course concludes with a glimpse of where future petrochemical feedstocks may be obtained.

Hands on practice:

• Hands on exercise to reinforce the learning related to margin analysis, reformer yields and octane economics
• Presentations by an ICIS consultant with extensive experience in both the refining and petrochemical businesses

Course fees:

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Amy Claxton

Amy Claxton, P.E. is a registered professional Chemical Engineer and owns a consulting company called My Energy.

Her clients include publicly traded and privately held oil, gas, lube and wax companies... read more

Peter Taffe

Peter Taffe, a chemical engineering graduate from the University of Leeds in Britain, has over 30 years of experience in technical and business publishing as well as industrial public relations. Peter has been... read more

Mark Brumbaugh

Mark Brumbaugh, registered professional engineer, started his professional career with Exxon in 1973 at the Baytown refinery in the US.

He held various technical, supervisory and management positions... read more

Read more about our course leaders.

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• Personnel with some experience of petrochemicals and attendees of our Petrochemicals I and II courses
• Non-technical personnel working in sales, marketing, purchasing and other business positions in the petrochemical sector
• Purchasers of petrochemical-based products or manufacturers of finished products who buy raw materials sourced from the petrochemical industry
• Service providers including logistics companies
• Analysts and researchers in the financial community

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View the ICIS Training Fees List for pricing information and and group discounts.