Oil industry

The oil industry treats industrial chain of the Pétrole and Natural gas, layer to the consumer.

Exploration

To have oil, exploration should initially be made, i.e. to seek the places where the topography of under ground makes it possible “to trap” the black gold.

Without obeying quite precise physical laws, the existence of oil reservoirs in a place is function of two elementary criteria:

the hydrocarbons (oil) must be formed in favourable grounds which one describes as bed rock; these grounds necessarily correspond to certain marine phases of sedimentation with organic matter deposits of which physicochemical evolution led to the formation of hydrocarbons. Their maturation is done over extremely long periods (million years) but the conditions of formation of these hydrocarbons having existed at any time of the evolution of the terrestrial sphere, consequently one finds hydrocarbons in all the sedimentary grounds.

However, certain geological times gave place, in certain zones, with productions of more abundant organic matters, and finally, with physicochemical evolutions more elaborate than in other sectors. The distribution of hydrocarbons in the sedimentary basins is thus very heterogeneous.

So that it has there then reservoir oil, one needs that the hydrocarbons were, after their formation, gathered, then “trapped” in “tanks”.

One calls “tank” a space seals in top, bordered by clay or impermeable rocks, more or less large in which there is a porous rock, comparable with a sponge. This rock is impregnated gas and/or of liquid (oil) and/or salt water.

Formed in sailors environment in the majority of the cases, the hydrocarbons are always contained in impregnated bed rocks of water; from where a hydrostatic pressure driving back them to the top (the hydrocarbons are lighter than water). So during this migration to the top, these hydrocarbons meet, on the way, a zone of impermeable rocks, their migration will be some stopped. An oil reservoir thus consists of an impermeable roof tank.

The quality of the tank is characterized by its porosity (the more porous the rock is, the larger volume of oil contained is) and its permeability (possibility of extracting oil).

The exploration of oil consists in studying oil geology. This exploration starts with the establishment of the charts using air photographs. Oil geology is the whole of the techniques making it possible to envisage the site of the oilfields; it currency in two branches:

the geological investigation itself, being interested in the formation of hydrocarbons and other characteristics of the rocks as tanks (or covers).

the study of the internal structures tending to define the existence of the “traps” starting from the methods of surface; it is the geophysics which practice of the teams traversing the grounds to be prospected (to be explored) and drawing structural charts. The most sophisticated means are implemented, the prospection being refined by a seismic grid.

This seismic grid consists in obtaining accurate informations on the depth and the provision of the oil-bearing formations using measurements either by reflection or by refraction of emitted shock waves.

On ground, the generation of the waves is done either using explosives, or with trucks vibrators. The data are recorded using seismographs.

At sea, a boat tows a device of generation of the compressed-air waves (gun) as well as a network of pressure pick-ups (hydrophones) divided into lines (streamers) which can reach 10km length.

The whole of the techniques above leads to the “prospective customer” i.e. with the “putative” layer which it is finally necessary to check on the ground by drilling.

Geology: composition of the grounds, use of the Seismography and the controlled explosions, sampling by coring

Drilling

Drilling is the key of any oil prospection. This stage represents the main thing and the essence of the total costs of an installation (approximately 2/3). This cost depends of course on the localization and the depth of the ground. Offshore oil rig exploration (at sea) costs much more (several times) that the prospection onshore.

In spite of progress of the methods of explorations geological, the discovery, especially of large layers, remains a rare event. In the world, one counts on average a discovery for 10 drillings carried out; but one needs 100 drillings to discover a layer of 10 million /an tons.

As regards exploration, the economy is dominated by the random aspect of discovered which requires to establish as a preliminary relations of choice in probabilistic form. The techniques economic to apply are moreover extremely simple, once included/understood and accepted this “probabilisation” of the “data”.

A rig consists of a mast (or derrick in English) being used to descend the train from drill rods, with the end of which a Trépan is. The train of drill rods consists of a whole of screwed tubes the ones at the end of the others, progressively of its descent at the bottom of the well. The trepan cuts out the rock at the bottom of the well, with the head of drilling. A fluid (mixture containing water and of Clay S) is injected into the well to contain the edges of the well and to go up spoil ( cuttings in English). Other tools are also available using strawberries furnished with synthetic diamond teeth.

A drilling can be at sea, it is then on a oil Plate-forme (see the specific article on the design, construction, the routing, the assembly and the introduction of the platforms).

In theory, the exploration-production at sea does not introduce basic differences with the terrestrial operations. However if the facility of the movement makes the “seismic navy” very cheap, drilling on the contrary, that it is operated using the boats, of fixed or mobile platforms, costs several times (3 to 4 times) the price of expensive of drillings ground.

Even if one wants to be unaware of the pecuniary problem, deep water drilling runs up against the current limits of the technique which thanks to the invention of the robots can make progress in the future.

Modern technologies of drillings make it possible to drill in deviation starting from one only point, that limits dimensions of the surface installations by concentrating the wells (limit the deforestation or offshore oil rig size of the platforms). the wells can simply be deviated or really horizontal even out of U (U-shape). Thus optimizing the heat-transferring surface between the well and the rock tank, the horizontal wells can have productivities five to ten times higher than the vertical wells.

Any drilling is done in several stages.

A first hole of broad diameter 30" (~76 cm) from surface until a few tens of meters to stabilize the starting ground, this first hole will be consolidated by a casing (casing) of 26" and cemented to ensure cohesion enters the ground and the tube (conducting casing). This tube will be used as guide for the following trepan of diameter 20" (~50cm), which will go deeper, will be in its tubed turn then cemented (tube of surface). According to the depth to be reached to 5 holes increasingly small diameters can be drilled. This technique makes it possible to isolate the zones and thus this to prevent any contamination, by the ground water of surface for example. Often the last hole is drilled in diameter 8,5" (~21cm), but can also be smaller. To evaluate the potential of drilling, the " cuttings" are analyzed uninterrupted.

In this hole, not yet tubed, tools are descended at the end of electric cables, to make it possible to evaluate the possibilities of the rocks met: that is called electric diagraphics (wireline logging). Information collected allows:

to readjust the data seismic (in time) compared to data of depth (in meters);
to evaluate the height of productive zone;
to evaluate its porosity.

It is also possible to take carrots of ground during drilling by a special trepan. This possibility also exists at the end of the electric cable for side carrots, or thanks to special tools to recover fluid where it is wanted. If the well is regarded as valid for the production, it receives a last casing, in our case 7" (18~cm) cemented on the spot. Then one descends at the end of the electric cable a gun containing from the explosives on the principle from the Hollow-charge opposite the production zone envisaged and one perforates the casing and cement to connect the bed rock and the well.

Extraction

Once the layer found after drilling, comes the operating time from the production. The exploitation of the fields compared to exploration could seem a quasi industrial operation, in the sense that the connection between investments and production should be envisaged with a good precision.

Actually, it of it is nothing. The forecast of production of fields oil-bearing remainder very dubious, especially just after the discovery of this fields in the first stages of this production. It takes a more precise form only after one effective period of manufacture. Indeed, each layer has its particular characteristics of production which requires a real chock of a great number of parameters with measurements which can be realized only progressively of the development and the exploitation of the layer.

It is necessary to keep in mind that an oil field extends on tens or hundreds of square kilometers. The parameters such as the pressure exerted on the outlet side of the wells as well as the temperature of oil are very variable without speaking about the quality of hydrocarbons, the structure of the rocks and their permeability.

All these parameters and well of others will determine at the end the recoverable reserves of a field and the profitability of the investments.

Here it is also necessary to specify the concept of “recoverable reserves” which requires explanations. Indeed, one generally can, at the first stage of the production, to recover that a weak fraction of the oil contained in the layer (about 30% on average). Indeed, progressively by the extraction of oil, the internal pressure of the layer decreases and tends towards the atmospheric pressure. To be able to recover more, it is necessary to seriously increase the complementary investments whose economy is to be put out of balance.

Generally this complementary recovery consists in injecting into the layer of gas under a pressure higher than the internal pressure of the layer. This operation requires the installation of the compressors with high banc. Thus in Hassi R' Mel, one installed a compressor plant, having ten compressors on floor, allowing to reach a final pressure of 500 bars, for the re-injection of gas in the wells.

As it was known as higher, a layer can extend on hundreds from square kilometers, the exploitation consists in drilling a certain number of wells, to cap them “Christmas trees” i.e. of a device of valves, to connect these “Christmas trees” to a collecting system of pipelines to convey oil with one (or several) storage and treatment plants.

Indeed, like the characteristics of the crude vary from one well to another and that it is necessary to maintain as constant a fair average quality as possible of the crude to be marketed, of this fact the flow of each well is controlled by computer in order to maintain this fair average quality.

In addition the oil contained in the layer is under very high pressure (approximately 500 bars at the beginning of the extraction of the layer) a certain quantity of gas was dissolved and on the outlet side of the well decompression makes it possible this gas to release from oil itself. Also the treatment amongst other things consists in separating this gas from the oil extracted before storage and marketing from this one.

In addition, this oil also contains salt water and products sulphurized in more or less great quantity which it is necessary in certain cases to separate before putting it on the market. For certain fields as in Abu Dhabi or Safaniya in Saudi Arabia, one has even like by-product, of sulfur, due so that the crude contains a great quantity of it.

After treatment oil is stored in large floating roof or fixed roof tanks. The storage of hydrocarbons is in general beside the wearing of loading to be conveyed by sea route towards the consumer countries.

historical of the places of production in the world
# Europe (exhausted stocks, except in Russia)
# the USA (stocks in process of exhaustion)
# the Middle East
# the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, South America, West Africa
# recent sites or to come, sites potential (Canada, the Arctic, the Antarctic) but often consisting of types of difficult oils (sulfur, extra heavy)

See: oil Areas

Various fashions of extraction:

gone up natural, injection of gas, air, water, techniques advanced to recover the heaviest products
low rate of recovery (approximately 60% of the products present in the layer in the best cases, 30% for the majority of layers)
technical extremes to optimize the production
heating and bituminous sand washing

In practice, once a layer is discovered by drilling and is considered to be exploitable, the extent of this layer is determined, then one starts to drill at several places a certain number of wells. Each drilled well is capped with a Christmas tree, it is a whole of valves which close the well while waiting for its working.

The effluents of oil coming from each drilled well are analyzed in Laboratoire to determine the various physical and chemical characteristics such as the Densité, the sulfur content, the percentage of each fraction of product, the Point of flow, the Point of disorder, the Point flash, viscosity etc For that, one uses various techniques of analysis such as the Gas chromatography, the Distillation, the determination of the sulfur content by the bends, the colorimetry and many other techniques.

Once these known characteristics, one will determine a stable mixture which will be used as a basis for its marketing. After that, all the drilled wells are connected in network which all, lead to the factory (or of the factories) of treatment then to a whole of tanks storage. Then, an automatic computing system will order the opening and the closing of the valves of the whole of the wells drilled (often more than one hundred) in order to always maintain the mixture commercial stable in time. Of this stable commercial mixture, one makes then a more complete analysis in order to provide to the potential customers elements of estimate.

If oil contains a strong percentage of gas and light products, one proceeded before it is stored, with a degasification by making it pass by units of Déméthaniseur, Die-éthaniseur, Dépropaniseur, Débutaniseur and Dépentaniseur.

If the layer is with ground, far from the oil terminals, it will be necessary to build a Oléoduc in order to forward this oil to one of the terminals. The size of the pipeline depends on the day laborer quantity of oil to convey. In general, the pipeline is equipped, of place in place, Pumping stations relai S in order to maintain a pressure constant all the length of the way. This pipeline will lead to a whole of storage to the shipping terminal before oil is sold and charged on tankers. If the layer is at sea, it is said that it is Offshore and the layer with ground is a layer One Shore.

Distribution

Transport

Once discovered, collected, treated and stored in the terminals of loading, the crude must be transported by an unspecified means towards the places of consumption.

If the layer is at the fine bottom of the continents, it is essential to forward the crude to a maritime terminal of loading. Generally, the places of production are almost always far away from the places of refining and consumption. For example the Persian Gulf (place of production) is well far from America, of Europe and Asia (places of consumption). Also, it this oil should be transported in one way or another. Transport on a long distance is done in two manners:

either by pipeline,
or by sea route.

This is valid as well for oil itself as for the oil products (naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, gas oil). With regard to methane (or natural gas, there exist particular tankers called methane tankers on which one finds compartments under pressure. Methane gas passed by a compressor plant where it is compressed and by relaxation one lowers his temperature and liquid returns it. One pumps then liquid methane at very low temperature on the methane tanker to transport it place of production towards the places of consumption.

By pipeline

With this intention, one generally resorted to a network of pipelines (or gas pipelines if it is a gas layer) energy of the place of production to the shipping terminal of loading. The construction of such a network requires financial great ways, sometimes long-term negotiations between the oil companies and the States if the pipeline must cross one or more States before leading to the shipping terminal.

At present, there exist many pipelines and gas pipelines in the whole world and mainly in Russia (first networks in the world) in the United States of America, in Canada and in Europe, and with the Middle-East.

With this intention, at the beginning the fluid passed by a Plant compressor which compresses and raises the pressure on a certain level. It is then sent in the pipeline to be conveyed towards the destination. But, in the course of road, by internal friction between the wall of the pipe and the fluid, the pressure decreases and oil does not advance any more in the pipeline. This pressure decrease is called the pressure loss . Also the pipeline is always equipped with Pumping stations relai S which are compressor plants in order to maintain a pressure constant in the pipe throughout the pipeline, more or less many according to the configuration of the ground crossed (mountain, valley or plain) to maintain a pressure rather high in order to be able to run out the crude with a reasonable flow. Transport by pipeline is done by section or cycle. Indeed, it is strongly disadvised mixing a rough HTS with a rough BTS, or a light crude with a heavy crude because those do not have the same price with the purchase and the resale. It is the same for the products.

The power of pumping concerned is thus function of the profile of the crossed ground, and also of the density, the point of flow (temperature to which a liquid product runs out normally) and of the viscosity of the crude (or the product) transported.

These considerations are also valid for a gas pipeline which transports gas since the layer, either directly towards the places of consumption, or towards the shipping terminals where special equipment makes it possible to liquefy gas before its transport on “methane tankers”. But in the case of the gas, only the pressure loss must be considered.

On this subject, the largest gas layer of the whole world discovered in Iran by Total, the layer of “South Pars” contains only gas and condensates. This layer extends on hundreds from square kilometers in the South from Iran and exploited commercially at present.

For the gas pipeline as for the pipeline, except in the desert areas where the risk is minimal, it is also necessary to bury the pipes of enough a great depth to allow if necessary, the exploitation of the arable lands on the surface, but also to avoid the temptation of flight and diversion of the crude. The recent explosion of a pipeline of oil products in Africa is the witness of such facts.

Transport by pipeline is also used to transport, that is to say oil products of the shipping terminal towards the places of consumption (for example the pipeline the Harbor-Grandpuits while passing by Aubervilliers close to Paris, the PLIF (Pipeline of the Ile de France)), that is to say to convey the crudes since the shipping terminal until the interior Raffinerie S.

It is the case of the SPLSE (Pipeline of the South European) which transports since several tens of years the various crudes coming from the Middle East and of Africa to feed the refineries of France, Switzerland and Germany (11 refineries on the whole). It is the same for the pipeline the Mediterranean-Rhone (SPMR) which goes up the valley of the Rhone to Lyon to finish in Geneva while passing by Grenoble and Annecy.

For the pipelines of end products as well as for those transporting of the crudes, there exist sequences of transport which should be respected to avoid to the maximum pollution (mixture between the goods and less the good products, between the crudes light and heavy, least sulfurous and most sulfurous). The flow must be calculated in an adequate way to have the minimum of products polluted (called “contaminats”) to reprocess.

There exist also tanks of “contaminats” to the terminals of the pipelines. These contaminats, in certain cases, is reinjected with sufficiently weak amounts in the crude (or the product) in order not to modify and deteriorate the characteristics specific to the crude (or with the product).

Generally, the sequence goes from the crude (or the product) lightest to the crude (or the product) heaviest or vice versa and requires a rigorous coordination between the manager of the pipeline and those of the production (or of the shipping terminal) and of the reception point. The same rule must be observed for the not very sulfurous and very sulfurous crudes.

For example, one sends initially in the pipeline for products of the regular gas without lead, then of super without lead, then of the “jet fuel” (kerosene), of the gas oil then fuel, etc

The exploitation of a pipeline does not require much labor because all the network is automated.

With the flow of the fluids and the more or less great deal of sulfur contained, the pipes, the valves, the stations of recompression are constantly eroded by the flow and corroded by the sulphurized products, it is thus necessary to maintain it. To avoid the actions of corrosion and erosion of the pipes, one calls upon insulating coatings and by using cathodic protection.

It is estimated, at present that, the networks of pipelines and gas pipelines of the whole world represent an overall length going from 500.000 to 600.000 km.

In short, the transport of the crudes (or the products) by pipeline is cheapest because:

the pipeline functions 24:00 /24 H,
it consumes only energy to transport the crude (or the product),
reliability is with the maximum,
the operational expenses and of maintenance are practically negligible.

The layout of the pipeline depends on several factors such as the configuration of the ground, the economic aspect and/or policy of the layout.

One can also use a pipeline in the two directions, with the outward journey and the return. In the case of pumping with the return, one says that there is Retro-pumping. The pipeline Grandpuits it Havre transports crude since Le Havre to feed the Refinery of Grandpuits. This one can be used in “retro-pumping”. There exists, all over the world, a rather great deal of pipelines of all the sizes and all lengths: The USA, Canada, Venezuela, Europe, Russia, China, etc

As pipelines of products one can quote for example:

the LHP which feeds the airports of Paris starting from the refineries of Le Havre,
Donges-Metz which is connected to the pipeline of NATO,
and the pipelines of NATO which transport the products of the refineries of Dunkirk or of Will wash (close to Marseilles) towards Germany.

To illustrate our remarks, we present hereafter, a system (among other systems) of scheduling of a pipeline, remote-controlled by computer:

The system that we present comprises, actually, three different systems, compounds to manage the operation of the pipeline together: an expert system, a system of optimization and a simulator.

By sea route

Second means of transport of the crude are that of the maritime transport. The continuous increase of consumption in the industrialized countries requires the development in parallel of the fleet of the tankers for the transport of the crude (and the products) in order to satisfy the request for consumption. The transport of gas by methane tanker is specific to this product and does not enter within the framework of this article.

This need requires a particular strain on behalf of the oil companies and of the independent conveyers. Indeed, the construction of a tanker, especially of big size costs 100 to 125 million dollars (330.000 tons). In a recent past, before Suez Canal is reopened in the passing of the boats, one built even tankers of 550.000 tons in order to reduce the cost of transport towards Europe via the Cape (of Good Hope).

An oil company uses, either its own ships - integrated fleet or floats organic in this case -, or charters ships belonging to thirds. If it is the owner of the ship one says that it is the ship-owner and if it rents this ship with thirds one says that it is the shipper .

" The affréteur" obtains from “the ship-owner” that this one transfers onto one of its ships a cargo of crude (or other products) for a certain voyage (one says voyage chartering isolated or spot or for a continuation from consecutive voyages ( freighting on consecutive journeys ) or even that the ship-owner puts, a ship determined at the disposal of the shipper during a certain time. This latest fashion of hiring is called freighting in time or time-charter .

As he was said, a ship-owner is in theory the owner of the ship, only the ship-owner is not always the true owner. Indeed this last can rent very well in naked hull with a ship-owner who undertakes to arm as a personnel , to maintain, repair and ensure the ship.

It is the case for example, of a financial group which makes build a boat and entrusts it to a waterway transport company which “arms it” and exploits it commercially, the functions of owner and from ship-owner then are clearly dissociated.

A ship is determined by its port into heavy, practically always expressed in English ton, the “deadweight” (dwt) or 1 ton into heavy is equal to 1,000 metric ton. It is the total weight which a ship can transport while remaining in the “watermarks” authorized by the international payments of safety. It is only one approximate indication of the service output of the ship.

Indeed, without entering too many details, to define the true capacity of the ship it is also necessary to take into account the concepts of gross tonnage and clear gauge .

A ship, according to whether its owner is correct or not correct, is recorded in a country of kindness ( one says under flag of convenience ) or not. In the first case the cost of this recording for the owner is weak, the payments of the country are favorable to the owner of the ship but much of rules are exceeded, the tanker can be badly maintained, the crew can have little experience or at all of experiment as regards navigation and the social rights of the crew are royally ignored.

In the contrary case where the tanker is regularly recorded in a country say normal, the cost of the recording is increased more, but one with the guarantee that the tanker is in good state of navigation, a crew experienced and with strict controls and regular.

Generally, before chartering a tanker, the shipper examines the list of the boats available on the market, the size of these boats, their navigability, etc as well as the cost requested. It is a purse in which the criteria of supply and are the principal criteria. But often, like the amounts of the invoices concerned are enormous (often dollar million per voyage), certain essential criteria are ignored what causes accidents and enormous pollution whose recent past can testify.

The size of the tankers can go from 3.000 tons into heavy (dwt) to 550.000 tons. But this size is limited for questions with width and draft for the crossing of Panama Canal (approximately 80.000 T) and of Suez Canal (150.000T approximately with full load), Another major problem of pollution at sea is due to the ballasting and the cleaning of the tanks after transport. Very often to avoid paying expenses of cleaning to the wearing of unloading, the captain of the tanker prefers to leave the port and to clean his tanks on the open sea what causes a constant and considerable marine pollution.

The contract which defines the reciprocal obligations of the ship-owner and the shipper calls a charte-partie . There exist two kinds of “charte-partie”:

the time-charter places the ship at the disposal of the shipper who ensures commercial management of it; when the ship is chartered in this way, the consequences of waste of time (it is a very important factor in transport because it is very expensive), in particular at the stopovers, are supported completely by the shipper because the hiring of the ship is based on a fixed monthly price. In this case, the shipper also pays the compartments (combustible) and the carriage costs.
the voyage-charter is a voyage chartering and the shipper pays only one freight fixed at the transported ton. Here if the stopovers of loading and unloading take more time than envisaged in the contract (called time of board ), it pays in addition to the freight of the allowances called Surestaries .

The maritime transport costs (cost of freight) are defined internationally by scales which one calls scale " Worldscale" (or Worldscale rate). It is established jointly by two greater worldwide associations of brokers of maritime freighting of London and New York. In this book, all the ports, large or small, whole world are indexed with all the conveniences and the disadvantages of each port. Moreover, the connections, since each port indicated with the other ports of the world, comprise a cost in US dollars.

This scale called Barême Worldscale defines, for each year, and all the possible and conceivable maritime relations in the whole world, the cost of transport of the crude per ton into heavy, in US dollars, for each one of these relations (including relations comprising two wearing of loading and/or unloading). The figures appearing in this scale are the cost prices with the ton transported, on each relation, of a standard ship of well defined characteristics (75.000 dwt moving at the speed of 14,5 knots…) and other factors such as the harbor taxes, the carriage costs, and the difficulties of access to the port…

This scale is updated every year to take account of the variations occurred (price of the compartments, currency values, modifications of the harbor services, etc) and recognized by all the conveyers of the whole world. This cost is revisable every year and a new edition appears about February of each year. In the jargon of the trade, one says of this cost that it is a cost Flat.

This cost which one calls “flat” the cost is equal to 100 per convention (or rate Worldscale 100). When the rate “worldscale” of a tanker is with WSC 100 for a given relation (for example of Yanbu to Marseilles), the cost of transport of the crude is indicated in this " Worldscale" scale; .

When the “worldscale” is lower than 100, for example “WSC 60” the cost of transport are undervalued and equal to 60% of the cost indicated in the scale and if the WSC is higher than 100, this one is raised (for example WSC 180 = 1,8 times the cost “flat” of the scale). When the transport demand exceeds the offer available, rate WS of certain categories of ships can exceed 2 to 3 times or even more the cost “flat”.

The every day there exists on the market, for each size of ships and each principal relation, of the quotations based on these WSC. As in other fields commercial, according to supply and demand for each relation, one observes more or less high “rates WS”. This quotation of the market of the maritime transport is done currently by average data processing and the negotiations between ship-owners and shippers are done in “online”.

The organization of transport of crudes depends, for a tanker refiner, several parameters of which coordination must be the best possible one. Indeed this transport depends on the availability of the tankers, of the demand for end products, the availability of the crudes, that of storage capacities and treatment in refinery. The tanker always may find it beneficial to the minimum to reduce the distortion between these factors in order to the minimum reduce the cost of each one of these factors.

In general, the transport of the crude is envisaged several months in advance, but the designation of a specific boat is done only 15 days or 1 month before transport itself. In the event of absence of the name of a specifically indicated ship, in the programme of forecast of transport, the manager replaces the name of the boat by the initials " TBN" (To Be Nominated) in the jargon of the tankers.

Throughout transport, a cargo of crude (or product) can change several times of owners. Indeed, according to whether the market is in fall or especially in the event of rise (oil crisis, war in sight, terrorism, open conflict or not between the States, or temporary lack of a certain quality of crude on the market), the transactions go good progress between tankers or tankers and speculators (which are tankers themselves or independent companies) during all the way of the ship. It very often arrives that its destination, therefore the direction of its road is modified several times during this way.

The benefit withdrawn by these transactions are enormous (a benefit of 5 hundreds US/baril and by intermediary can give place up to 100.000 USD of benefit by crude cargo) for each one of these momentary owners.

Various sizes of boats (barges, ( tankers ), ( super tankers ):

25.000 dwt (barges)
50.000 (tanker)
80.000
90.000
110.000
120.000
150.000
230.000
350.000
550.000 dwt (super tanker)

Those of 550.000 T are super tankers while the others are tankers or barges .

The real costs of transport are negotiated between conveyer and customer. There exists a market on the transport of oil and of the oil products and this market is international. The every day the newspaper “Platt' S Oil Gramm” publishes the prices of transport for each category of tankers and the oil companies make use of it to discuss with the conveyers. According to the category of tankers and also the balance between supply and demand of the moment, real the Wordscale price can be higher or lower than the rate “Flat” (i.e. at the basic rate indicated in the “Wordscale scale”). There exist also brokers who benefit from the scarcity of a category of tankers to buy and then resell “transport” of tankers to the customers in a hurry or in the need and to draw from the substantial profits.

What is true for transport is even truer for the crudes and the end products. It is not rare to see a crude cargo, between the moment when this cargo is in the course of loading at the Persian Golf and the time when it arrives at destination, which it changes owner five to six times. The destination itself can be modified in the course of road due to the change of owner. For example, per time of crisis (disorder, war, terrorism), by buying a cargo of 230.000 T oil (that is to say approximately 1.700.000 barrels) and by reselling it 10 minutes later with a benefit of only 5 hundred US per barrel, one can gain 85.000 US$. The transactions are done in general by telephone, telex and emails or online and confirmed by fax or telex.

Lastly, as it was known as higher, it can exist a organic fleet whose boats belong to the oil company and of the boats under contract rented to more or less long run by this one. But taking into account the enormous financial expenses, of the costs of crew, and the risks (pollution inter alia) the companies tend to reduce the organic fleet to the profit of the tankers under contract.

By other means

Other means of transport are also used to transport the crudes and the oil products intermediary or are finished.

It is the case of the river transport by barges, railway or simply by trucks on road. These means of transport are used either for specific products or on short distances. For example, for small local productions of crudes (crude production in the Seine and Marne for example), one uses trucks to forward this crude to the Refinery of Grandpuits.

The trucks are also used to deliver the products since the refineries towards the deposits and the service stations.

In certain cases, the crude production generates secondary products such as sulfur for example. This one is under product of certain oil and gas layers to the Middle-East or elsewhere in Venezuela. It under product requires a specific transport and a storage.

Storage

Here one cannot speak about transport without saying a word on storage. There exist storages with the shipping terminals, but also with the places of production of the crudes, in the refineries and finally close to the places of consumption.

Often storage also represent enormous investments and maintenance costs which are not negligible.

For the crudes, one builds vats for crude light or heavy, gross sulfurous or not sulfurous. The products are separate according to their particular characteristics (naphtha, gasoline, super, kerosene, gas oil, fuel, residues, various loads etc). According to the case, the roofs of the vats can be fixed or floating.

There also exists, when the configuration of the ground allows it (existence of impermeable pockets in the basement, salt layer for example) of underground storages. This type of storage is reserved for the crude, the gas propane, the gas oil and the domestic fuel.

A park of storage in refinery can even have tens of some of vats of different sizes and destinations different.

In France the mode of storage of the crudes and oil products is subjected to a certain number of rules dictated by the Law (various Customs and Administrations).

The distributive firms choose to it (or them) category (S) in which (or which) are classified their deposits from the customs point of view whose main features are the distinctions between (this is for memory, we do not give details not to overload the article unnecessarily) the categories of warehouses hereafter:

the special real warehouse,
the warehouse under direct customs control special contractual,
the special open warehouse,
the particular open warehouse,
the simple open warehouse,

this to show that, for oil all in a strict way because this product is governed is strategic and the financial stake is enormous for everyone which touches this industry and especially for the states which can perceive enormous tax products (in France 85% of the selling price of one liter fuel enters the cases of the State!!!).

Refining

Crude oil is treated by several processes to obtain the maximum of light products with strong valorization. Indeed, the light products (gas propane, butane, naphtha, gasolines, kerosene and gas oil) are sold at high price while the fuels and the residues are sold at low prices. The whole of these processes constitute the technique of the refining.

The products drawn from oil are it by several techniques of refining :

atmospheric distillation,
flash distillation,
catalytic reforming
catalytic cracking

cracking,
hydrocraquage,
thermal cracking,
cracking with the vapor,

isomerization,
polymerization,
visbreaking,
the mérox treatment,
the hydro-treating of naphtha and the kerosene,
the hydrodesulfurization of the gas oil,

The catalytic Reformage is a technique which consists in processing, using a catalyst, the naphtenic products in aromatic products with high octane number.

The Hydro-treating and the Hydrodésulfuration are techniques making it possible to remove the sulfur contained in products concerned. Indeed sulfur is a very corrosive product, and to withdraw it oil products, one uses the hydrogen which combines with sulfur to form hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) (produced mortal with very low dose, about some 50 ppm (left per million)), that one eliminates then.

In the treatment Mérox on the other hand, one does not eliminate sulfur, but one makes it complex in the form of disulfide, therefore sulfur becomes inactive and is not corrosive any more.

The Craquage consists in “breaking” the largest molecules to obtain some smaller. Catalytic cracking is a technique which consists, using a catalyst, to break the large hydrocarbon molecules in order to obtain small as a basis molecules being used for the mixtures of the gasolines used like fuels.

See also the Leitartikel: Oil .

See also the Leitartikel: Refining of oil .

See also the Leitartikel: linear Programming .

See also the Leitartikel: Operations research .

See also the Leitartikel: Petrochemistry .

See also the Leitartikel: Natural gas .

See also the Leitartikel: Procurement, production and distribution Plan of oil .

Products

By order of decreasing lightness, the oil products are (nonexhaustive list):

light gases (Méthane and ethane) which constitutes fuel gas used by the refineries themselves
of the gas Propane,
of the gas Butane,
of the Naphta,
of the gasolines: ordinary and of the super (premium of various ranks)
the Kerosene primarily used in the manufacture of the Jet A1 for the planes
the Gas oil as a basis light being used for the driving gas oil and of the fuel domesticates
the average gas oil
the heavy gas oil or heavy Fioul of various sulfur contents (< sulfur 0,5%, sulfur 0,5%, sulfur 1% and sulfur >1%) also called fuel BTS (low sulfur content), fuel MTS (average sulfur content) and fuel HTS (high sulfur content).
the combustible fuel used in the refinery,
the Bitumen or asphalts.

It is by destructuration and/or recombination of the molecules of the more or less heavy elements that one obtains some plastics starting from the Naphta. Thus by " cracking with the vapeur" (see the Leitartikel in: Refining of oil), one obtains ethylene and Propylène, then by Polymérisation of ethylene or propylene, one obtains then Polyéthylène or Polypropylène, plastics used in all the fields.

See too

Leitartikel: Petrochemistry
Refining of oil
History set of themes, in the international context: treated in the Geopolitical article of oil

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