Meeting Archives

Proceedings Crude Oil Quality Association Meeting

San Antonio, TX, 24 February 2011

 

Domestic Trading Center Subcommittee (DTC) Report

     “Domestic Sweet / WTI Specifications”, Dennis Sutton, Marathon Petroleum.  Dennis provided a brief review of the Subcommittee’s activities in 2010. In this, he discussed the letter with the recommended additional specifications sent by the COQA Director on 10 August 2010 to numerous companies having an interest in domestic sweet crude oil at Cushing, OK. A number of meetings have been held between operators and shippers, and it is incumbent upon refiners receiving Domestic Sweet deliveries to push for adoption. Dennis noted that two of the “Big 3” operators at Cushing have begun testing shipments for their conformance to the specifications. While Enbridge has their own laboratory at Cushing, a new laboratory capable of analyzing for all of the existing and proposed specifications is currently being built. (See following presentation by Bruce Carlile of Intertek). 

     “Cushing, OK Crude Oil & Residual Fuel Laboratory Services”, Bruce uce uce Carlile, Intertek. Bruce began his presentation by providing a brief history of what is currently Intertek. It was founded in 1885 in the U.K. by Caleb Brett as a marine surveying business. Today, it encompasses a global network of over 1000- laboratories and offices offering services in testing, inspection, certification, auditing, and quality assurance among others. With the growing importance of Cushing as a hub for crude oil receipts and shipments, Intertek is constructing a laboratory capable of performing a full array of testing on crude oil and residual fuel oils. In addition, the Cushing facility will offer other services including third party sampling of tanks and pipelines, tank calibration and strapping, and metering, measurement, and calibration among others. The facility is anticipated to open in late March 2011. 

     “Cushing Storage and The Nearby Forward Curve”, Abudi Zein and Hillary Stevenson, Genscape. Genscape, founded in 2001, specializes in providing “measurement” data on crude oil operations. A novel approach is used to obtain these data including over flights in which changes in the observed levels of floating roof tanks are noted, and power consumption for pipelines is used to calculate flowrates. Currently, Genscape has approximately 50 subscribers to their service. Abudi and Hillary illustrated their presentation with data relating to pipeline movements in and out of Cushing. These data indicate an imbalance in which incoming shipments exceed outgoing shipments by approximately 200 kb/d. Other data were provided comparing Brent vs. WTI. 

Canadian Crude Quality Subcommittee Report

The group has not met or reviewed issues for some time. Past issues that were discussed, and advances made, include:

• Synthetic quality on Spearhead - Enbridge has made control advancements to address this issue and it has not resurfaced as a priority item

• The “Quick Reference Guide to Canadian Crudes” was released late in 2009, but may require an update based on more current data. CQI will commit to an update for the June 2011 meeting

• the “Brewmaster Guide” (producer contact reference to parallel the Quick Reference Guide) has been "stolen" by www.crudemonitor.ca where producer information is included in general descriptions

Current efforts by the group have been directed toward inviting Canadian speakers to inform the COQA on advancements in infrastructure and access. Audience input was solicited, and a number of suggestions were presented (Nearly all of these suggestions were highlighted in the succeeding CCQTA update). Information on Northwest Upgrading and Pacific coastal access was requested.

The COQA membership is invited to contact the co-chairs (Bill Lywood or Ron Fisher) with ideas and issues related to Canadian crude oil quality at any point in time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     “Enbridge System: Crude Types, Transportation and Quality Performance”, Ashok Anand, Enbridge Pipeline. In opening his presentation, Mr. Anand provided a brief overview of Enbridge’s liquid pipeline systems in Canada and the U.S., and discussed in some detail their:

• Alberta Oilsands Regional Pipeline Development
• Alberta Clipper
• Southern Access Expansion
• Southern Light Diluent Supply

     Enbridge’s liquid pipelines carry a wide number of crude oil types varying from heavy, high TAN to condensate. To maintain quality, a number of controls are used in pipelines and breakout tanks. Ashok provided a matrix for pipeline movements, discussed the controls used for tanks, and described the metrics for each. Special precautions are observed for high TAN streams and those containing cracked ked ked ked stocks.cks.

Ashok then described actions being taken at Cushing related to Domestic Sweet in support of COQA’s quality initiatives. Following which, and closing his presentation, he discussed two of their pipeline systems in North Dakota: 

• Portal Reversal Expansion Project
• Bakken Pipeline Expansion Project 

     “Update on CCQTA activities”, Randy Segato, Suncor Energy, and vice-president CCQTA. randy provided background on the CCQTA, the Scope and Current Activity of the eight active projects within the association, and discussed two project proposals that are under consideration.  The currently active projects are: 

• Condensate Quality
• Oilsands Bitumen Processability
• Phosphorus in Crude Oil
• TAN Phase IV
• H₂S in Crude (Bill Lywood discussed this project in greater detail; currently several COQA member companies are participants).
• Heavy Oil Compatibility
• Fluorocarbons in Crude
• Crude Quality Tutorial

     The two project proposals that are under consideration are: 

• On-line Contaminant Monitoring
• Emulsion Characterization

The on-line contaminant monitoring project proposes to employ existing instrumentation to undertake at-line/on-line monitoring of crude oil contaminants. Preliminary results with MWD XRF seem promising, although LIBS technology is also being assessed.  The emulsion characterization project proposed to develop standardized test methods to compare emulsions from different sites to find common causes. This project has been prompted by recent incidents in refinery desalters, slop systems, and air flotation systems among others.

In closing, Randy noted that the next joint CCQTA/COQA meeting is now scheduled for the week of June 18, 2012. It will be held at the Kananaskis Resort, located 90 km west of Calgary, Alberta. 

General Meeting

     “Mercaptans in Crude Oil”, Larry Kremer and Weldon Cappel, Baker Hughes. In his presentation, Larry covered the following topics: 

• Mercaptan properties
• Mercaptan scavengers
• Effect of temperature and time on removal from liquids

Some mercaptans have a significantly lower odor detection threshold than other hazardous substances such as H₂S and CS₂. Moreover, their toxicity by inhalation and ingestion can be extremely low. Larry presented two tables to illustrate these latter.

Typical H₂S scavengers are ineffective at removing mercaptans, and specialized products have been developed. H₂S scavengers are essentially “instantaneous”, but those for mercaptans are slower acting. Performance of these latter is affected by temperature and time, and Larry discussed application of one of these products as applied to a Caspian Sea crude oil. 

     “Global Crude Oil Supply and Quality Trends”, Geoff Houlton, Purvin & Gertz.  Mr. Houlton based his presentation on Purvin & Gertz’s “Global Crude Oil Market Outlook.” World economic and petroleum demand has shown some dramatic shifts in recent years, impacted by the 2009 recession but with an astounding rebound in 2010. Global oil supply over the next 10+ years was discussed in terms of the various producing regions and how quality of the produced crude oil in these is likely to evolve. New developments and future discoveries are essential for world supply to keep pace with demand. But, global crude oil quality will evolve to a heavier, more sour barrel.

     Mr. Houlton then focused on North American crude production outlook. Oil sands development in Canada is expected to remain strong for the foreseeable future. U.S. exploration and production will respond to price, and success in horizontal shale plays will help overcome some of the expected downturn in Gulf of Mexico following the Macondo incident last year. Additional heavy crude oil from Colombia and Brazil may help to overcome declines from Venezuela and Mexico.

     Production from Africa and Russia and some of its former Republics is expected to increase. But, shifts will take place in Atlantic Basin trade with additional crude oil going to Asia. East Siberia production and the ESPO pipeline will affect supply of crude oil to Europe and, potentially, to the U.S. 

“Public Crude Assay Websites”, Jeff Thompson, Coffeyville Resources.  There are essentially three types of Website that provide crude oil assay data:

*   Whole crude properties
*   Crude quality monitoring
*   Comprehensive crude assays

Examples of the first of these are Capline and Enbridge. The data they provide are useful for answering questions such as Sweet or sour?  Current whole crude properties? Qualification for pipeline shipment? Examples of the second type are those of CrudeMonitor.CA, Poseidon pipeline, Mars crude oil, and CHOPS pipeline. The amount and currentness of data they provide varies considerably – with that of CrudeMonitor being the most comprehensive. All track gravity and sulfur content on a monthly basis, and are useful in monitoring crude oil quality and determining when a new assay may be necessary. The last type includes the Websites for a number of international oil companies; among them BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Statoil. Each provide enough comprehensive assay data to allow for an evaluation of the crude oil.

Jeff provided a matrix comparing the attributes of each of the latter Websites, and rated them from three to five  on the basis of usefulness. 

”Mercury in Refinery Processes – PURASPECJM Purification Solutions”, Paul Frank, Johnson Matthey. Mercury in crude oil poses a number of potentially serious issues during handling and refining. Among these are:

*   Volatility
*   Environmental and health
*   Operations
*   Commercial

     Elemental Hg has a high vapor pressure and will preferentially distribute into lighter products and gaseous streams. Hg emissions to the environment have been highlighted by the U.N. Environmental Program and, in 2009, an agreement was reached to launch negotiations on an international Hg treaty. Data indicate that discharges of Hg from all sources appear to be sharply increasing. In petroleum facilities, workers may be exposed to Hg while undertaking hot work on contaminated surfaces and in treating and disposing of contaminated equipment. Hg contaminates steel surfaces, leads to cracking of copper trays and valve components, and causes corrosion of aluminum surfaces. And, the presence of Hg can result in a discount in the price of crude oil. In refineries, Hg can be found in all sections from tankage, desalters, and atmospheric and vacuum units. The technology can also be deployed offshore.

     Catalyst technology is available that can be used to reduce the Hg content in all refinery process and effluent streams – gaseous and aqueous. This involves use of fixed bed, high capacity adsorbents that offer savings of capital, space, and weight, require fewer change-outs, are dependable and predictable, and can be reprocessed. Mr. Frank presented data to illustrate the effectiveness of this technology on the inlet and outlet of naphtha streams in refinery units.

     “Asphaltene Stability by Solubility Profile Analysis”, Estrella Rogel, Cesar Ovalles, and Michael Moir, Chevron Energy Technology Company.  The classical method of determining a solubility profile involves titrating several solutions using a precipitant and plotting precipitant volume vs. percent transmittance of the solutions. This can be quite time consuming. An instrumental technique has been developed which uses around 0.5 g of sample, is applicable to asphaltene concentrations as low as 500 ppm, and can be completed in about 35 min. Two characteristic parameters of the solubility profile distribution – SPA (solubility parameter average) and ΔPS – can be obtained and correlated to the asphaltene stability of the samples.

     The method seems promising for the determination of stability of virgin and processed materials and, therefore, may be an alternative to replace conventional titration techniques. Currently the technique is being evaluated vis-a-vis other conventional methods in the Heavy Oil Compatibility Project being carried out by CCQTA.

 

     “Introducing the Baker Hughes Field ASIT Services Technology”, Dr. Corina Sandu, Baker Hughes.  The current tough economic climate requires increasing flexibility and accessibility to crude oil resources of different quality grades. To maintain profitability, many refineries are targeting heavier and cheaper crudes. Yet such crudes often have stability issues and can be challenging to process. Typical processing issues include: fouling due to solids and asphaltenes; corrosion due to high acidity; and inadequate desalting.

     In her presentation, Dr. Sandu introduced a new portable technology designed to detect, predict and monitor the stability of crude oils as well as their blends prior to and during their use in the refinery process. The new technology will allow refinery operators to be proactive and detect potential issues in advance; increase  flexibility in feedstock selection; and control and monitor different processing units that might be affected by asphaltene destabilization. Several examples were given to illustrate the potential use for different applications.

     “Be Careful What You Ask For”, Terry Thompson, SGS. Terry presented a humorous but thought provoking “grammatically challenged advisory on analytical testing requests.” For this, he discussed three examples illustrating how if you don’t ask the correct question, don’t expect the correct answer. The cases described were: 

• Determining the source of Ca in deposits fouling coker heater tubes
• Understanding the difference between silicon, silica, and silicone
• Determining methanol content of crude oil

The points of Terry’s presentation were:

• Information in and of itself is interesting
• Information in context with your particular analytical challenge is valuable
• Information that is the answer to your specific operational challenge is priceless 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This concluded the February 24, 2011 meeting of the COQA.  The next meeting of the association will be on June 9, 2011, in Salt Lake City, UT.