PTQ Q3 2025 Issue

Q The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has esti- mated that global refinery capacity will continue increas - ing to 2028, but what is needed to improve crack spreads? A Mark Schmalfeld, Global Marketing Manager, Refining Catalyst, BASF, mark.schmalfeld@basf.com Improving crack spreads, which measure the profitabil - ity of refining crude oil into petroleum products, requires both immediate and long-term strategies. In the near term, enhancing the efficiency of existing refining operations can yield quick improvements. This includes upgrading equip - ment, adopting advanced technologies, and implementing best practices to maximise output and minimise costs. Refineries can also swiftly adjust their production to meet market demand for higher-margin products like gasoline and diesel. Focusing on the specific economic drivers of the refiner’s market to unlock the value due to the constraints that need to be overcome is one of the best nearer-term approaches a refinery can use to improve margins. Flexibility in refining diverse types of crude oil and producing various refined products can help optimise profitability. As we look towards 2028, the demand for refined prod - ucts globally will increase; however, specific regional and local markets are growing or declining at different rates. Closely monitoring market demand for refined products and adjusting pricing strategies accordingly can help maintain favourable crack spreads. Timely adjustments to produc - tion levels based on market trends are crucial. Additionally, closely monitoring new market developments and trends (such as electric vehicles, new solid-state battery technolo - gies, and regulatory requirements) impacting the refining market is critical to evaluate the best capacity utilisation strategy. For longer-term improvements, investing in innovative technologies that enhance refining efficiency and product quality is key. This includes adopting new catalytic pro - cesses and upgrading infrastructure. Increasing refinery capacity to manage a broader range of crude oils and pro - duce a wider variety of refined products can improve prof - itability. This involves significant capital investment and strategic planning, which is considered relative to alterna - tive uses for the funds. Adhering to environmental regulations and investing in cleaner technologies can improve operational efficiency and reduce costs associated with compliance. Sustainable practices are increasingly important for long-term profit - ability. Streamlining supply chain operations, from crude oil procurement to distribution of refined products, can reduce costs and improve overall profitability. This includes enhancing logistics and storage capabilities. By focusing on these strategies, refineries can enhance their crack spreads both in the near term and over the next few years, ensuring sustainable profitability in a dynamic market. A Doug White, Principal Consultant, Emerson, doug. white@emerson.com There are many investments that can be made to improve crack spreads, but one that can be implemented quickly

and economically is improved feedstock planning with inte - gration of day-to-day plant scheduling and optimisation. Using the latest technology in this area can enable simul - taneous conformance with ever-changing environmental regulations, consideration of an increased set of potential feedstocks, including renewables, reduced working capital through reduced inventories, and effective coordination with shipping and other logistics requirements. Q What new strategies and enabling technology are becoming available to optimise refinery maintenance programmes? A Doug White, Principal Consultant, Emerson, doug. white@emerson.com One major change is the increasing use of AI technologies to enable plants to evolve towards more predictive main - tenance programmes. These technologies identify com - plex signatures in process and equipment data that are early predictors of potential equipment problems, allowing scheduled maintenance for corrective action in place of unscheduled and expensive last-minute responses. Supporting this change are the easy availability and installation of new non-intrusive measurement technolo - gies with built-in wireless transmission capabilities, mak - ing it cost-effective to monitor plant equipment more closely than in the past. In addition, it is now possible to quantify the financial benefits of these changes through the use of modern probabilistic discrete event soft - ware modelling tools and thus optimise the investments required. A Aaron Durke, Product Strategy and GTM Lead, Imubit, aaron.durke@imubit.com New digital strategies and enabling technologies are trans - forming refinery maintenance programmes from reac - tive and calendar‑based approaches towards continuous, data‑driven approaches. Several forces are converging: • Processes degrade gradually, not discretely . Furnace tubes coke, exchanger bundles foul, and catalyst deacti - vates at uneven rates, often silently eroding margins long before a maintenance trigger crosses its threshold. Every incremental process degradation presents a new challenge and opportunity to update corresponding process condi- tions and maintenance plans. Spot checks and interval inspections tend to miss this hidden drift. • Operations and reliability are often siloed . Maintenance planning typically occurs separately from day‑to‑day oper - ations. A common view of the plant reality provided by a single, accurate process model can help close that gap, ensuring decisions are informed by a consistent under - standing of how operating strategy influences asset health, and vice versa. For example, a slight feed rate change flagged by the model may prompt both an operations tweak and a maintenance deferral decision. • Operational historians already contain the clues . Decades of high‑frequency temperature, pressure, and flow signals record how plant health evolves under every experi - enced feed slate and rate change. Yet, the sheer volume of

PTQ Q3 2025