PTQ Q2 2024 Issue

Hydrogen production SMR unit

Process Purchased hydrogen

Hydrogen plant GHG

Heater fuel Hydrogen

Captured CO

Integrated process models

Electricity

Steam

Feedstock Carbon intensity

Carbon capture MEA/MDEA Proprietary?

Steam Utility plant GHG

Electricity Fuel oil/gas

Detailed kinetic process Detailed energy demand Heat integration analysis BT Benchmarking and Energy Gaps

Utility model

Steam system model Detailed energy supply Economic optimisation

Purchased electricity Natural gas

Process GHG

GHG emissions Rened products Carbon intensity

Figure 2 Integrated Process, Energy, Emissions and Economics ModeI (IP3EM)

By creating a digital twin of the refinery, yield optimisation opportunities could be thoroughly reviewed. This assess - ment revealed numerous areas where operating parame - ters and procedures could be improved. Furthermore, the focus on no or low CapEx opportunities played an integral role to the programme benefits and funding, similar to energy efficiency opportunities. Refinery margin erosion is largely attributed to turna - rounds.4 This programme aimed to review both the overall turnaround philosophy and the detailed scope of the next two turnarounds. The focus was to identify activities that could be descoped, moved off the critical path, and opti - mised. Given two scheduled turnarounds between the assessment and 2030, the turnaround review was inextri - cably linked to the decarbonisation planning activities. Many refiners struggle with dual challenges: an ageing workforce and difficulty recruiting young engineers and skilled operators.1 , 5 In addition, the oil and gas industry is frequently perceived as contributing to climate change rather than being part of the solution in the energy tran - sition journey.3 The scale of the problem was assessed, which has led to developing mitigation plans to address potential gaps over one-, three-, five-, 10-, and 15-year time horizons. Technology is crucial for streamlining operations, rev - olutionising work processes, and supporting necessary productivity improvements to mitigate ongoing resourcing issues. During this programme stage, the technology and digitalisation vision were outlined for the operating assets, consistent with the overall organisational vision. Having defined the vision, a gap analysis was conducted, leading to the development of a draft target application architec - ture. This strategic approach ensured the technology was leveraged optimally to achieve the refinery’s goals. After completing the assessment phase, the next step involved defining the resultant programme, Project Catalyst. The process of defining the programme involved overcoming the primary challenge of getting multiple stakeholders with differing perceptions regarding priorities, timescales, and resource requirements into agreement. To

address this, several highly facilitated programme design workshops were held. These workshops were deliberately not high tech. The team intentionally used basic tools such as marker pens, sticky notes, a long sheet of brown paper, and coloured voting dots. Prioritising specific interventions was based on the cor - porate goals, legislative frameworks (such as maintaining a safe and compliant operation) and individual benefits aligned with opportunities (such as maximising the trans - formation investment). Engaging team members across the organisation led to the development of a practical pro - gramme where each workstream was assigned monthly deliverables that were captured on a 4m-long poster. This poster, shown in Figure 2 , served as a key management tool to communicate the programme’s progress and ensure that everyone from the control room to the board room understood the project. The future – Project Horizon 2050 Building on the Project Catalyst programme, a similar exer - cise was conducted to ensure the refiner met their decar - bonisation targets. This initiative resulted in Project Horizon 2050. It should be noted that the ‘One Foot in the Present – Project Catalyst’ and ‘One Foot in the Future – Project Horizon’ workshops were held concurrently. The COO’s vision was to transform the refinery into a future-ready asset capable of meeting customer and societal demands in a sustainable, affordable, and reliable way, including a decarbonisation roadmap for reaching net zero with tech - nology leading the way. The main objective of Project Horizon 2050 was to develop an agreed-upon decarbonisation roadmap that balanced short-, medium-, and long-term initiatives to achieve the refiner’s decarbonisation goals. To secure the success of the roadmap and achieve net zero emissions by 2050, three pillars – strategy, operations and technology – were defined, along with interim milestones. The implementation of the refiner’s roadmap needed to be anchored on technology and aligned with the other two pillars to ensure sustained actions and results. This

PTQ Q2 2024