Crude Oil to Chemical Business.
                     Crude Oil to Chemicals business
CRUDE OIL
Crude oil is a primary source of energy, and oil refining is a key 
aspect of the global energy system. Transportation fuel accounts for 
approximately 50% share of the products produced from refineries. 
Therefore, refinery margins that depend on the difference between 
the prices of crude oil and oil products are tied to the demand for 
transportation fuels.
Source: Google Images
NEW CHALLENGES
Production of cleaner-burning fuels is a pressing challenge for 
refineries globally. With stricter regulations and environmental 
awareness, the production of cleaner-burning fuels has become a 
major concern, primarily for European refiners, propelling refiners to 
explore alternative markets like power generation. It is also 
contributing to the significant upgrade of refineries.
Source: Google Images
LESSER DEMAND
Plateau in demand for transportation fuels is expected that fuel 
volumes by 2030. One of the primary reasons for this is the 
penetration of electric vehicles and increased uptake of alternative 
drive technologies for commercial vehicles. With the decline in 
demand for transportation fuels, refiners are forced to explore ways 
to improve the yield of high-value products from refineries to remain 
profitable in the near future. 
Source: Google Images
PETROCHEMICALS
Refiners are exploring the integration of petrochemical complexes 
with the refinery, as the petrochemical industry is expected to grow 
in the near future primarily due to the increased demand for plastics 
in developing countries. The new refining capacity additions in the 
Middle East and Asia are focusing on integrating petrochemical 
complexes with refineries.
Source: Google Images
CRUDE OIL TO 
CHEMICALS
The conventional refinery set up was more focused on maximizing 
the production of transportation fuels. Crude oil-to-chemicals 
(COTC) technology allows the direct conversion of crude oil to 
high-value chemical products instead of traditional transportation 
fuels. It enables the production of chemicals exceeding 70% to 80% 
of the barrel producing chemical feedstock as opposed to 10% in a 
non-integrated refinery complex.
Source: Google Images
COTC IS THE FUTURE
A majority of COTC plants that have been planned or have started 
operations are based in China or the Middle East. The choices of 
technology for the COTC plant depend on the type of feedstock 
available for processing and end-products being produced. COTC 
plants are primarily focused on increasing the yield of light olefins or 
aromatics, such as benzene, toluene, and xylene.
Source: Google Images
SAUDI PETRO GIANTS
Aramco and SABIC are partnering for the establishment of a 
COTC plant, which will process 400,000 barrels per day of 
Arabian Light crude oil to produce approximately 9 million 
tons of chemicals per year. The plant, considering its crude 
oil processing capacity and chemical production rate, is 
expected to have a 50% conversion rate. The plant is 
scheduled to start operations by 2025. 
Source: Google Images
EXXONMOBIL COTC
ExxonMobil uses its proprietary technology that allows the 
processing of light crude oil directly, officially launched as the 
world’s first chemical unit that processes crude oil in Singapore in 
2014. The process involved pre-heating of the crude oil, partially 
vaporizing the heated crude in a flash tank and feeding the vapor 
from the flash tank to the steam cracker to produce ethylene, 
propylene, and related products.
Source: Google Images
FUTURE 
OPPORTUNITIES
The large-scale adoption of COTC provides opportunities for 
operational integration in refineries to align themselves with 
the emerging trend of expanding business portfolios into 
petrochemicals. For the US and the Middle East, which are 
not dependent on crude oil imports and have sufficient 
availability of cheap NGLs, direct production of crude oil to 
chemicals is the prevailing option.
Source: Google Images