Energy Fuels Improvement

Resolving handling difficulties

Handling difficulties relate mainly to crude oil, fuel oil and vacuum gasoil. The most frequently requested treatments are for pour point.

• Pour point treatment
  Petroleum products and crude oils with high pour points need careful handling once the ambient temperatures fall below the oil’s Wax Appearance Temperature (WAT) in order to prevent blockage problems that can arise during transportation methods or due to conditions at the final destination. Examples of this would be:
• Oil passing over a mountain range where the pipeline company imposes a pour point restriction in order to reduce the chances of a pipeline blockage, or
• Oil being delivered via an SBM into a subsea pipeline. In this case, it is important that the pour point of the delivered oil is well below the sea temperature, in order to avoid paraffin deposition and eventual pipeline blockage

Safety considerations

• H2S scavenging
  Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) exists naturally in sour crude oils and is also concentrated into heavier fuel oils during the refining process. This concentration of H2S makes the transportation and handling of the oil extremely hazardous. The H2S hazard has brought about local restrictions in many areas of the world from ship owners, port authorities, oil terminals and from oil companies at a corporate level.

Meeting contractual requirements

Crude oil and petroleum products are often marketed according to local specifications and requirements. When traded outside this local area, the oil may need to be treated in order to satisfy the receiver’s market.

Governments impose different restrictions on specifications depending on the season, which allow the oils to be handled more easily under the conditions. The specifications vary according to both location and season. Oil traders therefore buy basic quality gasoils and then blend them up to the specification that they require in order to meet their respective sales contract. This process can be very simple or very complex, depending on the specifications to be met and the improvements needed to meet them.

Treatment carried out in relation to contractual specifications generally increases the unit value of the cargo in one of two ways:

• Increase in value by improving the marketability of the oil, as the additive costs less than the increase in value
• Additive investment is needed in order to meet the local market specification

Why SGS Laroute?

We are a world leader in the additives services sector, operating at export and import ports in the Former Soviet Union (FSU), the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Our service is unique; no other company has the same geographical coverage, available stocks, equipment and port access.

We currently treat in excess of 40 million MT of crude oil and petroleum products per annum. We operate in 36 countries with additives stock suited to the local market requirements.

Find out how fuels treatment services from SGS Laroute can support your operations.