Opportunity Crudes Conference Proceedings

Since 2008, our biennial Opportunity Crudes Conferences have been promoting the knowledge of business strategists and technical experts, to discover the latest challenges and benefits of processing price-advantaged crudes, and to network and share ideas with peers.

The 2022 Opportunity Crudes Conference: "Refining in Transition: from Vision to Execution amid Crude Disruptions" and 2021 Opportunity Crudes Conference: “Refining in Transition: Crudes for Fuels & Petrochemicals in Demand” .

How it will benefit you

The proceedings of the 8^th and 7^th Opportunity Crudes Conference are a collection of video presentations by a diverse team of high-caliber oil-business gurus, operators, and technology experts to share their knowledge and insights into the volatile, uncertain time of our industry.

The coronavirus pandemic, oil price volatility, and climate scrutiny have presented unprecedented challenges to the refining industry. This conference is designed to help refiners achieve the goals of short-term profitability and long-term sustainability amid changing market conditions and tightening environmental regulations.

The videos are available for viewing online up to a year.

What does it include

The 2021 Opportunity Crudes Conference proceeding is organized into five major topics:

Global Oil and Refining Market Outlooks

• Energy and Geopolitics: the Landscape Becomes Increasingly Uncertain
  Guy Caruso, Senior Advisor of Center for Strategic and International Studies (US)
• 2021 and Beyond—the End of Refining as We Know it?
  Paul Cannizzo and Martin Tallett, Consultants of Solomon Associates (US)
• The Push for Alternative Fuels: How will it Affect the North American Refining Industry?
  Kevin Milburn, Consultant of Baker O'Brien (US)
• Carbon Neutrality: the Path to a Sustainable Future
  Malissa Boudreaux and Frederick Stubbins of Intertek (UK)
• Town Hall Meeting

Crude Procurement Strategies amid Shifting Crude Market and Changing Quality

• Insights and Outlook for the Re-Emergence of US Shale Oil Supply
  Joseph Leto, President, and Justin Hedus Senior Consultant of Energy Analysis International (US)
• How the Energy Transition May Change Crude Oil Demand and Quality Control
  Robert Ohmes and Mel Larson of Becht (US)
• Have We Seen it All? Changes from Rig to Rail to Refinery
  Hillary Stevenson, Sales Enablement Director of Validere (US)
  
• Pre-salt Crude Oils Quality Characteristics
  Alexandre Gomes of Petrobras (Brazil)
  
• Town Hall Meeting

Refiners' Game Plan, Revamps, and Technology Requirements to Tackle Urgent Issues

• A New Refinery Landscape—Benefits of Bitumen Expertise and Specialization
  Wim Teugels, Bitumen and Feedstock Specialist of Nynas NV (Belgium)
• A Technical Case for Renewable Diesel with or without Government Support Drawing Inspiration from the Past and Looking to the Future
  Matthew Goitia, President of Peaker Energy (US)
• Long on Naphtha: Leveraging Naphtha-rich LTO's to Diversify into Petrochemicals
  Brian Heasley of KBR (US)
• Crude to Chemicals—an Industry Gamechanger
  Chirag Kothari/Brian Dawson, Managing Consultant of NexantECA (US)
• Sustainable Solutions without Sacrifice
  Jeffrey A. Zurlo, Strategic Marketing & Commercialization Lead of SUEZ—Water Technologies & Solutions (US)
• Town Hall Meeting

Operational Improvements, Data Analytics & the Internet of Things (IoT)

• Real Time Analytics in Crude Selection Considering the Refining and Petrochemical Industry's Adoption of the UN Sustainability Development Goals
  Hege Dammen of AVEVA (US)
• Future-proof the Automation of your Bio-diesel Plant
  Julie Valentine, Director of Global Refining Measurement Solutions of Emerson Automation Solutions (US)
• Refinery Optimization Using Neural Networks being Dynamically Pre-trained by On-line Analyzers
  Gregory Shahnovsky, President of Modcon Systems (UK)
• Nalco Water’s Predictive Model for Blend Stability Analysis
  Jeffrey Hubbard and Daniel Dreyer of Nalco Water, An Ecolab Company (US)
• Town Hall Meeting

Crude Management

• K Model: a web-based Software for Predicting Crude Oil Blend Compatibility and Blend Optimization for Increasing Heavy Crude Oil Processing
  Rajeev Kumar of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (India)
• Assessing GHG Impact on Crude Unit Fouling Control
  Sam Lordo of Becht (US)
• Impacts of Blending Heavy Fuel Oil Streams into Crude Oils for Processing
  Bruce Wright of Baker Hughes (US)
• Impact of Boundary Layer Emulsion on Desalter Operation and Options for Improvement
  James Noland, Vice President of Dorf Ketal (US)
• Anomalous Fouling Deposit Formation in Heat Exchangers during Petroleum Processing
  Parviz Rahimi, President of Upgrading Solutions; Dave Murray of Omnicon Consultants; and Andre Lemieux of Canadian Crude Quality Technical Association (Canada)
• Town Hall Meeting

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