This course delivers a practical, commercially grounded understanding of oil refinery economics - from crude selection and processing economics to product markets, margin analysis, and investment evaluation. It is designed for professionals who need to understand how refining creates value and how that value is increasingly under challenge.

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Why This Matters Now

Refinery configuration decisions made today will determine competitiveness over the next decade. Capacity rationalisation in Europe and North America is shifting trade balances, while new complex refinery additions in the Middle East and Asia are altering the competitive landscape for refined products globally. The rise of petrochemical integration - particularly in Asia - is changing how refiners assess feedstock value and product slates. Understanding refinery economics is no longer just a technical discipline - it is a commercial imperative.

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Course Outline:

Introduction to Refining Economics: Overview of the global refining industry; key economic principles driving refinery operations; supply and demand dynamics; understanding refining margins and profitability metrics - crack spreads, netbacks, and variable margin analysis.

Refined Products: Overview of key refined products - gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, lubricants, and petrochemical feedstocks; quality specifications and regulatory standards shaping product markets and trade flows.

Refining Processes: The main refining process units - atmospheric and vacuum distillation, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, reforming, and hydrotreating; how process configuration determines product slate flexibility and margin capture.

Market Dynamics: Analysis of current refined product market trends and their impact on refining economics; the role of renewable fuels, biofuels, and alternative energy sources in the evolving refining landscape; implications of IMO regulations and low-carbon mandates.

Economic Evaluation and Decision Making: Techniques for evaluating refinery investments and configuration decisions; risk assessment and management in refining operations; how to assess the economics of upgrades, expansions, and integration options.

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What will you learn on this course?

Understand the key economic principles driving oil refinery profitability - margins, crack spreads, and netback analysis

Assess refined product quality specifications and how regulatory standards shape product markets

Understand the main refining process configurations and how they determine product slate and margin flexibilitye

Analyse market trends affecting refining economics, including the growing role of renewable and low-carbon fuels

Apply economic evaluation techniques to refinery investment and configuration decisions

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Who Should Consider Attending This Course

Commercial, trading, procurement, finance, and strategy professionals across refiners, crude and product traders, NOCs, energy companies, financial institutions, and advisory firms who want a commercially grounded understanding of refinery economics and refined product markets.

This course is ideally suited for anyone who wants a commercially grounded understanding of oil refinery economics and refined product markets. This could include:

• Commercial, trading, procurement, finance, and strategy professionals across refiners
• Crude and product traders
• NOCs
• Energy companies
• Financial institutions
• Advisory firms