Exxonmobil Research and Engineering Company

Exxonmobil Technology and Engineering Company

J Douglas Kushnerick

Apostolos T Georgiou

Helen S Wellons

Francis X Kelly

Howard D Franklin

Howard Franklin

Systems and methods are provided for gathering and segregation of oil extracted from a resource fields with a plurality of disparate sources in relatively close proximity. Instead of assigning a quality and/or destination for crude oil from an extraction source based on the origin of the crude oil, the crude oil can be characterized while still in local storage at or near the wellhead prior to transport to a refinery, a shipping or pipeline terminal, or another type destination for crude oil. Based on the characterization, one or more characteristics of the crude oil can be used to assign the crude oil to one of a plurality of destinations. The crude oil can then be transported to the assigned destination.

Gathering and segregation of heterogeneous crude sources

The invention provides a method and means of predicting, in near real-time, the detailed chemical composition of major streams in a refinery, including those downstream from the crude distillation column. The dynamically updated feed characterizations can be derived in near real time from an assay database of current crude diet, RTO information about upstream refinery units and various analyzer inputs. The chemical compositions of each stream are stored and updated in a plant wide database. A broad range of property calculations can be ascertained, either automatically or on demand, from the compositional information. An application permits users, such as operations, planning and engineering personnel, to access the database directly or indirectly (e.g., on line). This information is then used by each user to further optimize the operation of a given refinery unit and/or the plant as a whole.

Prediction of stream composition and properties in near real time

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Warren, NJ, United States of America

J Douglas Kushnerick