Profit Margin Improvement

Every oil refinery and petrochemical plant has some capacity and capability to improve profitability.  For some plants, the magnitude of these opportunities could be very large.  Some profit opportunities are easy to identify and implement, while other opportunities are highly complex and difficult to achieve.  Many of these opportunities could require either low or no capital investment.

The key is to keep looking for these opportunities and identifying where they exist in the plant.  Seemingly small changes in outside environment (eg product prices / specifications) or plant constraints (eg small revamps / modifications) or inputs (eg different feedstock quality) can create opportunities where none existed before.  Pricing changes, supply and demand changes, or regulatory changes should give reason to immediately re-evaluate the profit drivers in the plant.

The overall methodology of the Margin Improvement process involves a series of steps, to be periodically repeated and revisited typically on an annual basis but more desirable even on a 6-month frequency.

The main steps involved are:
 

• Define and update economic drivers
• Identify Options
• Screening & Evaluation
• Implementation
• Monitoring and Sustaining