Concawe was established in 1963 by a small group of leading oil companies to carry out research on environmental issues relevant to the oil industry. Its membership has broadened to include most oil companies operating in Europe.

Why is international competition so necessary to improve efficiency and stay competitive?
Level playing field and competition are key to stimulate innovation in every business. Improving efficiency is an important element of competitiveness in an energy intensive industry such as oil refining; it is not only a matter of Capex, but innovation and change management are common factors for the best performers. If there is a level playing field international competition generates a virtuous circle.

For refining operates in a global market competitiveness is key for players to survive in an increasingly aggressive market. Because energy represents a significant part of refining operating costs (60%) refiners must stay focused on always improving energy efficiency through energy management, process integration and catalyst performance.

What is the downstream sector doing to reduce costs and increase reliability?
The refinery of the future will be connected, and artificial intelligence will play an important role. Reliability will improve with predictive maintenance programmes and a better understanding of corrosion and erosion phenomena’s; this means more sensors based on new technologies to anticipate breakdowns and leaks.

Cost reduction will mainly come from energy efficiency, automation and reliability.

How important are new technologies to the downstream sector?
The stakes are high for the future, it is seen as a key sector to improve overall efficiency and remain competitive in a highly uncertain and changing future with challenges such as demand evolution, regulations and competition from other regions of the world that are building new plants.

New technologies to make low carbon intensity fuels, such as e-fuels, look promising. Because these new technologies are very energy intensive, we must insure that clean energy will be abundant, reliable and affordable.

Why does it appear that the sector is lagging some others in adopting these technologies?
It may take longer to develop and evolve than in other sectors for refineries operate in a highly secure and regulated environment. Every new technology needs to be proven with 100% reliability and must improve the risk matrix of the refinery. Every scenario must be tested with new technologies, in an environment with potentially explosive atmosphere with heat and fire. Safety of the operator are always the first priority.

Usually very large plants/units are built which represent huge CAPEX investments that need long-term visibility in terms of resources, markets and regulation.

What are the challenges that the sector faces in adopting these new technologies?
The challenge is to be able to prove the benefit without creating a hazardous situation; trial and error is not permitted. A refinery is now highly complex in both technology and process; it is the result of 50 years of constant innovation and improvement.

Consistently with the above, refineries must preserve their competitiveness. High CAPEX investments must be targeted at the right place and at the right time.

Damien Valdenaire will be talking about the future and emerging tech trends at Future Downstream conference on 4 December, London