DOCSLIB.ORG

Crude Oil Price Differentials and Differences in Oil Qualities: a Statistical Analysis

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

ESMAP TECHNICAL PAPER 081 Crude Oil Price Differentials and Differences in Oil Qualities: A Statistical Analysis October 2005 Papers in the ESMAP Technical Series are discussion documents, not final project reports. They are subject to the same copyrights as other ESMAP publications. JOINT UNDP / WORLD BANK ENERGY SECTOR MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME (ESMAP) PURPOSE The Joint UNDP/World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) is a special global technical assistance partnership sponsored by the UNDP, the World Bank and bi-lateral official donors. Established with the support of UNDP and bilateral official donors in 1983, ESMAP is managed by the World Bank. ESMAP’s mission is to promote the role of energy in poverty reduction and economic growth in an environmentally responsible manner. Its work applies to low-income, emerging, and transition economies and contributes to the achievement of internationally agreed development goals. ESMAP interventions are knowledge products including free technical assistance, specific studies, advisory services, pilot projects, knowledge generation and dissemination, trainings, workshops and seminars, conferences and roundtables, and publications. ESMAP work is focused on three priority areas: access to modern energy for the poorest, the development of sustainable energy markets, and the promotion of environmentally sustainable energy practices. GOVERNANCE AND OPERATIONS ESMAP is governed by a Consultative Group (the ESMAP CG) composed of representatives of the UNDP and World Bank, other donors, and development experts from regions which benefit from ESMAP’s assistance. The ESMAP CG is chaired by a World Bank Vice President, and advised by a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of independent energy experts that reviews the Programme’s strategic agenda, its work plan, and its achievements. ESMAP relies on a cadre of engineers, energy planners, and economists from the World Bank, and from the energy and development community at large, to conduct its activities under the guidance of the Manager of ESMAP. FUNDING ESMAP is a knowledge partnership supported by the World Bank, the UNDP and official donors from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. ESMAP has also enjoyed the support of private donors as well as in-kind support from a number of partners in the energy and development community. FURTHER INFORMATION For further information on a copy of the ESMAP Annual Report or copies of project reports, please visit the ESMAP website: www.esmap.org. ESMAP can also be reached by email at [email protected] or by mail at: ESMAP c/o Energy and Water Department The World Bank Group 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. Tel.: 202.458.2321 Fax: 202.522.3018 Crude Oil Price Differentials and Differences in Oil Qualities: A Statistical Analysis October 2005 Robert Bacon and Silvana Tordo Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/THE WORLD BANK 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America First printing October 2005 ESMAP Reports are published to communicate the results of ESMAP’s work to the development community with the least possible delay. The typescript of the paper therefore has not been prepared in accordance with the procedures appropriate to formal documents. Some sources cited in this paper may be informal documents that are not readily available. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, or its affiliated organizations, or to members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any consequence of their use. The Boundaries, colors, denominations, other information shown on any map in this volume do not imply on the part of the World Bank Group any judgment on the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Papers in the ESMAP Technical Series are discussion documents, not final project reports. They are subject to the same copyrights as other ESMAP publications. The material in this publication is copyrighted. Requests for permission to reproduce portions of it should be sent to the ESMAP Manager at the address shown in the copyright notice above. ESMAP encourages dissemination of its work and will normally give permission promptly and, when the reproduction is for noncommercial purposes, without asking a fee. Acknowledgements This report was prepared by Robert Bacon and Silvana Tordo (COCPO). Assistance with data collection was provided by Anna-Maria Kaneff (COCCP). The feedback from peer reviewers, Charles McPherson (COCPO) and Shane Streifel (DECPG) as well as from participants in a workshop on crude oil pricing held in Chad and in a workshop on High Tan Crudes held in Singapore is gratefully acknowledged. Ms. Dominique Lallement, ESMAP Manager, reviewed this report prior to its publication. Special thanks go to Ms. Esther Petrilli-Massey (COCPO) for report formatting and to Ms. Marjorie K. Araya (ESMAP) for coordinating the publication process. iii Content Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iii Executive Summary........................................................................................................ 1 1. Crude Oil Prices and Differentials ..................................................................... 3 2. Oil Price Differentials and Quality Differentials................................................ 7 3. The Statistical Analysis of Crude Price Differentials..................................... 13 4. Estimates of the Magnitude of Quality Differentials ...................................... 19 5. Making Estimates with the Model .................................................................... 23 6. Conclusions....................................................................................................... 27 References..................................................................................................................... 29 Annex 1: Crudes Included in Estimation and Testing by Country of Origin ........... 31 Figures Figure 1.1: Crude Price Differentials and the Brent Price between January 2001 and April 2005 (US$ per barrel)........................................................................ 4 Figure 3.1: Monthly Inter Crude Price Standard Deviation and the Dated Brent Price January 2004–April 2005 (US$ per barrel).............................................. 14 Figure 5.1: The Price of Brent Blend and Doba Blend and the Model Estimates of the Price of Doba Blend................................................................................. 25 Tables Table 4.1: Regression of Price Discounts to Brent on Quality Differentials .................... 20 Table 5.1: Average Estimation Errors for Five Out of Sample Crudes (January 2004–April 2005) in US$ per barrel .......................................... 23 v Executive Summary 1. Many developing countries depend heavily on oil revenues to contribute to the government budget and to exports. Forecasting such revenues requires an assessment of the likely price of oil produced and exported. Forecasts for certain “marker” crude oils, such as North Sea Brent, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), and Dubai, are widely available, but for the more than 150 varieties of crude oils produced worldwide individual forecasts are not available. The differential between a particular crude oil and its marker can be large (more than 25 percent) and widens as the general level of oil prices rises. Several methods have been utilized to relate these differentials to the characteristics or properties of the crudes in question. 2. This report updates and extends previous work in this area by a statistical analysis of the relationship between crude price differentials and three quality differentials, as well as transport costs and seasonal effects. In addition to the API (American Petroleum Institute) gravity number and the sulfur content of the crudes, which are the qualities generally included in existing analysis, the report presents the impact of acidity (measured by the Total Acid Number – “TAN”) on the price differential. This is because acidity has become increasingly important as the volume of high acid crudes, particularly from West Africa, has steadily increased in recent years. 3. The model used is based on data for 56 crudes for the months from January 2004 to April 2005. The pooled cross-section time series estimation indicates that each extra degree of API gravity (relative to another crude) raises the relative crude price by US$0.007 per dollar of the Brent price, each 1 percent of sulfur lowers the price by US$0.056 per dollar of Brent, and each degree of TAN lowers the price by US$0.051 per dollar of Brent. The model, which has a high explanatory power overall and with respect to each of the key explanatory variables, confirms that the differential between crudes at current Brent prices will be large for low quality crudes, and that the differentials will widen as the Brent price increases. 4. Further tests of the model by estimating differentials for crudes not
Recommended publications
  • WTI Crude Oil West Texas Intermediate

    WTI Crude Oil West Texas Intermediate

    WTI Crude Oil West Texas Intermediate Alexander Filitz Minh Khoa Nguyen Outline • Crude Oil • Value Chain • Politics • Market • Demand • Facts & Figures • Discussion Crude Oil • Flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds • Is recovered mostly through oil drilling • In its strictest sense, petroleum includes only crude oil, but in common usage it includes all liquid, gaseous, and solid hydrocarbons. • An oil well produces predominantly crude oil, with some natural gas dissolved in it Classification • By the geographic location it is produced in • Its API gravity (an oil industry measure of density) • Its sulfur content • Some of the common reference crudes are: • West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a very high-quality, sweet, light oil delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma for North American oil. • Brent Blend, comprising 15 oils from fields in the North Sea. • Dubai-Oman, used as benchmark for Middle East sour crude oil flowing to the Asia-Pacific region • The OPEC Reference Basket, a weighted average of oil blends from various OPEC (The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) countries West Texas Intermediate • Also known as Texas light sweet, used as a benchmark in oil pricing • API gravity of around 39.6 and specific gravity of 0.827 and 0.24% sulfur • WTI is refined mostly in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions in the U.S • It is the underlying commodity of New York Mercantile Exchange's (NYMEX) oil futures contracts • Often referenced in news reports
  • Price Forecast June 30, 2015 Contents

    Price Forecast June 30, 2015 Contents

    Resource Evaluation & Advisory Price forecast June 30, 2015 Contents Canadian price forecast 1 International price forecast 5 Global outlook 6 Western Canada royalty comparison 8 Pricing philosophy 11 Glossary 12 Canadian domestic price forecast Forecast commentary Andrew Botterill Senior Manager, Resource Evaluation & Advisory “Everything is in a state of fl ux, including status quo” - Robert Byrne As industry adjusts to the “new normal” we have analyzed This narrowing has been most notable on the heavy oil in our last two forecasts, activities in the energy sector side, where diff erentials have decreased more than 30 per are beginning to demonstrate a cautious, but optimistic cent compared with where they were in summer 2014. view of the future. While not anticipating $100 oil in the With greater than 60 per cent of Canadian production near term, these views show an expectation industry will being from oil sands (CAPP 2015 forecast report) the bring a more focused approach to North American oil narrowing of heavy diff erentials is welcome news to much development within the coming 12 to 18 months. of the sector. In recent weeks, the WTI to heavy diff erential has been narrower than we have seen recently as In recent weeks, Canadian-received oil prices have been production from some projects was shut-in due to wildfi res stronger relative to the beginning of the year, with daily in northern Alberta. The shut-in production has since been WTI settlements hovering around $60/bbl USD and brought back on-stream, which has slowed the narrowing Canadian Light settlements greater than $70/bbl CAD.
  • The Price of Oil Risk

    The Price of Oil Risk

    The Price of Oil Risk Steven D. Baker,∗ Bryan R. Routledge,y [February 10, 2017] Abstract We solve a Pareto risk-sharing problem for two agents with heterogeneous re- cursive utility over two goods: oil, and a general consumption good. Using the optimal consumption allocation, we derive a pricing kernel and the price of oil and related futures contracts. This gives us insight into the dynamics of prices and risk premia. We compute portfolios that implement the optimal consumption policies, and demonstrate that large and variable open interest is a property of optimal risk-sharing. A numerical example of our model shows that rising open interest and falling oil risk premium are an outcome of the dynamic properties of the optimal risk sharing solution. ∗ McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia; [email protected]. y Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University; [email protected]. 1 Introduction The spot price of crude oil, and commodities in general, experienced a dramatic price increase in the summer of 2008. For oil, the spot price peaked in early July 2008 at $145.31 per barrel (see Figure 1). In real-terms, this price spike exceeded both of the OPEC price shocks of 1970's and has lasted much longer than the price spike at the time of the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in the summer of 1990. The run-up to the July 2008 price of oil begins around 2004. Buyuksahin, Haigh, Harris, Overdahl, and Robe (2011) and Hamilton and Wu (2014) identify a structural change in the behavior of oil prices around 2004.
  • The Impact of the U.S Fracking Boom on the Price of Oil and on Arab Oil Producers

    The Impact of the U.S Fracking Boom on the Price of Oil and on Arab Oil Producers

    The Impact of the U.S Fracking Boom on the Price of Oil and on Arab Oil Producers Lutz Kilian University of Michigan CEPR Background ● Shale oil production became possible because of technological innovation (horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), microseismic imaging). ● The rapid expansion of U.S. shale oil production was stimulated by the high price of conventional crude oil after 2003, which made this new technology competitive. ● Since then efficiency gains in shale oil production have lowered its cost, allowing continued production at much lower oil prices. ● Because the price of oil has remained low since 2015, shale oil producers are experiencing increased operating losses and financial stress. The Role of Refineries ● Crude oil is being consumed by refineries that turn crude oil into refined products such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, jet fuel and heavy fuel oil. ● Not all refineries are alike. Their technical configuration determines which type of crude oil they can process. ● Changing an existing configuration is costly. The Refining Industry in Transition A few years ago, the global refining industry expected a growing shortage of light sweet crude oil worldwide: 1. Refiners along the Texas Gulf Coast invested in new technology that allowed them to become the world leader in processing heavier crudes. This allowed them to process lower priced crudes imported from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico. 2. Refiners along the East Coast began to shut down existing refineries for light sweet crude oil in anticipation of a growing shortage of light sweet crude oil. The Glut That No One Saw Coming After 2010 shale oil was shipped in ever increasing quantities from the interior of the country to the U.S.
  • Crude Oil Prices Also Affect a Wide Range of Other Non-Petroleum Forecasts Produced by STIFS

    Crude Oil Prices Also Affect a Wide Range of Other Non-Petroleum Forecasts Produced by STIFS

    Short-Term Energy Outlook Crude Oil Price Forecasts Independent Statistics & Analysis U.S. Department of Energy www.eia.gov Washington, DC 20585 Last Updated 2020 This report was prepared by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. By law, EIA’s data, analyses, and forecasts are independent of approval by any other officer or employee of the United States Government. The views in this report therefore should not be construed as representing those of the Department of Energy or other federal agencies. U.S. Energy Information Administration | Short-Term Energy Outlook Crude Oil Price Forecasts i 1. Introduction In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA’s forecasts for monthly average Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) spot prices are calculated outside of the Short-Term Integrated Forecasting System (STIFS). The crude oil price forecast is one of the main determinants of the forecast for many of the petroleum price, consumption, and production variables within STIFS. Crude oil prices also affect a wide range of other non-petroleum forecasts produced by STIFS. EIA first formulates a forecast for Brent crude oil spot prices and then forecasts WTI spot prices by creating a forecast for the spot price spread between Brent and WTI. EIA considers three main inputs to determine its Brent price forecast: • A pooling model that provides a single Brent price series that is an average of five separate models • A linear regression using independent variables from the STEO forecast • Analyst judgment based on an understanding of global oil market dynamics and EIA’s forecast for supply and demand balances In sections three through five below, we discuss each of these inputs separately.
  • Bitumen Partial Upgrading 2018 Whitepaper

    Bitumen Partial Upgrading 2018 Whitepaper

    Bitumen Partial Upgrading 2018 Whitepaper AM0401A Alberta Innovates Prepared By Bill Keesom, Jacobs Consultancy – Technical Lead John Gieseman, Jacobs Consultancy – Project Manager March 2018 Document Title Bitumen Partial Upgrading 2018 Whitepaper - AM0401A Study No: JC158400 Document Title: Bitumen Partial Upgrading 2018 Whitepaper - AM0401A Client Name: Alberta Innovates Date: March 2018 Study Manager: John Gieseman Approved by: Robert S. Brasier Jacobs Consultancy Inc. 525 W. Monroe, Suite 1600 Chicago, IL 60661 United States www.jacobsconsultancy.com [email protected] This study or report was prepared by Jacobs Consultancy Canada Inc., (“Jacobs”) for the sole benefit of ALBERTA INNOVATES. There are no third party beneficiaries intended, and none of Jacobs and its affiliates, Alberta Innovates or any of their respective officers, directors, partners, employees, agents shall have any liability whatsoever to third parties for any defect, deficiency, error, or omission in any statement contained in or any way related to the study or report or any related documents. Neither Jacobs nor any person acting on Jacobs’ behalf make any warranty, express or implies, or assumes any liability with respect to use or reliance on any information, technology, engineering or methods disclosed or discussed in the study or report. Any forecasts, estimates, projections, opinions or conclusions reached in the study or report are dependent upon numerous technical and economic conditions over which Jacobs has no control, and which are or may not occur. Reliance upon such opinions or conclusions by any person or entity is at the sole risk of the person relying thereon. The data, information and assumptions used to develop the report or study were obtained or derived from documents or information furnished by others.
  • U.S.-Canada Cross- Border Petroleum Trade

    U.S.-Canada Cross- Border Petroleum Trade

    U.S.-Canada Cross- Border Petroleum Trade: An Assessment of Energy Security and Economic Benefits March 2021 Submitted to: American Petroleum Institute 200 Massachusetts Ave NW Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20001 Submitted by: Kevin DeCorla-Souza ICF Resources L.L.C. 9300 Lee Hwy Fairfax, VA 22031 U.S.-Canada Cross-Border Petroleum Trade: An Assessment of Energy Security and Economic Benefits This report was commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute (API) 2 U.S.-Canada Cross-Border Petroleum Trade: An Assessment of Energy Security and Economic Benefits Table of Contents I. Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... 4 II. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 6 III. Overview of U.S.-Canada Petroleum Trade ................................................................. 7 U.S.-Canada Petroleum Trade Volumes Have Surged ........................................................... 7 Petroleum Is a Major Component of Total U.S.-Canada Bilateral Trade ................................. 8 IV. North American Oil Production and Refining Markets Integration ...........................10 U.S.-Canada Oil Trade Reduces North American Dependence on Overseas Crude Oil Imports ..................................................................................................................................10 Cross-Border Pipelines Facilitate U.S.-Canada Oil Market Integration...................................14
  • The Impact of the Decline in Oil Prices on the Economics, Politics and Oil Industry of Venezuela

    The Impact of the Decline in Oil Prices on the Economics, Politics and Oil Industry of Venezuela

    THE IMPACT OF THE DECLINE IN OIL PRICES ON THE ECONOMICS, POLITICS AND OIL INDUSTRY OF VENEZUELA By Francisco Monaldi SEPTEMBER 2015 B | CHAPTER NAME ABOUT THE CENTER ON GLOBAL ENERGY POLICY The Center on Global Energy Policy provides independent, balanced, data-driven analysis to help policymakers navigate the complex world of energy. We approach energy as an economic, security, and environmental concern. And we draw on the resources of a world-class institution, faculty with real-world experience, and a location in the world’s finance and media capital. Visit us atenergypolicy. columbia.edu facebook.com/ColumbiaUEnergy twitter.com/ColumbiaUEnergy ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS SIPA’s mission is to empower people to serve the global public interest. Our goal is to foster economic growth, sustainable development, social progress, and democratic governance by educating public policy professionals, producing policy-related research, and conveying the results to the world. Based in New York City, with a student body that is 50 percent international and educational partners in cities around the world, SIPA is the most global of public policy schools. For more information, please visit www.sipa.columbia.edu THE IMPACT OF THE DECLINE IN OIL PRICES ON THE ECONOMICS, POLITICS AND OIL INDUSTRY OF VENEZUELA By Francisco Monaldi* SEPTEMBER 2015 *Francisco Monaldi is Baker Institute Fellow in Latin American Energy Policy and Adjunct Professor of Energy Economics at Rice University, Belfer Center Associate in Geopolitics of Energy at the Harvard Kennedy School, Professor at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administracion (IESA) in Caracas, Venezuela, and Founding Director of IESA’s Center on Energy and the Environment.
  • Global Dynamics of Oil Price Fluctuations

    Global Dynamics of Oil Price Fluctuations

    RUCHAN KAYA MESUT HAKKI CASIN 146146 147 CASPIAN REPORT, SPRING 2015 GLOBAL DYNAMICS OF OIL PRICE FLUCTUATIONS RUCHAN KAYA SENIOR RESARCH FELLOW, ENERGY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS EXPERT, HASEN The crude oil saw the lowest price levels since 2009 and has a few economic and political reasons behind the drop. The dramatic increase in the supply side is one of the main factors. Within the past year or so, only one around $55-60 levels and are cur- thing is certain about the oil prices rently hovering around $65. Look- and that is the uncertainty of the fu- ing at these numbers and future es- ture price levels. In June 2014, the timates, clearly, we cannot predict end of the year price predictions of the price of oil perfectly, but we can Barclay’s was $109 per barrel. How- identify the reasons of current trend ever, by that time, in January, the of decline, therefore lowering the MESUT HAKKI CASIN price was around $50 per barrel. amount of uncertainty in future esti- In early 2015 Goldman Sachs and mations and policy behavior. 146 147 Bank of America Merrill Lynch made even more worrisome price esti- CASPIAN REPORT, SPRING 2015 mates down around $35-45 range is that it is important to be aware of Onethe fact of the that first history things of oilto alreadyrecognize in- early March, the oil prices oscillated cludes such price booms and busts. in their Q1 projections. However, in Figure 1. Crude Oil Prices in 1861-2013 ($) Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2014 As Figure 1 shows, recent low prices than doubled the crude oil price, ris- of oil are nothing new as sharp de- ing from $14 per barrel to over $30 clines have existed in the past.
  • Price Forecast December 31, 2018 Resource Evaluation & Advisory This Page Has Been Intentionally Left Blank

    Price Forecast December 31, 2018 Resource Evaluation & Advisory This Page Has Been Intentionally Left Blank

    Price forecast December 31, 2018 Resource Evaluation & Advisory This page has been intentionally left blank. 2 Forecast commentary 4 Alberta upstream oil and gas investment and royalties 8 Canadian economic outlook 10 Canadian domestic price forecast 12 International price forecast 14 Global trends 15 Canadian domestic price tables 19 International price tables 22 Price philosophy 24 Glossary 25 3 Price Forecast December 31, 2018 | Forecast commentary Forecast commentary “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” — Jimmy Dean Volatility continues to be the theme of the reached highs of US$35/bbl. Storage oil and gas sector, with prices fluctuating stockpile volumes in Alberta rose to substantially throughout 2018. International approximately 35 MMbbl due to increased prices started to soften in October as the production from oil sands projects and industry expressed concern about increased temporarily decreased demand due to supply and minimal demand growth. WTI refinery maintenance. Major disruptions prices fell as domestic production volumes to Canadian crude oil exports occurred reached record levels and transport issues in Q4 2018 because of lower-than-usual persisted, primarily in the Permian basin. refinery utilization rates in the US Midwest, Overseas, Brent crude pricing continued where almost 70 percent of Canadian crude to outpace North American pricing, exported to the United States is processed. averaging approximately US$9/bbl higher Refinery utilization rates decreased to than WTI prices in the last quarter of 2018. 73 percent at the end of October from Brent prices decreased substantially in traditional rates of over 90 percent, leaving November, however, as a result of increased Canadian crude oil with nowhere to go.
  • The Economic Impact of Oil Prices by Rurik Krymm

    The Economic Impact of Oil Prices by Rurik Krymm

    The Economic Impact of Oil Prices by Rurik Krymm During the last three months of 1973, the tax-paid costs of typical grades of crude petroleum in the main producing areas of the world, around the Persian Gulf, were roughly quadrupled, rising for typical Iranian and Arabian Ugh t crudes from about $1.85 per barrel in September 1973 to more than $7.00 by 1 January 1974, or from approximately $13.30 to more than $50.00per ton. Since the cost of production represents an insignificantly small fraction of the new cost level (less than 2%) and subject to complex adjustments reflecting varying qualities of crude oils and advantages of geographical location, the producing countries may expect to receive a minimum average revenue of $50.00 per ton of crude oil produced on their territory instead of $12.50. If we ignore the purchases which carried the prices of relatively small amounts of oil to the $100-$ 150range, this figure of $50.00per ton with future adjustments for inflation represents a probable guide line for future cost estimates. The change affects exports of close to 1.4 billion tons of oil and consequently involves an immediate shift of financial resources of close to 60 billion dollars per year from the oil-consuming to the oil-producing countries. Tables 1, 2 and 3 give an idea of the distribution of this burden by main geographical regions and of its possible evolution over the next seven years. The figures involved are so large that comparisons have been made by some authors with the reparations proposals advanced by the Allies at the end of the First World War.
  • PRAKOSO-THESIS-2016.Pdf

    PRAKOSO-THESIS-2016.Pdf

    PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ASPHALTENES A Thesis by ANDREAS ADI PRAKOSO Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Chair of Committee, Berna Hascakir Committee Members, Hadi Nasrabadi Yuefeng Sun Head of Department, A. Daniel Hill May 2016 Major Subject: Petroleum Engineering Copyright 2016 Andreas Adi Prakoso ABSTRACT This work proposes the study on physicochemical characterization of crude oils and their asphaltenes to understand the destabilization mechanism of asphaltenes. Knowledge on the molecular-scale interactions between components of crude oil is vital for the assessment of potential reserves and mitigation efforts of asphaltene-related problems. 11 heavy oil and bitumen samples from various regions of the world were subjected to characterization to attain universal yet simple correlations that are applicable under operating conditions. Comprehensive physicochemical analysis of the samples were performed through density and viscosity measurements of the crude oil, Saturates, Aromatics, Resins, and Asphaltenes (SARA) fractionation, Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis, elemental analysis, solubility profile assessment, and onset asphaltene precipitation (OAP) tests on the crude oil samples. Furthermore, two different types of asphaltenes were examined; n-pentane and n-heptane insolubles. Accordingly, density, zeta potential, and cluster size measurements, as well as high resolution microscopy imaging techniques, were conducted on these asphaltene samples to support the asphaltene stability and onset precipitation test results. The results have revealed that heteroatoms contained within the crude oils and asphaltenes play an important role in defining the physicochemical characteristics of crude oil. In particular, oxygen and metal (mostly V and Ni) functional groups were found to contribute significantly towards asphaltene stability and polarity.