In recent months, risks that once felt distant have been translated into immediate operational challenges for the energy sector. Disruptions affecting critical points in the global energy system highlight how sensitive supply chains are to sudden shifts in conditions. When the flow of millions of barrels of oil per day is constrained or delayed, the effects are felt rapidly across markets, logistics planning, and refining operations, reinforcing the need for greater resilience and operational flexibility.
Supply chain disruptions can quickly cascade into shortages of oil, sharp price volatility, and forced production cuts. When global logistics networks are constrained and outbound flows slow, producers face immediate operational challenges. Storage facilities fill rapidly when shipments cannot move as planned. This leaves operators with little choice but to curtail output or temporarily shut in wells.
From a refinery perspective this means unstable crude oil supplies, higher feedstock costs with product prices, operational stress as planners and operators scramble to make decisions and inventory and logistics bottlenecks as terminals, tanks and pipelines become the limiting factor. This makes existing industry problems worse.
Meanwhile, targets to reduce carbon emissions are still important. Regulators are increasing oversight during the crisis while energy security concerns push refineries to run harder and longer on equipment. Doing so creates a conflict between reducing emissions and maximizing production.
How process digitalization helps refineries
Inefficiencies in operations like tank movements, re-blending and product downgrades directly increase both carbon emissions and operating costs. The result? Less room for error as the market panics and prices spike.
This is where process digitalization empowers refineries to make the most of their resources and respond more effectively to rapid changes in the operating environment.
Improving visibility and control across storage, blending, and logistics operations helps refineries optimize inventory, reduce losses, and streamline coordination between production and distribution. With better data and analytics, they can minimize demurrage and giveaway, enhance operational efficiency, improve profitability and react to changes in in a highly volatile and constrained environment.
Building resilient, data-driven operations
Normally making improvements is helpful. When things change fast, a muddled view of what’s going on, or having systems that don’t work together, affect productivity. Small mistakes can add up quickly.
Offsites Management, a special software solution, can help with this by making everything more visible and coordinated from inventory to:
- Movements, e.g., Order Movement Management (OMM) and Movement Automation System (MAS)
- Blending, e.g., Blend Optimization and Supervisory System (BOSS)
- And quality, e.g., Analyzer Management and Data Acquisition System (AMADAS)
Having accurate and up-to-date information about tank inventory (Tank Inventory System, TIS) helps make decisions and reduces the need for extra safety stock. Managing lineups and manifolds in a way reduces mistakes and the time it takes to make changes. Advanced blending optimization helps manage variations in the materials used while keeping product quality and profits safe.
Keeping track of everything, via material accounting balance, from the amount of product made to quality helps find problems and makes sure operations, planning and trading are all working together.
Being closely connected to planning and scheduling ensures that any limits on operations are taken into account when making plans. The software is also flexible. Has pre-set functions, which means improvements can be made without having to wait a long time.
Why offsite digitalization is now business-critical for refineries
An increasingly unpredictable operating landscape shows how important offsite operations and logistics systems are. They are no longer just secondary to the refining operations but a key part of staying efficient, flexible and reliable.
Refineries that still do things by hand or use tools that are not connected tend to spend time fixing problems as they come up. Those with integrated offsite systems are better able to operate even when things are uncertain. Offsite operations and logistics systems, like EcoStruxure Offsites Management, are crucial for refineries to maintain efficiency, flexibility and reliability, and digitalization of offsite operations is essential, for this.
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