How we work

Helping you to achieve Performance Excellence

Palmer International is an independent London-based engineering consultancy specialising in performance improvement and project development in the oil and gas industry.

Our engineers have more than 20 years’ experience in over 250 refineries and upstream facilities across the globe. By taking a holistic view of your operation, we help you to identify, develop and implement the most effective projects for your business.

We offer a unique and well-proven way of working – Total Project Architecture. This process comprises: a logical assessment methodology to develop the optimum project to suit your business needs now and in the future; support from concept to commissioning and identifying performance improvement opportunities for little or no investment.

You will be assigned a project architect who will:

  • Interrogate your brief to determine the fundamental starting point
  • Identify your aims, strategically and commercially
  • Understand all the requirements
  • Communicate with all organisations involved
  • Deliver the most effective solution

In this way Palmer International helps you to get the job done and to get it done right.

What is the rational, stable capacity for European refining?

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With over capacity in the Middle East and Asia, the evolution of US shale oil and Russia planning to increase export production, the European refining industry is under threat from all sides.

As we know, this will inevitably lead to more facilities closing – it’s just a case of how many. Total revealed its estimates of cuts to European capacity of 10-15% which may not seem too drastic. But really the big question is: what is the rational stable capacity for European refining?

There is no easy answer to this but, as I see it, there are three ways of keeping more of the capacity:

· Refined product traders acquiring assets to support their business activities

· Russian majors buying oil refineries for reasons of vertical integration

· Refineries becoming more competitive, improving energy efficiency and performance

But, it’s unlikely that these will halt the slide. On balance, there is a very strong possibility that refiners will reduce capacity at a significantly higher rate than Total’s 10-15%. Continue reading…

Evolution of Cars Drives Evolution in Refineries

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The news that Toyota plans to launch one of the first commercial hydrogen fuel cell cars in 2015 is significant for the oil refining industry.

Since cars evolved from steam to the internal combustion and then diesel engines, sparking the need for fossil fuels, oil refining has been heavily dependent on developments in the automotive sector.

When Henry Ford introduced the Ford model T, making cars affordable to most people, the demand for gasoline increased. As a result, refineries started to develop new technologies, such as the hydrocracker and the fluidised catalytic cracker (FCC), to produce more gasoline and diesel to meet this demand.

Traditionally the automotive industry was driven by fuel economy (miles per gallon and price per gallon), but now people have become more sensitive to the environmental impact driving cars. This has led to the development of natural gas vehicles (NGV), liquefied petroleum (LPG), electric and hybrid cars.

Now, Toyota is leading the next stage of the automotive evolution with the hydrogen fuel cell car. As the by-product of generating power is steam and heat, hydrogen is arguably a clean fuel, provided it is generated from renewable energies. In order to meet the short term demand, refineries may increase their hydrogen production capacity.

Keeping the aim of reducing carbon emissions in mind, hydrogen will need to be produced from a carbon-free source, such as electrolysis, using renewable or nuclear energy.

Energy performance in European refining is a ‘Curate’s Egg’

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At the ERTC energy conference in May this year, Solomon Associates presented their latest Fuels Refinery Study. It showed that the annual energy expenditure at an average refinery in Europe and the Middle East was US$ 423 million – that’s nearly 60% of the total operating costs. In Asia/Pacific, the proportion of energy expenditure was even higher at nearly 70%.

This will come as no great surprise to the industry; for many years improving energy performance has been one of refiners’ most important targets for maximising margins. The challenge is now greater than ever, with the additional pressure to reduce emissions of all kinds.

What may be a surprise, though, is the range of performance exhibited by European refiners. For an equivalent processing task, the most efficient refiners consumed less than half of the energy of the least efficient. In other words, the energy performance of European refiners is like the ‘Curate’s Egg – good in parts but mostly not as good as it should be.

There are many reasons for this range of performance. Asset utilization is a prime factor and we can infer that the current trend of capacity rationalisation should lead to improved energy performance, but which assets will survive? Will the Industry generate a virtuous cycle – energy inefficient assets shutting down leaving high utilisation for the energy efficient survivors?

At Palmer International we work with refiners to develop and implement action plans to secure the future of our clients’ refineries throughout the World.

Lowering the flashpoint for diesel could help European refining rebalance supply and demand

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 The refining business in Europe is in the doldrums. We’ve seen the closure of many assets and those that remain face an uncertain future.

Clearly, in the longer term, Europe needs a refining base – the question is, how big  – and the industry needs to act more creatively and be able to adapt to the changing needs of the market. Since the demand for diesel is higher than for gasoline, one small but simple step is for European refineries to rebalance supply and demand by making more diesel and less gasoline.

The EU has already begun to support this by reducing the flashpoint for diesel from over 60 °C to 55°C. But it could be reduced to as low as 35 °C, as it is in many other countries, such as India. It’s a simple solution, it works and there are no safety issues.

However, it was anticipated that much of the diesel would be supplied by countries including the Middle East, the US and Russia. But, because of the current situation in Russia, that diesel may not be forthcoming.

How European refining can find its place in a rapidly transforming global market will be the focus of the 8th Annual European Refining Summit in Brussels on September 23-24. I will be chairing day two of the event and I am looking forward to meeting the key figures in the industry and discussing the way forward.

Julie Mitchell C

Julie Mitchell,

Manager, Corporate Affairs

Julie is a journalist and copywriter with more than 20 years’ experience of writing and editing a wide variety of newsletters, magazines, brochures and websites for clients in the engineering, construction, transport, pharmaceutical, retail and professional services sectors. She began her career as a local newspaper reporter before moving into PR, first with local authorities and then with John Laing Construction. There Julie played a key role in promoting the Laing private finance initiative responsible for building the Second Severn Crossing.

Roger Grundy C

Roger Grundy,

  BSc (Hons) Mech Eng, FIMechE, Minst Pet, MAIChemE, FRSA

Partner

With 35 years’ experience in the process industries, Roger knows everything there is to know about the design and operation of oil refineries, petrochemical and fertilizer complexes and offshore installations, including floating production, storage and offloading facilities. His expertise stretches from project development, profit improvement and troubleshooting to management of operations and maintenance. Roger established Breckland Ltd, providing specialist services to oil and gas operating companies, focusing on operating efficiency, reliability and general performance of rotation machinery.