Petroleum products : Properties, Specifications, Market & Demand

Welcome to this online course on Oil and Gas.

This training course is designed to provide you with a deep knowledge of properties,specifications, markets and demands of petroleum products.

The petroleum products covered in this training include :

• Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)

• Automotive Gasoline

• Kerosene / Jet fuel

• Gas oil

• Heating oil

• Heavy fuel oil

• Naphtha & petrochemical feedstocks

• Asphalts

• Lubricating oil

The course also provides technical knowledge related to the standard quality control tests performed in refineries and petrochemical plants to ensure that the finished products are in line with commercial specifications.

The course uses up-to-date global statistics and is organized into 4 parts.

For each petroleum product :

Part 1. outlines its main characteristics and properties.

Part 2. reviews its main specifications and how these specifications evolved over time and for different countries.

Part 3. describes the standard quality control tests performed in refineries and petrochemical plants, highlights the tests significance and the accuracy of the methods.

Part 4. analyses the place of this particular petroleum product, the associated market trends and forecasts future prospects for production and demand.

• Grasp the main characteristics of petroleum products and their relevance for end-users

• List the key properties for automotive fuels (now and in the future)

• Identify recent changes and future trends for the petroleum products’ specifications, markets and demand

• Identify the main trends of fuel evolution due to: new regulations and/or new motor technologies

• Understand how the main properties of each petroleum products are measured, checked and controlled using standard quality control tests

• Understand the tests significance and accuracy of the methods

• Technicians, engineers, managers and commercial or technical staff whose activities are related to the production, storage, purchasing, marketing or use of petroleum products
• Technicians, engineers and managers in the refining industry interested in improving their knowledge of petroleum products
• Engineers, technical managers and technicians from laboratories in plant and research centers
• Technicians and engineers from the process and operation units in refining, petrochemical and engineering companies
• Technicians and engineers involved in ensuring the quality of petroleum products
• Technicians and engineers from all industries concerned by motor fuel evolution: car makers, refining, fuels traders, agro-fuels manufacturers

This training course includes downloadable resources in pdf format with unlimited access.

To download the files, once you are enrolled in :

1. Go to the “Downloadable resources” section

2. Expand the section to have access to all the pdf files

3. Click on any file to open it. You can save it to view it later offline

The resources attached to the “Downloadable resources” section cover 3 topics :

TOPIC 1. MAIN QUALITY STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS :

1. Volatility specifications for :

• Automotive gasoline

• Jet fuel

• Diesel fuel

• Heating fuel

• Heavy fuel oil

• Paraffinic base oils

• Asphalts

2. Combustion specifications for :

• Automotive gasoline

• Jet fuel – Jet A1

• Diesel fuel

• Heating fuel

• Heavy fuel oil

3. Cold condition behavior and flowing specifications for :

• Jet fuel – Jet A1

• Diesel fuel

• Heating fuel

• Heavy fuel oil

4. Pollution and corrosiveness specifications :

• Sulfur content

• Corrosiveness

• Miscellaneous pollutants

5. Stability specifications :

• Automotive gasoline

• Jet fuel

• Diesel fuel

• Heating fuel

• Heavy fuel oil

6. Asphalts specifications

7. Lube base oil specifications

TOPIC 2. STANDARD QUALITY CONTROL TESTS OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

1. TESTS RELATED TO VOLATILITY :

• ASTM distillation test

• Reid vapor pressure

• Flash point

2. TESTS RELATED TO COMBUSTION :

• Octane number of gasoline

• Cetane number of diesel fuel

• Smoke point for aviation turbine fuels

• Standard test related to fuel combustion

3. TESTS RELATED TO STORAGE AND FLOWING :

• Viscosity measurements

• Lubricating properties of diesel fuel

• Cloud point

• Pour point

• Filterability limit

• Freezing point

4. TESTS RELATED TO AIR POLLUTION AND CORROSIVENESS :

• Air pollution and corrosion due to sulfur

• Sulfur measurements

• Copper strip corrosion

• Doctor test

5. TESTS RELATED TO STABILITY OF MOTOR GASOLINE, TURBINE FUELS AND DISTILLATES :

• Gum content

• Induction period

• Fuel stability

• Oxidation stability of diesel fuel

• Water and sediment

• Asphaltene precipitation with normal heptane

• Insoluble content test

• Color and color stability tests

6. TESTS RELATED TO ASPHALTS :

• Needle penetration

• Softening point

TOPIC 3. SPECIFICATIONS OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS BY COUNTRY :

1. USA

2. FRANCE

3. CHINA

4. INDIA

5. BELGIUM

6. BOLIVIA

7. BRAZIL

8. IRAN

9. SAUDI ARABIA

10. SPAIN

11. SOUTH KOREA

12. VENEZUELA