WorldWideScience

Sample records for starting crude oil

  1. Canada's crude oil resources : crude oil in our daily lives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bott, R.

    2001-10-01

    Created in 1975, the Petroleum Communication Foundation is a not-for-profit organization. The objective of the Foundation is to inform Canadians about the petroleum industry in Canada. It produces educational, fact-based publications and programs, employing a multi-stakeholder review process. The first section of this publication is devoted to crude oil and the benefits that are derived from it. It begins by providing a brief definition of crude oil, then moves to the many uses in our daily lives and the environmental impacts like air pollution, spills, and footprint on the land from exploration and production activities. Section 2 details the many uses of crude oil and identifies the major oil producing regions of Canada. A quick mention is made of non-conventional sources of crude oil. The search for crude oil is the topic of section 3 of the document, providing an overview of the exploration activities, the access rights that must be obtained before gaining access to the resource. The drilling of oil is discussed in section 4. Section 5 deals with issues pertaining to reservoirs within rocks, while section 6 covers the feeding of the refineries, discussing topics from the movement of oil to market to the refining of the crude oil, and the pricing issues. In section 7, the uncertain future is examined with a view of balancing the supply and demand, as crude oil is a non-renewable resource. Supplementary information is provided concerning additional publications published by various organizations and agencies. figs

  2. 1999 Crude oil market outlook

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cochener, J.

    1998-01-01

    Baseline projection handling of crude oil prices was discussed, based on actual crude oil price trends from 1992 to 1998. Attention was drawn to the lack of correlation between crude oil and natural gas prices. Predictions for crude oil production were extended to the year 2015. As far as the immediate future is concerned the crude oil price for 1999 was predicted to continue to be sluggish due to competitive pressure from refined products at burner tip. tabs., figs

  3. Some technological aspects for functioning of crude oil pipeline Solun-OKTA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zikovski, Toni

    2005-01-01

    Crude oil pipeline Solun-Okta was built according to international technical, ecological and safety standards and enables quick, optimal and continuity supply of OKTA Refinery with crude oil. The building of the pipeline began in 1999 and finished in 2002 with official start-up operation by pumping of first quantity crude oil. After the activation, human environment protection has an important place. A lot of instructions and procedures are prepared specially for this purpose. With a total length about 212 km, pipeline enables transport of crude oil from ECO Refinery to OKTA with a capacity of 2.5 million tons per year. The pipeline is designed for transport of few types crude oil and their mixtures. The pipeline system has been equipped with sophisticated and modern equipment, which will enable quality of the work by controlling and monitoring of the system. (Author)

  4. Some technological aspects for functioning of crude oil pipeline Solun-Okta

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zikovski, Toni

    2005-01-01

    Crude oil pipeline Solun-Okta was built according to international technical, ecological and safety standards and enables quick, optimal and continuity supply of OKTA Refinery with crude oil. The building of the pipeline began in 1999 and finished in 2002 with official start-up operation by pumping of first quantity crude oil. After the activation, human environment protection has an important place. A lot of instructions and procedures are prepared specially for this purpose. With a total length about 212 km, pipeline enables transport of crude oil from ECO Refinery to OKTA with a capacity of 2.5 million tons per year. The pipeline is designed for transport of few types crude oil and their mixtures. The pipeline system has been equipped with sophisticated and modern equipment, which will enable quality of the work by controlling and monitoring of the system. (Author)

  5. Crude oil burning mechanisms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Gelderen, Laurens; Malmquist, L.M.V.; Jomaas, Grunde

    2015-01-01

    In order to improve predictions for the burning efficiency and the residue composition of in-situ burning of crude oil, the burning mechanism of crude oil was studied in relation to the composition of its hydrocarbon mixture, before, during and after the burning. The surface temperature, flame...... height, mass loss rate and residues of three hydrocarbon liquids (n-octane, dodecane and hexadecane), two crude oils (DUC and REBCO) and one hydrocarbon liquid mixture of the aforementioned hydrocarbon liquids were studied using the Crude Oil Flammability Apparatus. The experimental results were compared...... on the highest achievable oil slick temperature. Based on this mechanism, predictions can then be made depending on the hydrocarbon composition of the fuel and the measured surface temperature....

  6. Efficient way of importing crude oil from oil producing countries - A review on diversification policy of crude oil import

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Dal Sok [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea)

    1999-03-01

    Since the second oil crisis, the government has operated the import diversification support program to reduce the risk of crude oil import from Middle-East region and to raise the ability of dealing with the risk. This study tried to seek policy trends in future through reviewing the market environment related to the crude oil import diversification policy and the goal, instrument and effect of the policy. The supply and demand of crude oil and the price are influenced by market system in the world oil market and there are various types of crude oil trading available to both sellers and buyers. There is a probability that the suspension of supply in a certain area could be led to the price issue rather than the physical use of crude oil. In addition, the advantage of price with long-term contract of crude oil was abolished since the price of crude oil imported by term contract has been linked to spot prices. As a result, it is shown that the potential benefit from crude oil import diversification policy is reduced although political and social insecurity still exists in Middle-East region. Therefore, it is desirable to maintain the existing support program until the amount of stored oil reaches the optimum level and to help private enterprises determine the import considering economical efficiency and risk. (author). 36 refs., 5 figs., 23 tabs.

  7. Heavy crude oil and synthetic crude market outlook

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crandall, G.R.

    1997-01-01

    This presentation included an outline of the international heavy crude supply and demand versus Canadian heavy crude supply and disposition, and pricing outlook for synthetic crudes. Differences among crude oils such as light sweet, light sour, heavy and bitumen were described and illustrated with respect to their gravity, API, percentage of sulphur, metals and nitrogen. Internationally, heavy and sour crude supplies are forecast to increase significantly over the next four years. Discoveries of light sour crude in offshore Gulf of Mexico will provide a major new source of sour crude to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. Venezuela's supplies of heavy and sour crude are also expected to increase over the next few years. Mexico and Canada have plans to increase their heavy crude production. All of the crudes will be aimed at the U.S. Gulf Coast and Midwest markets. Pentanes and condensates are also expected to increase based on the growing Canadian natural gas production. Diluent demand will also grow to match Canadian heavy crude/bitumen production. U.S. midwest refiners are proposing expansions to allow them to process more Canadian heavy crude oil. At present, only a few refineries are equipped to process significant amounts of synthetic crude. It was suggested that to absorb available heavy and synthetic production, increased penetration into both Canadian and U.S. markets will be required. Some refineries may have to be modified to process heavy and synthetic oil supplies. Heavy oil and synthetic producers may need to develop relationships with refiners such as joint ventures and term supply agreements to secure markets. 2 tabs., 12 figs

  8. Methods of analyzing crude oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooks, Robert Graham; Jjunju, Fred Paul Mark; Li, Anyin; Rogan, Iman S.

    2017-08-15

    The invention generally relates to methods of analyzing crude oil. In certain embodiments, methods of the invention involve obtaining a crude oil sample, and subjecting the crude oil sample to mass spectrometry analysis. In certain embodiments, the method is performed without any sample pre-purification steps.

  9. Market potential for Canadian crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heath, M.; Fisher, L.; Golosinski, D.; Luthin, A.; Gill, L.; Raggett, C.

    1997-01-01

    Future key markets for Canadian crude were evaluated, and probable flow volumes and prices were identified. Key concerns of market participants such as pricing, alternative crude sources, pipeline tariffs and crude quality, were examined. An overview of the competition faced by Canadian crude supply in global markets was presented. World crude oil supply and demand was discussed. US and Canadian crude oil supply (2000 to 2010), refinery demand for light and heavy crudes, existing future crude oil and refined product pipeline infrastructure, and pricing implications of changing crude oil flows were analyzed. The general conclusion was that the US market will continue to provide growing markets for Canadian crude oil, and that the Canadian supply to fulfill increased export requirements will be available due to the combined effects of increasing heavy crude supply, growing production from the east coast offshore, and recent and ongoing pipeline expansions and additions. 20 refs., 64 tabs., 42 figs

  10. Comparison of crude oil interfacial behavior

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beetge, J.H.; Panchev, N. [Champion Technologies Inc., Fresno, TX (United States)

    2008-07-01

    The bulk properties of crude oil are used to predict its behaviour with regards to treatment, transport and processing. Surface active components, such as asphaltenes, are often used to study or explain critical interfacial behaviour of crude oil. This study investigated the differences and similarities in the interfacial behaviour of the collective surface active component in various crude oils from different sources. The properties of interfaces between crude oil and water were compared using a Teclis drop shape tensiometer. A portion of a crude oil sample was diluted in toluene and contacted with water in a rising drop configuration. Dynamic surface tension and interfacial rheology was examined as a function of time from the early stages of interface formation. Sinusoidal oscillation of the drop volume allowed for the evaluation of visco-elastic behaviour of the crude oil/water interface as it developed with time. The Gibbs elastic modulus, as well as its elastic and viscose components were calculated from the drop shape. The interfacial behaviour was expressed in terms of concentration, oscillation frequency and interface age. It was concluded that knowledge of crude oil interfacial character could be of value in the treatment, transport and processing of crude oils because the its behaviour may play a significant role in crude oil production and processing.

  11. 15 CFR 754.2 - Crude oil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... processed through a crude oil distillation tower. Included are reconstituted crude petroleum, and lease... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Crude oil. 754.2 Section 754.2....2 Crude oil. (a) License requirement. As indicated by the SS notation in the “License Requirements...

  12. How much crude oil can zooplankton ingest? Estimating the quantity of dispersed crude oil defecated by planktonic copepods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Almeda, Rodrigo; Connelly, Tara L.; Buskey, Edward J.

    2016-01-01

    We investigated and quantified defecation rates of crude oil by 3 species of marine planktonic copepods (Temora turbinata, Acartia tonsa, and Parvocalanus crassirostris) and a natural copepod assemblage after exposure to mechanically or chemically dispersed crude oil. Between 88 and 100% of the analyzed fecal pellets from three species of copepods and a natural copepod assemblage exposed for 48 h to physically or chemically dispersed light crude oil contained crude oil droplets. Crude oil droplets inside fecal pellets were smaller (median diameter: 2.4–3.5 μm) than droplets in the physically and chemically dispersed oil emulsions (median diameter: 6.6 and 8.0 μm, respectively). This suggests that copepods can reject large crude oil droplets or that crude oil droplets are broken into smaller oil droplets before or during ingestion. Depending on the species and experimental treatments, crude oil defecation rates ranged from 5.3 to 245 ng-oil copepod"−"1 d"−"1, which represent a mean weight-specific defecation rate of 0.026 μg-oil μg-C_c_o_p_e_p_o_d"1 d"−"1. Considering a dispersed crude oil concentration commonly found in the water column after oil spills (1 μl L"−"1) and copepod abundances in high productive coastal areas, copepods may defecate ∼1.3–2.6 mg-oil m"−"3 d"−"1, which would represent ∼0.15%–0.30% of the total dispersed oil per day. Our results indicate that ingestion and subsequent defecation of crude oil by planktonic copepods has a small influence on the overall mass of oil spills in the short term, but may be quantitatively important in the flux of oil from surface water to sediments and in the transfer of low-solubility, toxic petroleum hydrocarbons into food webs after crude oil spills in the sea. - Highlights: • Copepods exposed to dispersed crude oil produced fecal pellets contained numerous small oil droplets (2.4 to 3.5 µm). • Copepods could reject large oil droplets or oil droplets are broken into

  13. Molecular processes in the biodegradation of crude oils and crude oil products in the natural reservoir and in laboratory experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schalenbach, S.S.

    1993-10-01

    Two ains were pursued in the present study; first, to find positive indicators of the onset of biodegradation of reservoir oil wherever other parameters fail to give a clear picture; second, to establish a basic understanding of the molecular processes underlying the biodegradation of hydrocarbons and thus create a starting point for finding better criteria for valuating biological restoration methods for crude oil contaminated soils. (orig./HS) [de

  14. Exports of crude oil, 1988

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-06-01

    Effective June 1, 1985, licensing and charging of oil exports ended. The Board now issues export orders specifying neither volumes nor prices and covering an exportation period of up to 1 year for light crude oil and up to 2 years for heavy crude oil, available on request to both Canadian and foreign companies. The Board has assumed a monitoring role, and export prices and volumes are reported monthly by exporters. This annual report provides a review of the volumes and prices associated with the supply and disposition of Canadian crude oil during 1988. Highlights are given with detailed information on prices, both internationally, in Canada, and the Chicago posted price by light or heavy crude, and on volumes including capacity and disposition in both domestic and export markets. A short description of the import market is included. Comparisons are made with the previous year. Export volumes of light crude oil in 1988 increased by 13% to average 50,200 m 3 /d. Export volumes of heavy crude also increased by ca 13% to 62,600 m 3 /d. 15 figs., 2 tabs

  15. Crude oil market report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1985-01-01

    Falling demand for refined products and an excess of production capacity are driving world oil prices down further. Competitive price cutting, notably by Mexico, Britain, and the Soviet Union, has left Saudi Arabia the only guardian of a costly pricing discipline in terms of crude oil sales. The current crisis is limited to the producers of crude oil. Refineries are now deciding what, where, and how to buy crude in order to meet the requirements of a slack market place. Saudi Arabia could precipitate a price collapse below $20 per barrel by increasing production volume, but that seems unlikely. 1 figure, 2 tables.

  16. Crude oil spot market pricing: Pearsonian analysis of crude oil spot market prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akinnusi, Ayo

    1994-01-01

    This paper presents a brief overview of crude oil pricing before describing a study of sets of 1991 spot market prices, and examining Pearson's model. Empirical distribution characteristics for 14 crude oils are tabulated, and skewness-kurtosis relationship and implication are considered. (UK)

  17. EVALUATING THE SHORT RUN EFFECTS OF U.S. CRUDE OIL INVENTORY LEVELS ON WTI CRUDE OIL PRICE FROM 1993 - 2013

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tobi Olasojiand

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The focus of this research was to investigate the short-term influence of U.S. crude oil inventories on WTI crude oil prices from 1993 to 2013. This study is important for policy makers who wish to reduce the persistent and growing price volatility of crude oil and its related products as well as businesses such as airline companies who wish to make annual budgetary sales decisions. Using OLS multiple regression, cointegration, VECM and Ex-post forecast techniques; we provide evidence of an inelastic relationship in which a 1% increase in U.S. crude oil inventories is associated with 0.46% decrease in WTI crude oil prices; however this was only valid for 22% of WTI crude oil price variation. We also find that past data on U.S. crude oil inventories could be used to predict future WTI crude oil prices movement. Contrary to literature, the results of the VECM analysis indicate there is no short-run relationship between both variables over the trajectory.

  18. Crude oil growth impact on pipelines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Devries, O.

    2005-01-01

    This paper provided an outline of crude oil production and supply in Canada. Details of oil sands projects in Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River were presented. A chart of oil sands growth by major project was provided. A list of new emerging oil sands crude types was also presented along with details of a synthetic bitumen blending synergy. Maps of Western Canadian crude oil markets were provided, along with details of refinery and market demand by crude type. Various pipeline alternatives to new markets were examined, with reference to Enbridge Pipeline's supply and capacity. Details of the Hardisty to U.S Gulf Coast Pipeline and the Edmonton to Prince Rupert Pipeline and its terminal and dock facilities were presented. It was concluded that pipeline capacity and seasonal factors will influence market demand, while linefill, crude types and the quality of the product will influence operational strategies. tabs., figs

  19. How much crude oil can zooplankton ingest? Estimating the quantity of dispersed crude oil defecated by planktonic copepods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Almeda, Rodrigo; Connelly, Tara L.; Buskey, Edward J.

    2016-01-01

    % of the analyzed fecal pellets from three species of copepods and a natural copepod assemblage exposed for 48 h to physically or chemically dispersed light crude oil contained crude oil droplets. Crude oil droplets inside fecal pellets were smaller (median diameter: 2.4-3.5 mu m) than droplets in the physically...

  20. Modeling of the re-starting of waxy crude oil flows in pipelines; Modelisation du redemarrage des ecoulements de bruts paraffiniques dans les conduites petrolieres

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vinay, G.

    2005-11-15

    Pipelining crude oils that contain large proportions of paraffins can cause many specific difficulties. These oils, known as waxy crude oils, usually exhibit high 'pour point', where this temperature is higher than the external temperature conditions surrounding the pipeline. During the shutdown, since the temperature decreases in the pipeline, the gel-like structure builds up and the main difficulty concerns the issue of restarting. This PhD attempts to improve waxy crude oil behaviour understanding thanks to experiment, modelling and numerical simulation in order to predict more accurately time and pressure required to restart the flow. Using various contributions to the literature, waxy crude oils are described as viscoplastic, thixotropic and compressible fluid. Strong temperature history dependence plays a prevailing role in the whole shutdown and restart process. Thus, waxy crude oils under flowing conditions correspond to the non-isothermal flow of a viscoplastic material with temperature-dependent rheological properties. Besides, the restart of a waxy crude oil is simulated by the isothermal transient flow of a weakly compressible thixotropic fluid in axisymmetric pipe geometry. We retain the Houska model to describe the thixotropic/viscoplastic feature of the fluid and compressibility is introduced in the continuity equation. The viscoplastic constitutive equation is involved using an augmented Lagrangian method and the resulting equivalent saddle-point problem is solved thanks to an Uzawa-like algorithm. Governing equations are discretized using a Finite Volume method and the convection terms are treated thanks to a TVD (Total Variation Diminishing) scheme. The Lagrangian functional technique usually used for incompressible viscoplastic flows, is adapted to compressible situations. Several numerical results attest the good convergence properties of the proposed transient algorithm. The non-isothermal results highlight the strong sensitivity of

  1. The dynamics of crude oil price differentials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fattouh, Bassam

    2010-01-01

    Crude oil price differentials are modelled as a two-regime threshold autoregressive (TAR) process using the method proposed by Caner and Hansen [Caner, M., Hansen, B.E. Threshold autoregression with a unit root. Econometrica 2001; 69; 1555-1596.]. While standard unit root tests suggest that the prices of crude oil of different varieties move closely together such that their price differential is stationary, the TAR results indicate strong evidence of threshold effects in the adjustment process to the long-run equilibrium. These findings suggest that crude oil prices are linked and thus at the very general level, the oil market is 'one great pool' (Adelman, M.A. International oil agreements. The Energy Journal 1984; 5; 1-9.). However, differences in the dynamics of adjustment suggest that within this one pool, oil markets are not necessarily integrated in every time period and hence the dynamics of crude oil price differentials may not follow a stationary process at all times. Although the development of a liquid futures market around the crude oil benchmarks has helped make some distant markets more unified, arbitrage is not costless or risk-free and temporary breakdowns in the benchmarks can lead to decoupling of crude oil prices. (author)

  2. Mercury in Canadian crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hollebone, B.P.

    2005-01-01

    Estimates for average mercury concentrations in crude oil range widely from 10 ng/g of oil to 3,500 ng/g of oil. With such a broad range of estimates, it is difficult to determine the contributions of the petroleum sector to the total budget of mercury emissions. In response to concerns that the combustion of petroleum products may be a major source of air-borne mercury pollution, Environment Canada and the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute has undertaken a survey of the average total mercury concentration in crude oil processed in Canadian refineries. In order to calculate the potential upper limit of total mercury in all refined products, samples of more than 30 different types of crude oil collected from refineries were measured for their concentration of mercury as it enters into a refinery before processing. High temperature combustion, cold vapour atomic absorption and cold vapour atomic fluorescence were the techniques used to quantify mercury in the samples. The results of the study provide information on the total mass of mercury present in crude oil processed in Canada each year. Results can be used to determine the impact of vehicle exhaust emissions to the overall Canadian mercury emission budget. 17 refs., 2 tabs., 2 figs

  3. Study of the gelation behaviour of Brazilian waxy crude oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ziglio, C.M.; Sant' Ana, D.F. [Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., Petrobras, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

    2008-07-01

    The precipitation of wax from crude oil results in the formation of a paraffin network which evolves into a gel structure, causing a major operating issue for the petroleum industry. A gelled oil in a pipeline may need a very high re-start pressure that is beyond the capacity of the pump. The gelation of the oil can also develop into a wax deposit on the pipeline wall that restricts the flow of crude oil. Rheometry tests were used in this study to determine the yielding process of wax gels formed by the cooling of Brazilian crude oils. The effect of selected chemical additives on the gel strength was also examined. Dynamic rheology was used to study the oil-gel transition under quiescent conditions. Two rheological methods were used to study the gel yield stress, which is related to the gel strength. In the Creep and Recovery method, a stress was applied to the sample for a short period while the resulting deformation was measured. The stress was then removed to allow the sample to recover the gel structure. The steps of creep and recovery were repeated with an increasing stress value. The yield stress was identified as the minimum stress to cause an irreversible deformation in the sample. The yield stress of the gelled oil was estimated through dynamic measurements. Gel breakdown occurred when the sample was submitted to a critical strain, which is related to the yield stress value. This study showed that the gelation temperature can be reduced considerably by adding small amounts of readily available additives. These additives have an influence on yield stress values. In a cold re-start situation, they can reduce the pump pressure.

  4. Application of Markov Model in Crude Oil Price Forecasting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nuhu Isah

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Crude oil is an important energy commodity to mankind. Several causes have made crude oil prices to be volatile. The fluctuation of crude oil prices has affected many related sectors and stock market indices. Hence, forecasting the crude oil prices is essential to avoid the future prices of the non-renewable natural resources to rise. In this study, daily crude oil prices data was obtained from WTI dated 2 January to 29 May 2015. We used Markov Model (MM approach in forecasting the crude oil prices. In this study, the analyses were done using EViews and Maple software where the potential of this software in forecasting daily crude oil prices time series data was explored. Based on the study, we concluded that MM model is able to produce accurate forecast based on a description of history patterns in crude oil prices.

  5. Crude oil pipeline expansion summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-02-01

    The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has been working with producers to address issues associated with the development of new pipeline capacity from western Canada. This document presents an assessment of the need for additional oil pipeline capacity given the changing mix of crude oil types and forecasted supply growth. It is of particular interest to crude oil producers and contributes to current available information for market participants. While detailed, the underlying analysis does not account for all the factors that may come into play when individual market participants make choices about which expansions they may support. The key focus is on the importance of timely expansion. It was emphasized that if pipeline expansions lags the crude supply growth, then the consequences would be both significant and unacceptable. Obstacles to timely expansion are also discussed. The report reviews the production and supply forecasts, the existing crude oil pipeline infrastructure, opportunities for new market development, requirements for new pipeline capacity and tolling options for pipeline development. tabs., figs., 1 appendix

  6. 10 CFR 212.78 - Tertiary incentive crude oil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Tertiary incentive crude oil. 212.78 Section 212.78 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OIL MANDATORY PETROLEUM PRICE REGULATIONS Producers of Crude Oil § 212.78 Tertiary incentive crude oil. Annual prepaid expenses report. By January 31 of each year after 1980, the project...

  7. Bacterial consortia for crude oil spill remediation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chhatre, S.; Purohit, H.; Shanker, R.; Khanna, P.

    1996-01-01

    Oil spills generate enormous public concern and highlight the need for cost effective ad environmentally acceptable mitigation technologies. Physico-chemical methods are not completely effective after a spill. Hence, there is a need for improved and alternative technologies. Bioremediation is the most environmentally sound technology for clean up. This report intends to determine the potential of a bacterial consortium for degradation of Gulf and Bombay High crude oil. A four membered consortium was designed that could degrade 70% of the crude oil. A member of consortium produced a biosurfactant, rhamnolipid, that emulsified crude oil efficiently for effective degradation by the other members of consortium. The wide range of hydrocarbonoclastic capabilities of the selected members of bacterial consortium leads to the degradation of both aromatic and aliphatic fractions of crude oil in 72 hours. (Author)

  8. Effects of a dual-pump crude-oil recovery system, Bemidji, Minnesota, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delin, Geoffrey N.; Herkelrath, William N.

    2014-01-01

    A crude-oil spill occurred in 1979 when a pipeline burst near Bemidji, MN. In 1998, the pipeline company installed a dual-pump recovery system designed to remove crude oil remaining in the subsurface at the site. The remediation from 1999 to 2003 resulted in removal of about 115,000 L of crude oil, representing between 36% and 41% of the volume of oil (280,000 to 316,000 L) estimated to be present in 1998. Effects of the 1999 to 2003 remediation on the dissolved plume were evaluated using measurements of oil thicknesses in wells plus measurements of dissolved oxygen in groundwater. Although the recovery system decreased oil thicknesses in the immediate vicinity of the remediation wells, average oil thicknesses measured in wells were largely unaffected. Dissolved-oxygen measurements indicate that a secondary plume was caused by disposal of the pumped water in an upgradient infiltration gallery; this plume expanded rapidly immediately following the start of the remediation in 1999. The result was expansion of the anoxic zone of groundwater upgradient and beneath the existing natural attenuation plume. Oil-phase recovery at this site was shown to be challenging, and considerable volumes of mobile and entrapped oil remain in the subsurface despite remediation efforts.

  9. Compositional modification of crude oil during oil recovery

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhu, Yangming; Weng, Huanxin [Department of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China); Chen, Zulin; Chen, Qi [Petroleum Geochemistry Research Center, Jianghan Petroleum University, Jingzhou, Hubei (China)

    2003-05-01

    Ten crude oils from two recovery stages spanning 5-10-year interval of five productive wells in the Tarim Basin, northwest China were analyzed for their compositional modification during production process. Significant compositional changes in polar and nonpolar fractions between the previous oil samples and the latter ones were noted at both bulk and molecular level. The latter oil samples appear to contain more aromatic fraction and less asphaltenes and resin, and their gas chromatography (GC) data for whole oil show reduced alkanes with low molecular weight and enhanced high homologue relative to the previous oil samples. Compared with the oils collected from the previous recovery stage, the concentration of basic type of nitrogen-containing compounds and organic acids in oils from the latter recovery stage have a reducing trend, suggesting the occurrence of interaction between crude oil and reservoir rock.

  10. Pengaruh Penambahan Kosubstrat pada Biodegradasi Crude Oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Any Juliani

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Kegiatan penambangan minyak bumi tidak hanya dilakukan oleh perusahaan-perusahaan besar, tetapi juga oleh masyarakat secara tradisional. Potensi pencemaran lingkungan yang ditimbulkan oleh kegiatan penambangan rakyat ini menjadi lebih tinggi karena pengelolaannya yang tradisional. Salah satu jenis pencemaran yang ditimbulkannya misalnya adalah tanah atau perairan yang tercemar oleh minyak bumi (crude oil pada saat berlangsungnya kegiatan penambangan. Salah satu upaya untuk dapat mengatasinya adalah dengan bioremediasi. Bioremediasi merupakan teknologi pengolahan pencemar dengan memanfaatkan aktivitas mikroba, terutama dari golongan bakteri. Bioremediasi tersebut harus melibatkan bakteri yang memiliki kapasitas metabolic untuk melakukan biodegradasi terhadap crude oil tersebut. Crude oil sendiri pada dasarnya merupakan senyawa hidrokarbon yang merupakan sumber karbon yang kaya bagi mikroba. Namun demikian, biodegradasi crude oil relative lebih sulit dilakukan karena karakteristiknya yang merupakan senyawa dengan berat molekul dan ukuran yang besar. Oleh karena itu penambahan kosubstrat yang lebih sederhana dapat dilakukan untuk membantu biodegradasi terutama pada tahap awal proses. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui pengaruh penambahan kosubstrat dalam hal ini glukosa terhadap biodegradasi crude oil. Penelitian dilakukan dalam media cair dengan bioaugmentasi melalui penambahan inoculum bakteri yang diisolasi dari tanah yang dikondisikan terhadap crude oil dalam beberapa variasi reactor. Indikasi terjadinya biodegradasi diperiksa melalui pengukuran terhadap parameter Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH dan Total Plate Count (TPC. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penambahan kosubstrat glukosa memberikan pengaruh positif terhadap penurunan TPH. Penurunan TPH tertinggi setelah 28 hari adalah sebesar 25,3 % yang diberikan oleh reactor dengan penambahan kosubstrat serta konsentrasi crude oil awal sebesar 8.1 %. Sementara itu reactor tanpa

  11. Crude oil pricing report, issue 89, December 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    This report is prepared by the Canadian Oil Markets and Emergency Planning Division (COMEP), Energy, Mines and Resources Canada. It provides a reference for domestic and imported crude oil prices in Canadian markets and illustrates the competitive position of Canadian crude in the U.S. market. The information in this report is in part based on the Crude Oil Pricing Survey (COPS), conducted by COMEP, of Canadian refiners' domestic crude oil purchases, refinery receipts, imports and data from trade publications as well as industry pricing bulletins. 8 tabs

  12. Comparative toxicology of four crude oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clarke, L.M.; Hodson, P.V. [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada). Dept. of Biology; Brown, R.S. [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada). Dept. of Chemistry

    2003-07-01

    Fish that are chronically exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exhibit dioxin-like toxicity characterized by blue sac disease and the induction of cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A). This study compared the relative toxicity of four crude oils (Scotian Shelf, MESA, the synthetic Alberta Sweet Mixed Blend, and Alaskan North Slope Crude Oil), in causing the disease in rainbow trout embryos living in simulated spawning beds with hydrocarbon-contaminated gravel. Each oil had different chemical characteristics and PAH concentrations. The study confirmed the assumption that the Alberta Sweet Mixed Blend would be the most toxic due to its high PAH concentration. The results suggest that the main cause of toxicity in crude oil is due to the presence, concentration, and conformation of specific PAHs.

  13. DOE/DOT Crude Oil Characterization Research Study, Task 2 Test Report on Evaluating Crude Oil Sampling and Analysis Methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lord, David [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Allen, Ray [Allen Energy Services, Inc., Longview, TX (United States); Rudeen, David [GRAM, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2017-11-01

    The Crude Oil Characterization Research Study is designed to evaluate whether crude oils currently transported in North America, including those produced from "tight" formations, exhibit physical or chemical properties that are distinct from conventional crudes, and how these properties associate with combustion hazards with may be realized during transportation and handling.

  14. When Will Occur the Crude Oil Bubbles?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Su, Chi-Wei; Li, Zheng-Zheng; Chang, Hsu-Ling; Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we apply a recursive unit root test to investigate whether there exist multiple bubbles in crude oil price. The method is best suited for a practical implementation of a time series and delivers a consistent date-stamping strategy for the origination and termination of multiple bubbles. The empirical result indicates that there exist six bubbles during 1986–2016 when the oil price deviate from its intrinsic value based on market fundamentals. Specifically, oil price contains the fundamentals and bubble components. The dates of the bubbles correspond to specific events in the politics and financial markets. The authorities should actively fight speculative bubbles or just observe their evolutions and speculation activities may decrease, which is favour of the stabilisation of the staple commodities including crude oil price. These findings have important economic and policy implications to recognise the cause of bubbles and take corresponding measures to reduce the impact on the real economy cause of the fluctuation of crude oil price. - Highlights: • Investigate multiple bubbles in crude oil price. • Indicate six bubbles deviate from its intrinsic value based on market fundamentals. • The bubbles correspond to specific events in the politics and financial markets. • Reduce the impact on the real economy cause of the fluctuation of crude oil price.

  15. Effect of temperature on biodegradation of crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zekri, A.; Chaalal, O.

    2005-01-01

    An active strain of anaerobic thermophilic bacteria was isolated from the environment of the United Arab Emirates. This project studied the effect of temperature, salinity and oil concentration on biodegradation of crude oil. Oil weight loss, microbial growth and the changes of the crude oil asphaltene concentration are used to evaluate the oil degradation by this strain. A series of batch experiments was performed to study the effects of bacteria on the degradation of crude oil. The effects of oil concentration, bacteria concentration, temperature and salinity on the biodegradation were investigated. The temperatures of the studied systems were varied between 35 and 75 o C and the salt concentrations were varied between 0 and 10%. Oil concentrations were ranged from 5 to 50% by volume. Experimental work showed the bacteria employed in this project were capable of surviving the harsh environment and degrading the crude oil at various conditions. Increasing the temperature increases the rate of oil degradation by bacteria. Increasing the oil concentration in general decreases the rate of bacteria oil degradation. Salinity plays a major role on the acceleration of biodegradation process of crude oil. An optimum salinity should be determined for every studied system. The finding of this project could be used in either the treatment of oil spill or in-situ stimulation of heavy oil wells. (author)

  16. Waxy crude oil flow restart ability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sierra, Andre Gaona; Varges, Priscilla Ribeiro; Mendes, Paulo Roberto de Souza [Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)], e-mails: prvarges@puc-rio.br, pmendes@puc-rio.br; Ziglio, Claudio [PETROBRAS S.A, R.J., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)], e-mail: ziglio@petrobras.com.br

    2010-07-01

    Under the hot reservoir conditions, waxy crudes behave like Newtonian fluids but once they experience very cold temperatures on the sea floor, the heavy paraffin's begin to precipitate from the solution impacting non- Newtonian flow behavior to the crude (Chang 2000, Lee 2009, Davidson 2004) and begin to deposit on the pipe wall leave blocked of pipeline. This gel cannot be broken with the original steady state flow operating pressure applied before gelation (Chang 1998). Restarting waxy crude oil flows in pipelines is a difficult issue because of the complex rheological behavior of the gelled oil. Indeed, below the WAT, the gelled oil exhibits viscoplastic, thixotropic, temperature-dependent, and compressible properties due to the interlocking gel-like structure formed by the crystallized paraffin compounds and the thermal shrinkage of the oil. The main objective of this work is to determine the minimal pressure to restart the flow, and the relationship between the fluid rheology , pipe geometry and the restart pressure of the flow. Experiments will be performed to investigate the displacement of carbopol aqueous solutions (viscoplastic fluid without thixotropic effects) by Newtonian oil flowing through a strait pipe to validate the experimental apparatus. Therefore, tests will be made with different fluids, like Laponite and waxy crude oils. (author)

  17. Application of Biosurfactants Produced by Pseudomonas putida using Crude Palm Oil (CPO) as Substrate for Crude Oil Recovery using Batch Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suryanti, V.; Handayani, D. S.; Masykur, A.; Septyaningsih, I.

    2018-03-01

    The application of biosurfactants which have been produced by Pseudomonas putida in nutrient broth medium supplemented with NaCl and crude palm oil (CPO) for oil recovery has been evaluated. The crude and purified biosurfactants have been examined for oil recovery from a laboratory oil-contaminated sand in agitated flask (batch method). Two synthetic surfactants and water as control was also performed for oil recovery as comparisons. Using batch method, the results showed that removing ability of crude oil from the oil-contaminated sand by purified and crude biosurfactants were 79.40±3.10 and 46.84±2.23 %, respectively. On other hand, the recoveries obtained with the SDS, Triton X-100 and water were 94.33±0.47, 74.84±7.39 and 34.42±1.21%respectively.

  18. Microbial ecology of methanogenic crude oil biodegradation; from microbial consortia to heavy oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Head, Ian M.; Maguire, Michael J.; Sherry, Angela; Grant, Russell; Gray, Neil D.; Aitken, Carolyn M.; Martin Jones, D.; Oldenburg, Thomas B.P.; Larter, Stephen R. [Petroleum Research Group, Geosciences, University of Calgary (Canada)

    2011-07-01

    This paper presents the microbial ecology of methanogenic crude oil biodegradation. Biodegraded petroleum reservoirs are one of the most dramatic indications of the deep biosphere. It is estimated that heavy oil and oil sands will account for a considerable amount of energy production in the future. Carbon, a major resource for deep subsurface microorganisms, and energy are contained in large quantities in petroleum reservoirs. The aerobic to anaerobic paradigm shift is explained. A key process for in-situ oil biodegradation in petroleum reservoirs is methanogenesis. New paradigms for in-reservoir crude oil biodegradation are discussed. Variations in anaerobic degradation of crude oil hydrocarbons are also discussed. A graph shows the different patterns of crude oil biodegradation under sulfate-reducing and methanogenic conditions. Alternative anaerobic alkane activation mechanisms are also shown. From the study, it can be concluded that methanogenic crude oil degradation is of global importance and led to the establishment of the world's enormous heavy oil deposits.

  19. Assessment of Antioxidant Indices after incorporating Crude Oil ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ADOWIE PERE

    Exposure to crude oil pollution leads to the formation ... vitamin/mineral mixture (5 %). The food ..... hepatic antioxidant enzymes against cadmium induced liver ... Interaction of crude oil with alpha-tocopherol: ... Essential oil from Monodora.

  20. Standard guide for determining corrosivity of crude oils

    CERN Document Server

    American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

    2010-01-01

    1.1 This guide presents some generally accepted laboratory methodologies that are used for determining the corrosivity of crude oil. 1.2 This guide does not cover detailed calculations and methods, but rather a range of approaches that have found application in evaluating the corrosivity of crude oil. 1.3 Only those methodologies that have found wide acceptance in crude oil corrosivity evaluation are considered in this guide. 1.4 This guide does not address the change in oil/water ratio caused by accumulation of water at low points in a pipeline system. 1.5 This guide is intended to assist in the selection of methodologies that can be used for determining the corrosivity of crude oil under conditions in which water is present in the liquid state (typically up to 100°C). These conditions normally occur during oil and gas production, storage, and transportation in the pipelines. 1.6 This guide does not cover the evaluation of corrosivity of crude oil at higher temperatures (typically above 300°C) that oc...

  1. Impact of Expanded North Slope of Alaska Crude Oil Production on Crude Oil Flows in the Contiguous United States

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    DeRosa, Sean E. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Flanagan, Tatiana Paz [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2017-05-01

    The National Transportation Fuels Model was used to simulate a hypothetical increase in North Slope of Alaska crude oil production. The results show that the magnitude of production utilized depends in part on the ability of crude oil and refined products infrastructure in the contiguous United States to absorb and adjust to the additional supply. Decisions about expanding North Slope production can use the National Transportation Fuels Model take into account the effects on crude oil flows in the contiguous United States.

  2. Rate of biodegradation of crude oil by microorganisms isolated from ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The rate of biodegradation of crude oil by micro-organisms isolated from crude oil sludge environment in Eket, Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria was studied. Mineral salt medium supplemented with crude oil was used and three most abundant species isolated from a crude oil sludged soil - Micrococcus varians, Bacillus subtilis ...

  3. Canadian heavy crude oil and bitumen: Some new and old ideas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scott, G.R.

    1992-01-01

    Canadian conventional heavy oil and bitumen production has been steadily increasing over the last five years. This rise is forecast to continue under modest future crude oil pricing assumptions. During 1990 and 1991, the heavy oil market suffered from wide pricing differentials relative to light crude due to market reductions in Montreal and a feedstock shift at Uno-Ven's Chicago refinery, as well as an increase in the percentage of heavy in the world crude oil supply because of the Iraqi war. These have been offset by price-related bitumen production cuts and minor refinery capacity growth at other locations. The industry is poised for positive change with modest but stable prices and reduced light-heavy differentials caused, in part, by anticipated market expansion due to the June start-up of the Conco coker (50,000 bbl/d) in Montana and the anticipated late fall start up of the Bi-Provincial Upgrader in Saskatchewan (50,000 bbl/d blend). For the future, refinery upgrading and new grass roots refinery additions are suggested for western Canada. Associated transportation savings and condensate blending stock costs are two areas of advantage. Taken together with environmental problems in other densely populated market areas, it makes sense to build new heavy processing capacity near Edmonton but only after all current capacity is debottlenecked and inexpensive additions to current facilities are completed. New capacity will only be built when the heavy/light price differential on feed stock provides economic justification. 11 refs., 2 tabs

  4. Expanding U.S. markets for Canadian crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heath, M.; Angevine, G.; Chan, K.; Renne, G.; Stariha, J.; MacKay, E.

    1993-01-01

    The quantities and types of Canadian, U.S. and competing foreign crudes flowing into U.S. market regions and the potential to retain and/or expand Canadian crude oil sales in each of those markets, was studied. The various pipeline system expansion/construction proposals were reviewed. Findings of the study with respect to prospects for crude oil sales into each of the U.S. market regions were presented. Opportunities and constraints with regard to the potential for incremental crude oil sales into each of the U.S. market regions were detailed. The study concluded that there was a substantial market in the U.S. for incremental sales of Canadian crudes. Most of the refineries in the U.S. market regions were more flexible in terms of their crude diet than they were before the rationalization and restructuring of the industry began. The market for crude oil in the U.S. was shown to be one of the most competitive in the world and the most volatile. The study also revealed that there were risks associated with large additions to the capacity to ship crude oil by pipeline from Western Canada, given the uncertainties surrounding future supply. 4 refs., figs., tabs

  5. Forecasting volatility of crude oil markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Sang Hoon; Kang, Sang-Mok; Yoon, Seong-Min

    2009-01-01

    This article investigates the efficacy of a volatility model for three crude oil markets - Brent, Dubai, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) - with regard to its ability to forecast and identify volatility stylized facts, in particular volatility persistence or long memory. In this context, we assess persistence in the volatility of the three crude oil prices using conditional volatility models. The CGARCH and FIGARCH models are better equipped to capture persistence than are the GARCH and IGARCH models. The CGARCH and FIGARCH models also provide superior performance in out-of-sample volatility forecasts. We conclude that the CGARCH and FIGARCH models are useful for modeling and forecasting persistence in the volatility of crude oil prices. (author)

  6. Forecasting volatility of crude oil markets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Sang Hoon [Department of Business Administration, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 660-701 (Korea); Kang, Sang-Mok; Yoon, Seong-Min [Department of Economics, Pusan National University, Busan, 609-735 (Korea)

    2009-01-15

    This article investigates the efficacy of a volatility model for three crude oil markets - Brent, Dubai, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) - with regard to its ability to forecast and identify volatility stylized facts, in particular volatility persistence or long memory. In this context, we assess persistence in the volatility of the three crude oil prices using conditional volatility models. The CGARCH and FIGARCH models are better equipped to capture persistence than are the GARCH and IGARCH models. The CGARCH and FIGARCH models also provide superior performance in out-of-sample volatility forecasts. We conclude that the CGARCH and FIGARCH models are useful for modeling and forecasting persistence in the volatility of crude oil prices. (author)

  7. A laboratory study of particulate and gaseous emissions from crude oil and crude oil-dispersant contaminated seawater due to breaking waves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afshar-Mohajer, Nima; Li, Cheng; Rule, Ana M.; Katz, Joseph; Koehler, Kirsten

    2018-04-01

    Crude oil spill incidents occur frequently causing a verity of occupational, ecological and environmental problems. Dispersants are applied to enhance the dispersion rate of crude oil slicks into the water column. In this study, the aerosol size distribution from 10 nm to 20 μm, total particle-bound aromatic hydrocarbons (pPAH) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are measured in a 6 x 0.3 x 0.6 m tank as plunging breaking waves entrain oil slicks. The experiments are performed for seawater with slicks of crude oil, crude oil-dispersant mixture and dispersant only. The measurements investigate the effects of wave energy and slick properties on the temporal evolution of the emissions. The total number concentrations of particles originating from the oil-dispersant mixture are 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than those of crude oil across the entire nano-scale range, reaching 100x for 20 nm particles. Conversely, the differences in concentration are small in the micron range. The average concentrations of pPAH are variable but similar (150-270 ng/m3). The VOC concentrations for crude oil-dispersant mixtures are 2-3 times lower than those of crude oil, presumably due to the surfactant effect on mass diffusion. The drastic increase in ultrafine particle concentrations may raise concerns about effects of inhalation by cleanup workers and downstream communities though VOC emissions reduce. Findings through this study provide insight into how the spray of dispersant may change the ratio of airborne particulate matter and VOC emissions from seawater due to natural processes.

  8. The crude oil market mechanism in the light of the 1990-91 price crisis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Memarian, M.S.

    1992-01-01

    This paper is an attempt to forecast crude oil prices in the 1990-91 crisis. The methodology used is based on the standard supply/demand apparatus, with respect to the possible political circumstances which prevailed during the crisis. The paper begins by modelling crude oil prices. Then the application of the model to the oil market will be discussed. The exclusive findings of this study concern the method of estimating that crude oil prices would grow to a maximum level of $32 per barrel just before the start of the (military) war in January 1991 -and, at the same time, that total excess demand would be around 2.5 million barrels per day, and that, in the case of an injection of about 2.5 mb/d of crude into the market, prices would collapse to their pre-crisis levels of approximately $19/b. It also shows how the effects of political deterioration on prices can be divided into a shift in the slope of the demand curve and a shift in the demand curve itself. (author)

  9. Enhanced crude oil biodegradation in soil via biostimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Saleh, Esmaeil; Hassan, Ali

    2016-08-02

    Research on feasible methods for the enhancement of bioremediation in soil contaminated by crude oil is vital in oil-exporting countries such as Kuwait, where crude oil is a major pollutant and the environment is hostile to biodegradation. This study investigated the possibility of enhancing crude oil bioremediation by supplementing soil with cost-effective organic materials derived from two widespread locally grown trees, Conocarpus and Tamarix. Amendments in soils increased the counts of soil microbiota by up to 98% and enhanced their activity by up to 95.5%. The increase in the biodegradation of crude oil (75%) and high levels of alkB expression substantiated the efficiency of the proposed amendment technology for the bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated sites. The identification of crude-oil-degrading bacteria revealed the dominance of the genus Microbacterium (39.6%), Sphingopyxis soli (19.3%), and Bordetella petrii (19.6%) in unamended, Conocarpus-amended, and Tamarix-amended contaminated soils, respectively. Although soil amendments favored the growth of Gram-negative bacteria and reduced bacterial diversity, the structures of bacterial communities were not significantly altered.

  10. MICROWAVE HEATING AND SEPARATION OF WATER-IN-OIL EMULSION FROM MEXICAN CRUDE OIL

    OpenAIRE

    VAZQUEZ V., ADRIAN; LOPEZ M., ARTURO; ANDRADE C., LUIS J.; VAZQUEZ A., ARIANA M.

    2014-01-01

    Microwave heating and gravity sedimentation are alternatives for demulsification and layer separation into oil and water layers, this process was demonstrated in the laboratory and provides an option for reducing and oil recovering from water-in-oil Mexican oil emulsions. The combinatorial process was implemented in a test lab using Mexican crude oil samples. The Laboratory samples were 100% and 50-50%, crude and crude-water respectively, were heated. The results were encouraging show that mi...

  11. OPEC's optimal crude oil price

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horn, Manfred

    2004-01-01

    OPEC decided to stabilise oil prices within a range of 22-28 US Dollar/barrel of crude oil. Such an oil-price-level is far beyond the short and long run marginal costs of oil production, beyond even that in regions with particularly high costs. Nevertheless, OPEC may achieve its goal if world demand for oil increases substantially in the future and oil resources outside the OPEC are not big enough to accordingly increase production. In this case OPEC, which controls about 78% of world oil reserves, has to supply a large share of that demand increase. If we assume OPEC will behave as a partial monopolist on the oil market, which takes into consideration the reaction of the other producers to its own sales strategy, it can reach its price target. Lower prices before 2020 are probable only if the OPEC cartel breaks up. Higher prices are possible if production outside OPEC is inelastic as assumed by some geologists, but they would probably stimulate the production of unconventional oil based on oil sand or coal. Crude oil prices above 30 US Dollar/barrel are therefore probably not sustainable for a long period. (Author)

  12. Bioremediation of crude oil contaminated tea plantation soil using ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Crude oil contamination of soil is a major concern for tea industry in Assam, India. Crude oil is a persistent organic contaminant which alters soil physical and biochemical characteristics and makes tea plants more susceptible against crude oil contamination. Therefore, two native bacterial strains designated as AS 03 and ...

  13. Characteristics of gas-liquid dynamics in operation of oil fields producing non-Newtonian crude oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mirzadzhanzade, A Kh; Khasaev, A M; Gurbanov, R S; Akhmedov, Z M

    1968-08-01

    Experimental studies have shown that crude oils from Azerbaidzhan, Uzbekistan, Tataria, Kazakhstan and other areas have anomalous properties under reservoir conditions. Such crude oils are non-Newtonian and (1) obey Darcys Law at low velocities; (2) obey an exponential law at higher velocities; and (3) obey a modified Darcys Law at most velocities. A discussion is given of (1) flow of non-Newtonian crude oils together with gas or water; (2) flow of non-Newtonian crude oils in well tubing; (3) behavior of wells producing non-Newtonian crude oils; and (4) pumping of non-Newtonian oils in wells. Experiments have shown that a visco-plastic liquid does not fill pump inlets completely; as the diameter of the pump inlet decreases so also does the degree of liquid filling. A statistical analysis of production data from 160 fields with Newtonian oil and 129 fields with non- Newtonian oil has shown that much higher production is obtained from fields with Newtonian crude oils.

  14. Biogeochemistry of anaerobic crude oil biodegradation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Head, Ian; Gray, Neil; Aitken, Caroline; Sherry, Angela; Jones, Martin; Larter, Stephen

    2010-05-01

    Anaerobic degradation of crude oil and petroleum hydrocarbons is widely recognized as a globally significant process both in the formation of the world's vast heavy oil deposits and for the dissipation of hydrocarbon pollution in anoxic contaminated environments. Comparative analysis of crude oil biodegradation under methanogenic and sulfate-reducing conditions has revealed differences not only in the patterns of compound class removal but also in the microbial communities responsible. Under methanogenic conditions syntrophic associations dominated by bacteria from the Syntropheaceae are prevalent and these are likely key players in the initial anaerobic degradation of crude oil alkanes to intermediates such as hydrogen and acetate. Syntrophic acetate oxidation plays an important role in these systems and often results in methanogenesis dominated by CO2 reduction by members of the Methanomicrobiales. By contrast the bacterial communities from sulfate-reducing crude oil-degrading systems were more diverse and no single taxon dominated the oil-degrading sulfate-reducing systems. All five proteobacterial subdivisions were represented with Delta- and Gammaproteobacteria being detected most consistently. In sediments which were pasteurized hydrocarbon degradation continued at a relatively low rate. Nevertheless, alkylsuccinates characteristic of anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation accumulated to high concentrations. This suggested that the sediments harbour heat resistant, possibly spore-forming alkane degrading sulfate-reducers. This is particularly interesting since it has been proposed recently, that spore-forming sulfate-reducing bacteria found in cold arctic sediments may have originated from seepage of geofluids from deep subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs.

  15. Russian crude-oil production and export still increasing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Purho, P.

    2001-01-01

    Russian crude-oil production is still increasing. In 2000 the annual production 6.48 mb/d was about 6% higher than a year before. In 2001 the production is expected to rise near the level 7 mb/d, so the increase in production volume is fast. However, the production is still far away from the maximum level of the former Soviet Union, 12 mb/d. At the moment Russia is the second largest oil producer right after Saudi Arabia. The increase in production is based on intensified use of old oil fields caused by improved technology. The oil export of Russia far abroad in 2000 was 2.5 mb/d and near abroad into FSU countries only about 180 000 b/d. The recent export of crude-oil has been near the maximum export capacity corresponding to 2.7 mb/d. About 61 million tons of oil products were exported in 2000, and even the export of oil products is increasing. Most of this was gas oil and heavy fuel oil, but also the export of gasoline was significant. The export of oil and oil products is mainly based on shipments, but also the share of train transport is high. Nearly all the crude oil is transported west either by ships or via pipelines. The share of railway transport is only few percents. Russia will continue its own oil pumping policy despite of the appeals of OPEC for reduction of oil production. Opinion in Russia is that if the increase of production and export serves the interests of Russia, it will also be carried out. The target value for crude oil for 2002 is 22 USD per barrel. The Russian crude oil production is estimated to grow up to 7.4 - 8.4 mb/d by the year 2010

  16. Does China factor matter? An econometric analysis of international crude oil prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Gang; Zhang, Yue-Jun

    2014-01-01

    Whether China’s crude oil imports are the culprit of oil price volatility these years has not been quantitatively confirmed. Therefore, this paper empirically investigates the role of China’s crude oil net imports in Brent price changes from October 2005 to November 2013 based on an econometric analysis. The results indicate that, during the sample period, China’s crude oil imports do not significantly affect Brent price changes, no matter in the long run or short run. Therefore, the blame for China’s crude oil imports to cause the dramatic fluctuations of international oil price has no solid evidence. Also, there exists significant uni-directional causality running from the Brent price to China's crude oil imports at the 5% level. Besides, the response of the Brent price to China's crude oil imports is found positive but slight, and the Brent price responds more significantly to US dollar exchange rate and OECD commercial inventory than to China’s crude oil imports in the short run. Finally, the contribution of China's crude oil imports to Brent price movement is about 10%, which is less than that of US dollar exchange rate but larger than that of Indian crude oil imports or OECD commercial inventory. - Highlights: • The paper detects the role of China’s crude oil imports in Brent oil price changes. • China’s crude imports do not matter for oil prices in the long run or short run. • The blame for China’s crude imports on oil price changes has no solid evidence. • Significant causality runs from Brent prices to China's crude oil net imports. • China's crude imports contribute less to Brent prices than US dollar exchange rate

  17. Alternatives to conventional crude oil. When, how quickly, and market driven?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaufmann, Robert K.; Shiers, Laura D.

    2008-01-01

    We examine the effect of uncertainty concerning remaining supplies of conventional crude oil and its production path on: the date alternative fuels will be needed, the quantity of alternative fuels needed, and how this uncertainty affects firms' willingness to provide alternatives in a timely fashion. Despite large uncertainties about the quantity of oil that remains and its production path, the start date for replacements is likely to fall within a twenty-two year period that is narrower and earlier than previous estimates. The twenty-two year window represents considerable uncertainty about the date of the peak and this uncertainty creates an asymmetry in the strategy that maximizes the welfare of firms relative to total social welfare, which works against the market's ability to generate a smooth transition from oil to alternative fuels. The timeliness of this transition is critical - the production paths generated here suggest that 10 million barrels per day or more of alternative fuels will be needed within a decade of the peak in production of conventional crude oil. (author)

  18. Does Portuguese economy support crude oil conservation hypothesis?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bashiri Behmiri, Niaz; Pires Manso, José R.

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines cointegration relationships and Granger causality nexus in a trivariate framework among oil consumption, economic growth and international oil price in Portugal. For this purpose, we employ two Granger causality approaches: the Johansen cointegration test and vector error correction model (VECM) and the Toda–Yamamoto approaches. Cointegration test proves the existence of a long run equilibrium relationship among these variables and VECM and Toda–Yamamoto Granger causality tests indicate that there is bidirectional causality between crude oil consumption and economic growth (feed back hypothesis). Therefore, the Portuguese economy does not support crude oil conservation hypothesis. Consequently, policymakers should consider that implementing oil conservation and environmental policies may negatively impact on the Portuguese economic growth. - Highlights: ► We examine Granger causality among oil consumption, GDP and oil price in Portugal. ► VECM and Toda–Yamamoto tests found bidirectional causality among oil and GDP. ► Portuguese economy does not support the crude oil conservation hypothesis.

  19. Systemic toxicity of dermally applied crude oils in rats

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Feuston, M.H.; Mackerer, C.R.; Schreiner, C.A.; Hamilton, C.E. [Stonybrook Labs., Inc., Princeton, NJ (United States)

    1997-12-31

    Two crude oils, differing in viscosity (V) and nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) content, were evaluated for systemic toxicity, In the Crude I (low V, low N, low S) study, the material was applied to the clipped backs of rats at dose levels of 0, 30, 125, and 500 mg/kg. In the Crude II (high V, high N, moderate S) study, the oil was applied similarly at the same dose levels. The crude oils were applied for 13 wk, 5 d/wk. Exposure sites were not occluded. Mean body weight gain (wk 1-14) was significantly reduced in male rats exposed to Crude II; body weight gain of all other animals was not adversely affected by treatment. An increase in absolute (A) and relative (R) liver weights and a decrease in A and R thymus weights were observed in male and female rats exposed to Crude II at 500 mg/kg; only liver weights (A and R) were adversely affected in male and female rats exposed to Crude I. In general, there was no consistent pattern of toxicity for serum chemistry endpoints; however, more parameters were adversely affected in Crude II-exposed female rats than in the other exposed groups. A consistent pattern of toxicity for hematology endpoints was observed among male rats exposed to Crude I and male and female rats exposed to Crude II. Parameters affected included: Crudes I and II, red blood cell count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit, Crude II, platelet count. Microscopic evaluation of tissues revealed the following treatment-related findings: Crude I, treated skin, thymus, and thyroid; Crude II, bone marrow, treated skin, thymus, and thyroid. The LOEL (lowest observable effect level) for skin irritation and systemic toxicity (based on marginal effects on the thyroid) for both crude oils was 30 mg/kg; effects were more numerous and more pronounced in animals exposed to Crude II. Systemic effects are probably related to concentrations of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) found in crude oil.

  20. The future for heavy crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horsnell, P.

    1995-01-01

    The expectation, still held in 1993, that the light oil-heavy crude oil differential would go on increasing in favour of light oil has not been fulfilled. Current perceptions are that heavy oil will continue to be relatively strong and there is no inevitable upward trend in light-heavy crude differentials. Non-OPEC production has grown significantly lighter overall in recent years and is likely to continue so for several more years. This is due to expanded light oil production in the North Sea, Latin America and the Far East, and contractions in heavy oil production in Russia and the USA. OPEC production has also become lighter with, in particular, an expansion in light oil and contraction in heavy grades from Saudi Arabia. At the same time, the nature of the demand from refineries has changed with the introduction of new units designed to process the residium from heavy oil distillation. Thus the supply of light oil has expanded while demand for it has contracted with the reverse being true for heavy oil. (2 figures, 1 table) (UK)

  1. Crude oil and finished fuel storage stability: An annotated review

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Whisman, M.L.; Anderson, R.P.; Woodward, P.W.; Giles, H.N.

    1991-01-01

    A state-of-the-art review and assessment of storage effects on crude oil and product quality was undertaken through a literature search by computer accessing several data base sources. Pertinent citations from that literature search are tabulated for the years 1980 to the present. This 1990 revision supplements earlier reviews by Brinkman and others which covered stability publications through 1979 and an update in 1983 by Goetzinger and others that covered the period 1952--1982. For purposes of organization, citations are listed in the current revision chronologically starting with the earliest 1980 publications. The citations have also been divided according to primary subject matter. Consequently 11 sections appear including: alternate fuels, gasoline, distillate fuel, jet fuel, residual fuel, crude oil, biodegradation, analyses, reaction mechanisms, containment, and handling and storage. Each section contains a brief narrative followed by all the citations for that category.

  2. Volatility persistence in crude oil markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charles, Amélie; Darné, Olivier

    2014-01-01

    Financial market participants and policy-makers can benefit from a better understanding of how shocks can affect volatility over time. This study assesses the impact of structural changes and outliers on volatility persistence of three crude oil markets – Brent, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – between January 2, 1985 and June 17, 2011. We identify outliers using a new semi-parametric test based on conditional heteroscedasticity models. These large shocks can be associated with particular event patterns, such as the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, the Operation Desert Storm, the Operation Desert Fox, and the Global Financial Crisis as well as OPEC announcements on production reduction or US announcements on crude inventories. We show that outliers can bias (i) the estimates of the parameters of the equation governing volatility dynamics; (ii) the regularity and non-negativity conditions of GARCH-type models (GARCH, IGARCH, FIGARCH and HYGARCH); and (iii) the detection of structural breaks in volatility, and thus the estimation of the persistence of the volatility. Therefore, taking into account the outliers on the volatility modelling process may improve the understanding of volatility in crude oil markets. - Highlights: • We study the impact of outliers on volatility persistence of crude oil markets. • We identify outliers and patches of outliers due to specific events. • We show that outliers can bias (i) the estimates of the parameters of GARCH models, (ii) the regularity and non-negativity conditions of GARCH-type models, (iii) the detection of structural breaks in volatility of crude oil markets

  3. Feasibility Process for Remediation of the Crude Oil Contaminated Soil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keum, H.; Choi, H.; Heo, H.; Lee, S.; Kang, G.

    2015-12-01

    More than 600 oil wells were destroyed in Kuwait by Iraqi in 1991. During the war, over 300 oil lakes with depth of up to 2m at more than 500 different locations which has been over 49km2. Therefore, approximately 22 million m3was crude oil contaminated. As exposure of more than 20 years under atmospheric conditions of Kuwait, the crude oil has volatile hydrocarbons and covered heavy oily sludge under the crude oil lake. One of crude oil contaminated soil which located Burgan Oilfield area was collected by Kuwait Oil Company and got by H-plus Company. This contaminated soil has about 42% crude oil and could not biodegraded itself due to the extremely high toxicity. This contaminated soil was separated by 2mm sieve for removal oil sludge ball. Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) was analysis by GC FID and initial TPH concentration was average 48,783 mg/kg. Ten grams of the contaminated soil replaced in two micro reactors with 20mL of bio surfactant produce microorganism. Reactor 1 was added 0.1g powder hemoglobin and other reactor was not added hemoglobin at time 0 day. Those reactors shake 120 rpm on the shaker for 7 days and CO2 produced about 150mg/L per day. After 7 days under the slurry systems, the rest days operated by hemoglobin as primary carbon source for enhanced biodegradation. The crude oil contaminated soil was degraded from 48,783mg/kg to 20,234mg/kg by slurry process and final TPH concentration degraded 11,324mg/kg for 21days. Therefore, highly contaminated soil by crude oil will be combined bio slurry process and biodegradation process with hemoglobin as bio catalytic source. Keywords: crude-oil contaminated soil, bio slurry, biodegradation, hemoglobin ACKOWLEDGEMENTS This project was supported by the Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) GAIA Program

  4. Experimental study on yield behavior of Daqing crude oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hou, Lei [China University of Petroleum, College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, Beijing (China)

    2012-07-15

    The yield behavior of Daqing crude oil was studied by means of multi-mode controlled-stress tests with a high-precision stress controlled rheometer. Two experiments of creep and constant stress loading rate were performed. The yield stress of gelled crude oil was dependent on the test conditions such as the stress loading time and the stress loading rate, but the yield strain did not change with test conditions. The yield strain did exist objectively and it can be used as the criterion for the yielding of the structure of gelled crude oil. The yield strain of gelled oil was studied through experiments of creep, constant stress loading rate, oscillatory shear stress increase, and constant shear rate. The yield strain of gelled crude oil decreased with the increasing gel strength. The experiment of constant speed increase of stress showed the strain softening phenomena for low gel strength oil. (orig.)

  5. Sequential enrichment of microbial population exhibiting enhanced biodegradation of crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Venkateswaran, Kasthuri; Harayama, Shigeaki.

    1995-01-01

    The distribution of oil-degrading bacteria in the coastal waters and sediments of Hokkaido, Japan, was surveyed. It was found that the potential of mixed microbial populations to degrade weathered crude oil was not confined to any ecological components (water or sediment) nor to the sampling stations. One microbial culture that was stable during repeated subculturing degraded 45% of the saturates and 20% of the aromatics present in crude oil in 10 days during the initial screening. The residual hydrocarbons in this culture were extracted by chloroform and dispersed in a fresh seawater-based medium and subsequently inoculated with microorganisms from the first culture. After full growth of the second culture, the residual hydrocarbons were extracted and dispersed in a fresh medium in which microorganisms from the second culture had been inoculated. This sequential process was carried out six times to enrich those microorganisms that grew on the recalcitrant components of crude oil. After repeated exposure of the residual crude oil to the enriched microorganisms, about 80% of the initially added crude oil was degraded. The cultures obtained after each enrichment cycle were kept, and the degradation of fresh crude oil by the enriched microorganisms was monitored. The degrading activity of the enriched cultures increased as the number of enrichment cycles increased. A microbial population that had been selected six times on the residual crude oil could degrade 70% of the saturates and 30% of the aromatics of crude oil, indicating that growth of a microbial population on residual crude oil improved its ability to biodegrade crude oil. 21 refs., 2 tabs., 7 figs

  6. The price of crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bakhtiari, A.M.S.

    1999-01-01

    The price of crude oil is among the most important prices quoted daily across the world - which is not surprising, since crude oil is the most widely used source of energy worldwide, as well as being a unique commodity. When petroleum burst onto the world stage in 1859, its price first went through some initial gyrations (1860-70), before settling in the $1.00 - 2.00 per barrel range (barring a few exceptions) for a full century. Then, the price underwent two 'shocks' (1973 and 1980), followed by the 'counter-shock' of 1986. Thereafter, the price entered the relative stability of the $15 - 20 /b consensus, where it lingered until recently. Some day, there is bound to be a fresh paradigm of 'insufficient oil reserves', thus ushering in a new era for oil prices. Taking into consideration available data on reserves and expert analysis, it would seem that that day may be years rather than decades away

  7. Efficiency of crude oil markets: Evidences from informational entropy analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ortiz-Cruz, Alejandro; Rodriguez, Eduardo; Ibarra-Valdez, Carlos; Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose

    2012-01-01

    The role of crude oil as the main energy source for the global economic activity has motivated the discussion about the dynamics and causes of crude oil price changes. An accurate understanding of the issue should provide important guidelines for the design of optimal policies and government budget planning. Using daily data for WTI over the period January 1986–March 2011, we analyze the evolution of the informational complexity and efficiency for the crude oil market through multiscale entropy analysis. The results indicated that the crude oil market is informationally efficient over the scrutinized period except for two periods that correspond to the early 1990s and late 2000s US recessions. Overall, the results showed that deregulation has improved the operation of the market in the sense of making returns less predictable. On the other hand, there is some evidence that the probability of having a severe US economic recession increases as the informational efficiency decreases, which indicates that returns from crude oil markets are less uncertain during economic downturns. - Highlights: ► Entropy concepts are used to characterize crude oil prices. ► An index of market efficiency is introduced. ► Except for periods of economic recession, the crude oil market is informationally efficient.

  8. Crude oil options market found to be efficient

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that the U.S. crude oil options market operates efficiently and does not overreact. The authors, with the JFK School of Government, studied the crude oil options market under a Department of Energy grant. The current market was created in November 1986 when the New York Mercantile Exchange introduced an options contract for delivery of West Texas intermediate crude futures. it has grown greatly since then

  9. The impact of energy derivatives on the crude oil market

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fleming, J.; Ostdiek, B. [Jones Graduate School of Management, Rice University, MS 531, P.O. Box 1892 Houston, TX (United States)

    1999-04-01

    We examine the effects of energy derivatives trading on the crude oil market. There is a common public and regulatory perception that derivative securities increase volatility and can have a destabilizing effect on the underlying market. Consistent with this view, we find an abnormal increase in volatility for three consecutive weeks following the introduction of NYMEX crude oil futures. While there is also evidence of a longer-term volatility increase, this is likely due to exogenous factors, such as the continuing deregulation of the energy markets. Subsequent introductions of crude oil options and derivatives on other energy commodities have no effect on crude oil volatility. We also examine the effects of derivatives trading on the depth and liquidity of the crude oil market. This analysis reveals a strong inverse relation between the open interest in crude oil futures and spot market volatility. Specifically, when open interest is greater, the volatility shock associated with a given unexpected increase in volume is much smaller. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

  10. The impact of energy derivatives on the crude oil market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fleming, J.; Ostdiek, B.

    1999-01-01

    We examine the effects of energy derivatives trading on the crude oil market. There is a common public and regulatory perception that derivative securities increase volatility and can have a destabilizing effect on the underlying market. Consistent with this view, we find an abnormal increase in volatility for three consecutive weeks following the introduction of NYMEX crude oil futures. While there is also evidence of a longer-term volatility increase, this is likely due to exogenous factors, such as the continuing deregulation of the energy markets. Subsequent introductions of crude oil options and derivatives on other energy commodities have no effect on crude oil volatility. We also examine the effects of derivatives trading on the depth and liquidity of the crude oil market. This analysis reveals a strong inverse relation between the open interest in crude oil futures and spot market volatility. Specifically, when open interest is greater, the volatility shock associated with a given unexpected increase in volume is much smaller. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

  11. The relationship between SARA fractions and crude oil stability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siavash Ashoori

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Asphaltene precipitation and deposition are drastic issues in the petroleum industry. Monitoring the asphaltene stability in crude oil is still a serious problem and has been subject of many studies. To investigate crude oil stability by saturate, aromatic, resin and asphaltene (SARA analysis seven types of crudes with different components were used. The applied methods for SARA quantification are IP-143 and ASTM D893-69 and the colloidal instability index (CII is computed from the SARA values as well. In comparison between CII results, the values of oil compositions demonstrated that the stability of asphaltenes in crude oils is a phenomenon that is related to all these components and it cannot be associated only with one of them, individually.

  12. Bioremediation potential of crude oil spilled on soil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McMillen, S.J.; Young, G.N.; Davis, P.S.; Cook, P.D.; Kerr, J.M.; Gray, N.R.; Requejo, A.G.

    1995-01-01

    Spills sometimes occur during routine operations associated with exploration and production (E and P) of crude oil. These spills at E and P sites typically are small, less than 1 acre (0.4 ha), and the spill may be in remote locations. As a result, bioremediation often represents a cost-effective alternative to other cleanup technologies. The goal of this study was to determine the potential for biodegrading a range of crude oil types and determining the effect of process variables such as soil texture and soil salinity. Crude oils evaluated ranged in American Petroleum institute (API) gravity from 14 degree to 45 degree. The extent of biodegradation was calculated from oxygen uptake data and the total extractable material (TEM) concentration. Based on the data collected, a simple model was developed for predicting the bioremediation potential of a range of crude oil types. Biodegradation rates were significantly lower in sandy soils. Soil salinities greater than approximately 40 mmhos/cm adversely impacted soil microbial activity and biodegradation rate

  13. Pricing and crude oil self-sufficiency. [Canada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1979-11-01

    How Canada should go about achieving crude oil self-sufficiency and who should develop Canada's petroleum resources are discussed. The degree of urgency and the level of commitment required by government, industry, and consumers are evaluated. What the price should be of Canadian crude oil and who should establish this price are also discussed. The economic aspects of investment, return, and taxation are also included. (DC)

  14. Induction of reactive oxygen species in marine phytoplankton under crude oil exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozhan, Koray; Zahraeifard, Sara; Smith, Aaron P; Bargu, Sibel

    2015-12-01

    Exposure of phytoplankton to the water-accommodated fraction of crude oil can elicit a number of stress responses, but the mechanisms that drive these responses are unclear. South Louisiana crude oil was selected to investigate its effects on population growth, chlorophyll a (Chl a) content, antioxidative defense, and lipid peroxidation, for the marine diatom, Ditylum brightwellii, and the dinoflagellate, Heterocapsa triquetra, in laboratory-based microcosm experiments. The transcript levels of several possible stress-responsive genes in D. brightwellii were also measured. The microalgae were exposed to crude oil for up to 96 h, and Chl a content, superoxide dismutase (SOD), the glutathione pool (GSH and GSSG), and lipid peroxidation content were analyzed. The cell growth of both phytoplankton species was inhibited with increasing crude oil concentrations. Crude oil exposure did not affect Chl a content significantly in cells. SOD activities showed similar responses in both species, being enhanced at 4- and 8-mg/L crude oil exposure. Only H. triquetra demonstrated enhanced activity in GSSG pool and lipid peroxidation at 8-mg/L crude oil exposure, suggesting that phytoplankton species have distinct physiological responses and tolerance levels to crude oil exposure. This study indicated the activation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in phytoplankton under crude oil exposure; however, the progressive damage in cells is still unknown. Thus, ROS-related damage in nucleic acid, lipids, proteins, and DNA, due to crude oil exposure could be a worthwhile subject of study to better understand crude oil toxicity at the base of the food web.

  15. Characterization of CRUDE OILS and petroleum products: (i) elution ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Characterization of CRUDE OILS and petroleum products: (i) elution liquid chromatographic separation and gas chromatographic analysis of crude oils and petroleum products. E.O. Odebunmi, E.A. Ogunsakin, P.E.P. Ilukhor ...

  16. California demand and supply of crude oil: An econometric analysis with projections to 2000

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ibegbulam, B.N.

    1991-01-01

    Forecast of California domestic crude oil supply requires the forecasts of California crude oil production and supply from Alaska. Future California crude oil production is forecast with an econometric model that postulates production as a function of reserves and reserves as a function of crude oil prices and exploration and development costs. Future supplies from Alaska are obtained by subtracting forecasts of Alaskan crude oil demand and shipments to the States of Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington from Alaskan North Slope crude oil production forecasts. A two-stage process was used to forecast future California crude oil demand. In the first stage, the demand for refined crude oil products was predicted with a single-equation double logarithmic rational-expectations dynamic model. In the second stage, the total demands obtained in the first stage were converted into a crude oil equivalent. It was found that the current surplus of domestic crude oil in California will end in 1994. Thereafter, California crude oil imports will sharply increase

  17. Subordinated Levy Processes and Applications to Crude Oil Options

    OpenAIRE

    Noureddine Krichene

    2005-01-01

    One approach to oil markets is to treat oil as an asset, besides its role as a commodity. Speculative and nonspeculative activity by investors in the derivatives markets could be responsible for a sizable increase in oil prices. This paper recognizes both the consumption and investment aspects of crude oil and proposes Levy processes for modeling uncertainty and options pricing. Calibration to crude oil futures' options shows high volatility of oil futures prices, fat-tailed, and right-skewed...

  18. The influence of magnetic fields on crude oils viscosity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goncalves, Jose L.; Bombard, Antonio J. F. [Universidade Federal de Itajuba (UNIFEI), Itajuba, MG (Brazil). Instituto de Ciencias Exatas. Lab. de Reologia

    2009-07-01

    The crystallization of paraffin causes serious problems in the process of transportation of petroleum. This phenomenon increases the crude oil viscosity and implies an organic resin accumulation on pipeline wall, resulting in a reduced flux area or totally blocked pipes. One of the most challenging tasks for pipeline maintenance is solving this problem at low cost. Therefore, a method that inhibits the crystallization of paraffin and reduces the viscosity of crude oil could have many useful applications within the petroleum industry. Recent studies showed that magnetic fields reduce the Wax Appearance Temperature (WAT) and the viscosity of paraffin-based crude oil. For better understanding of this discovery, a series of tests was performed. This paper will show the influence of a DC magnetic field on rheological proprieties of three crude oils with different paraffin concentrations: a crude oil sample with 11 % p/p of paraffin concentration (sample 1); a crude oil sample with 6 % p/p of paraffin concentration (sample 2); a mixture of paraffin plus light crude oil with a total of 11 % p/p of paraffin concentration. These samples were placed in an electromagnet that generates a magnetic field of 1.3 Tesla. The samples' temperatures were conditioned around their Wax Appearance Temperature (WAT), and they were exposed to the field. As the viscosity of crude oil is very sensitive to the changes in temperature, it was ensured that the temperature has remained constant throughout the process. The sample 1 revealed a considerable reduction of viscosity: its original viscosity was 66 cP before magnetic field exposure, after that its viscosity was reduced to 39 cP. The other samples showed the same viscosity, before and after the magnetic field exposure. Since the samples 1 and 3 have the same paraffin concentrations, the viscosity reduction is not due only to the presence of paraffin; there must be other factors responsible for the interaction of sample 1 with the

  19. Record prices [crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon

    2006-01-01

    Crude oil prices climbed to new record levels on fears of a future loss of supplies from Iran as Washington stepped up its efforts to persuade Tehran to abandon its programme to produce nuclear fuel. IPE's December Brent contract set a new record for the exchange by trading at $75.80/bbl on 21st April. On the same day October WTI reached an all-time high of $77.30/bbl on Nymex. US product prices gained as refiners struggled to produce sufficient middle distillate. Alarmed by the rising retail price of gasoline, the US Senate debated a reduction in the already low US tax rate on motor spirit. The House of Representatives passed a measure to prohibit overcharging for petrol, diesel and heating oil, but Democrats rejected a Republican proposal to speed-up the process for approving new refineries. President George W Bush announced a temporary easing of new gasoline and diesel specifications (see 'Focus', March 2006) to allow more fuel to be produced. He also agreed to delay the repayment of some 2.1 mn bbl of crude oil lent to companies after last year's hurricanes from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. California announced an inquiry into alleged overcharging for fuel by oil companies operating in the state. (author)

  20. Eastern Canadian crude oil supply and its implications for regional energy security

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hughes, Larry

    2010-01-01

    Canada has been blessed with immense energy resources; however, their distribution is not uniform. One such example is crude oil, which is found primarily in western Canada. Eastern Canada, consisting of the six eastern-most provinces (Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec), produce limited quantities of crude oil, most of which is exported to the United States. Ideally, western Canadian crude oil would meet the demands of eastern Canada; however, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the absence of oil pipelines means that eastern Canada increasingly relies on supplies of crude oil from a small number of oil exporting countries, many with declining production. This paper examines crude oil production, supply, and its refining in eastern Canada. It shows that crude production in the region has reached its peak and that increasing global competition for crude oil will affect energy security in eastern Canada, either through price increases or supply shortages, or both. (author)

  1. An Improved CO2-Crude Oil Minimum Miscibility Pressure Correlation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao Zhang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Minimum miscibility pressure (MMP, which plays an important role in miscible flooding, is a key parameter in determining whether crude oil and gas are completely miscible. On the basis of 210 groups of CO2-crude oil system minimum miscibility pressure data, an improved CO2-crude oil system minimum miscibility pressure correlation was built by modified conjugate gradient method and global optimizing method. The new correlation is a uniform empirical correlation to calculate the MMP for both thin oil and heavy oil and is expressed as a function of reservoir temperature, C7+ molecular weight of crude oil, and mole fractions of volatile components (CH4 and N2 and intermediate components (CO2, H2S, and C2~C6 of crude oil. Compared to the eleven most popular and relatively high-accuracy CO2-oil system MMP correlations in the previous literature by other nine groups of CO2-oil MMP experimental data, which have not been used to develop the new correlation, it is found that the new empirical correlation provides the best reproduction of the nine groups of CO2-oil MMP experimental data with a percentage average absolute relative error (%AARE of 8% and a percentage maximum absolute relative error (%MARE of 21%, respectively.

  2. Technical Proposal for Loading 3000 Gallon Crude Oil Samples from Field Terminal to Sandia Pressurized Tanker to Support US DOE/DOT Crude Oil Characterization Research Study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lord, David; Allen, Raymond

    2016-10-01

    Sandia National Laboratories is seeking access to crude oil samples for a research project evaluating crude oil combustion properties in large-scale tests at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. Samples must be collected from a source location and transported to Albuquerque in a tanker that complies with all applicable regulations for transportation of crude oil over public roadways. Moreover, the samples must not gain or lose any components, to include dissolved gases, from the point of loading through the time of combustion at the Sandia testing facility. In order to achieve this, Sandia designed and is currently procuring a custom tanker that utilizes water displacement in order to achieve these performance requirements. The water displacement procedure is modeled after the GPA 2174 standard “Obtaining Liquid Hydrocarbons Samples for Analysis by Gas Chromatography” (GPA 2014) that is used routinely by crude oil analytical laboratories for capturing and testing condensates and “live” crude oils, though it is practiced at the liter scale in most applications. The Sandia testing requires 3,000 gallons of crude. As such, the water displacement method will be upscaled and implemented in a custom tanker. This report describes the loading process for acquiring a ~3,000 gallon crude oil sample from commercial process piping containing single phase liquid crude oil at nominally 50-100 psig. This document contains a general description of the process (Section 2), detailed loading procedure (Section 3) and associated oil testing protocols (Section 4).

  3. Linkages between the markets for crude oil and the markets for refined products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Didziulis, V.S.

    1990-01-01

    To understand the crude oil price determination process it is necessary to extend the analysis beyond the markets for petroleum. Crude oil prices are determined in two closely related markets: the markets for crude oil and the markets for refined products. An econometric-linear programming model was developed to capture the linkages between the markets for crude oil and refined products. In the LP refiners maximize profits given crude oil supplies, refining capacities, and prices of refined products. The objective function is profit maximization net of crude oil prices. The shadow price on crude oil gives the netback price. Refined product prices are obtained from the econometric models. The model covers the free world divided in five regions. The model is used to analyze the impacts on the markets of policies that affect crude oil supplies, the demands for refined products, and the refining industry. For each scenario analyzed the demand for crude oil is derived from the equilibrium conditions in the markets for products. The demand curve is confronted with a supply curve which maximizes revenues providing an equilibrium solution for both crude oil and product markets. The model also captures crude oil price differentials by quality. The results show that the demands for crude oil are different across regions due to the structure of the refining industries and the characteristics of the demands for refined products. Changes in the demands for products have a larger impact on the markets than changes in the refining industry. Since markets for refined products and crude oil are interrelated they can't be analyzed individually if an accurate and complete assessment of a policy is to be made. Changes in only one product market in one region affect the other product markets and the prices of crude oil

  4. Implications of globalization on pricing for Canadian crudes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Black, R. [Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada)

    1998-05-01

    The effects of globalization on Canadian crude oil prices was discussed. Since deregulation in October 1985, Canadian crude oil has competed directly against international crude oil through the use of the NYMEX contract price for light sweet crude oil as the base for establishing the price for Canadian crudes. Prior to that date, Alberta crude was marketed by the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission using the old block matrix which was loosely tied to the world market price. In addition to world crude oil prices other factors that affect the price of Canadian crude oil include technology impacts and global integration. Also, when the Sarnia to Montreal pipeline (Line 9) is reversed to bring offshore crude oil into the Ontario refining community, Canadian producers can expect some adverse effects on the price they are paid for their products leading up to the reversal as refiners start to swing over to their alternate suppliers. The offshore supply is expected to be about 140,000 barrels/day of light sweet crude oil, but all grades of Canadian crude oil will be affected.

  5. Modeling of well drilling heating on crude oil using microwave

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muntini, Melania Suweni, E-mail: melania@physics.its.ac.id; Pramono, Yono Hadi; Yustiana [Physics Department, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya Kampus ITS, Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111 (Indonesia)

    2016-03-11

    As the world’s oil reserves are dwindling, some researchers have been prompted to make a breakthrough to further improve the efficiency of exploration and production. One of the technologies used is heating the crude oil. This paper presents the modeling results of heat treatment on crude oil using microwave energy. Modeling is conducted by assuming that the diameter of the well is 11,16 cm, the heat source is applied on the surface of the well, and the cut-off frequency in the air and on crude oil are 1,56 GHz. and 0.91 GHz, respectively. The energy generated by the microwave radiation is converted into heat energy which is absorbed by the crude oil. Consequently, this energy increases the temperature of crude oil through a heat transfer mechanism. The results obtained showed that the temperature of crude oil is about 200°C at a depth of 62.5cm, and at a distance of 3 cm from the center of the well. Temperature along the well follows an exponential function, which is from the center of the well in the direction radially outward from the cylinder axis. It has been observed that the temperature decreases as measured from the well surface along the cylinder.

  6. Microbial degradation of resins fractionated from Arabian light crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Venkateswaran, K.; Hoaki, T.; Kato, M.; Maruyama, T.

    1995-01-01

    Sediment samples from the Japanese coasts were screened for microorganisms able to degrade resin components of crude oil. A mixed population that could degrade 35% of 5000 ppm resin in 15 days was obtained. This population also metabolized 50% of saturates and aromatics present in crude oil (5000 ppm) in 7 days. A Pseudomonas sp., isolated from the mixed population, emulsified and degraded 30% of resins. It also degraded saturates and aromatics (30%) present in crude oil (5000 ppm). These results were obtained from Iatroscan analysis. Degradation of crude oil was also analyzed by gas chromatography (GC). The peaks corresponding to known aliphatic hydrocarbons in crude oil greatly decreased within the first two days of incubation in the cultures of the RY-mixed population and of Pseudomonas strain UN3. Aromatic compounds detected as a broad peak by GC were significantly degraded at day 7 by Pseudomonas strain UN3, and at day 15 by the RY-mixed population. Investigations are ongoing to determine the genetic basis for the ability of these organisms to grow on the resin fractions of crude oil as a sole source of carbon and energy. 28 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

  7. Leadership Strategies for Maintaining Profitability in a Volatile Crude Oil Market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braimoh, Lucky Anderson

    Volatile crude oil prices significantly affect the profitability of crude oil firms. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies some crude oil and gas business leaders used to remain profitable during periods of crude oil price volatility. The target population comprised 8 crude oil and gas business leaders located in Calgary, Canada, whose company remained profitable despite crude oil price volatility. The transformational leadership theory formed the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected through the use of semistructured face-to-face interviews, company reports, and field notes. Data analysis involved a modified Van Kamm method, which included descriptive coding, a sequential review of the interview transcripts, and member checking. Based on methodological triangulation and thematic analysis, 5 themes emerged from the study, including communication and engagement; motivation and empowerment; measurement, monitoring, and control; self-awareness and humility; and efficiency and optimization. The implications for social change include the potential for crude oil and gas companies in Calgary, Canada to manage production costs, ensure earnings and profitability, and thus improve the socioeconomic well-being of Calgary indigenes through improved employment opportunities.

  8. Exploring crude oil production and export capacity of the OPEC Middle East countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsumoto, Ken'ichi; Voudouris, Vlasios; Stasinopoulos, Dimitrios; Rigby, Robert; Di Maio, Carlo

    2012-01-01

    As the world economy highly depends on crude oil, it is important to understand the dynamics of crude oil production and export capacity of major oil-exporting countries. Since crude oil resources are predominately located in the OPEC Middle East, these countries are expected to have significant leverage in the world crude oil markets by taking into account a range of uncertainties. In this study, we develop a scenario for crude oil export and production using the ACEGES model considering uncertainties in the resource limits, demand growth, production growth, and peak/decline point. The results indicate that the country-specific peak of both crude oil export and production comes in the early this century in the OPEC Middle East countries. On the other hand, they occupy most of the world export and production before and after the peak points. Consequently, these countries are expected to be the key group in the world crude oil markets. We also find that the gap between the world crude oil demand and production broadens over time, meaning that the acceleration of the development of ultra-deep-water oil, oil sands, and extra-heavy oil will be required if the world continuous to heavily rely on oil products. - Highlights: ► We simulate the future scenario of crude oil export and production using ACEGES. ► The simulated results are analyzed using the GAMLSS framework. ► The peak points of oil export and production will come early in this century. ► The OPCE Middle East will produce most of the world crude oil in the near future. ► These countries will continuously be the key players in the crude oil markets.

  9. How crude oil consumption impacts on economic growth of Sub-Saharan Africa?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bashiri Behmiri, Niaz; Pires Manso, José R.

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the causality relationship between crude oil consumption and economic growth in twenty three Sub-Saharan African countries. We applied a multivariate panel Granger causality framework during 1985–2011 and we included crude oil price as the control variable of the model. The results indicate that in the short-run, there is a bi-directional causality relationship between crude oil consumption and economic growth in oil importing region and there is a uni-directional causality relationship from crude oil consumption to GDP in oil exporting region. However, in the long-run there is a bi-directional causality relationship between them in both regions. Therefore, reducing crude oil consumption without employing appropriate policies adversely impacts on economic growth of Sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, in order to reduce crude oil dependency of the region policymakers should pay more attention to the issue of energy efficiency programs. - Highlights: ► We examined Granger causality among oil consumption and GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa. ► Crude oil price is the control variable of the model. ► There is short run bi-directional causality among oil and GDP (oil importing). ► There is short run uni-directional causality from oil to GDP (oil exporting). ► There is a long run bi-directional causality among oil and GDP in both regions

  10. Bioremediation Potential of Native Hydrocarbons Degrading Bacteria in Crude Oil Polluted Soil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariana MARINESCU

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Bioremediation of crude oil contaminated soil is an effective process to clean petroleum pollutants from the environment. Crude oil bioremediation of soils is limited by the bacteria activity in degrading the spills hydrocarbons. Native crude oil degrading bacteria were isolated from different crude oil polluted soils. The isolated bacteria belong to the genera Pseudomonas, Mycobacterium, Arthrobacter and Bacillus. A natural biodegradable product and bacterial inoculum were used for total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH removal from an artificial polluted soil. For soil polluted with 5% crude oil, the bacterial top, including those placed in the soil by inoculation was 30 days after impact, respectively 7 days after inoculum application, while in soil polluted with 10% crude oil,  multiplication top of bacteria was observed in the determination made at 45 days after impact and 21 days after inoculum application, showing once again how necessary is for microorganisms habituation and adaptation to environment being a function of pollutant concentration. The microorganisms inoculated showed a slight adaptability in soil polluted with 5% crude oil, but complete inhibition in the first 30 days of experiment at 10% crude oil.

  11. Liquid ultrasonic flow meters for crude oil measurement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kalivoda, Raymond J.; Lunde, Per

    2005-07-01

    Liquid ultrasonic flow meters (LUFMs) are gaining popularity for the accurate measurement of petroleum products. In North America the first edition of the API standard ''Measurement of liquid hydrocarbons by ultrasonic flow meters using transit time technology'' was issued in February 2005. It addresses both refined petroleum products and crude oil applications. Its field of application is mainly custody transfer applications but it does provide general guidelines for the installation and operation of LUFM's other applications such as allocation, check meters and leak detection. As with all new technologies performance claims are at times exaggerated or misunderstood and application knowledge is limited. Since ultrasonic meters have no moving parts they appear to have fewer limitations than other liquid flow meters. Liquids ultrasonic flow meters, like turbine meters, are sensitive to fluid properties. It is increasingly more difficult to apply on high viscosity products then on lighter hydrocarbon products. Therefore application data or experience on the measurement of refined or light crude oil may not necessarily be transferred to measuring medium to heavy crude oils. Before better and more quantitative knowledge is available on how LUFMs react on different fluids, the arguments advocating reduced need for in-situ proving and increased dependency on laboratory flow calibration (e.g. using water instead of hydrocarbons) may be questionable. The present paper explores the accurate measurement of crude oil with liquid ultrasonic meters. It defines the unique characteristics of the different API grades of crude oils and how they can affect the accuracy of the liquid ultrasonic measurement. Flow testing results using a new LUFM design are discussed. The paper is intended to provide increased insight into the potentials and limitations of crude oil measurement using ultrasonic flow meters. (author) (tk)

  12. Implications of lifting the ban on the export of Alaskan crude oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1990-03-26

    Present legislation effectively bans the export of crude oil produced in the United States. The ban has been in effect for years and is particularly stringent with respect to crude oil produced in Alaska, particularly on the North Slope. The Alaska crude export ban is specifically provided for in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act of 1973 and in other legislation. It was imposed for two reasons. The first was to reduce US dependence on imported crude oil. The Arab oil embargo had been imposed shortly before the Act was passed and a greater measure of energy independence was considered imperative at that time. The second reason was to assure that funds expended in building an Alaskan pipeline would benefit domestic users rather than simply employed to facilitate shipments to other countries. The main objective of this report is to estimate the potential impacts on crude oil prices that would result from lifting the export ban Alaskan crude oil. The report focuses on the Japanese market and the US West Coast market. Japan is the principal potential export market for Alaskan crude oil. Exports to that market would also affect the price of Alaskan crude oil as well as crude oil and product prices on the West Coast and the volume of petroleum imported in that area. 3 figs., 8 tabs.

  13. Cross-correlations between crude oil and exchange markets for selected oil rich economies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jianfeng; Lu, Xinsheng; Zhou, Ying

    2016-07-01

    Using multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DCCA), this paper studies the cross-correlation behavior between crude oil market and five selected exchange rate markets. The dataset covers the period of January 1,1996-December 31,2014, and contains 4,633 observations for each of the series, including daily closing prices of crude oil, Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Mexican Pesos, Russian Rubles, and South African Rand. Our empirical results obtained from cross-correlation statistic and cross-correlation coefficient have confirmed the existence of cross-correlations, and the MF-DCCA results have demonstrated a strong multifractality between cross-correlated crude oil market and exchange rate markets in both short term and long term. Using rolling window analysis, we have also found the persistent cross-correlations between the exchange rates and crude oil returns, and the cross-correlation scaling exponents exhibit volatility during some time periods due to its sensitivity to sudden events.

  14. Effect of crude oil and palm bunch ash on maize growth

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Emmanue Ogboma Dania; Temitayo Fayehun; Osemhengbe Ruth Akhabue

    2016-01-01

    Objective:To investigate the effect of different crude oil fractions (whole crude and water soluble fraction) at 2% contamination (98% distilled water) and the effect of 2 g of palm bunch ash (PBA) on the phytotoxicity of crude oil fraction on growth parameters such as percentage of seedling emergence, plant height, number of leaves, length of root, length of radical and leaf area in maize (Zea mays). Methods: A total of 180 bags containing 500 g of loamy soil each were used for this study, of which 30 bags containing loamy soil each served as control, 60 bags of soil were added each 2% crude oil fraction and 60 bags of soil were added each 2% crude oil fraction and 2 gPBA each, while 30 bags of soil contained each 2 g ofPBA only. The maize grown on the soil was harvested after 7, 14 and 21 days of seedling emergence and assessed for growth parameters. Results: The growth parameters (plant height, length of root, length of radicle, number of leaves, and leaf area) in maize were significantly reduced in the crude oil fraction treatment (P≤0.05). The treatment containingPBA was found to have significant improvement compared to the crude oil fraction contaminated treatment. Conclusions: The study has revealed the deleterious effect of crude oil at 2% on maize and its effect was ameliorated usingPBA.

  15. Pilot scale refinning of crude soybean oil | Mensah | Journal of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Pilot scale refinning of crude soybean oil. ... Abstract. A laboratory process for refining soybean has been scaled up to a 145 tonne per annum pilot plant to refine crude soybean oil. ... The quality of the refined oil was found to be within national and codex standard specifications for edible oil from vegetable sources.

  16. Test methods for determining asphaltene stability in crude oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Asomaning, S. [Baker Petrolite, Sugar Land, TX (United States)

    2001-07-01

    The development of test methods for the determination of the stability of asphaltenes in crude oils was rendered necessary, due to the high cost of remediating asphaltene deposition in harsh production environments, namely the underwater systems in offshore deepwater. The Oliensis Spot Test, two saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes (SARA)-based screens (the Colloidal Instability Index and Asphaltene-Resin ratio), a solvent titration method with near infrared radiation (NIR) solids detection, and live oil depressurization were used for the purposes of this study, to predict the stability of asphaltenes in crude oils with different API gravity. A complete description of the test methods was provided, and the experimental data obtained as a result was presented. Correlation with data on the deposition histories of the oils was used to validate the experimental stability data. The author discussed the effectiveness of the different tests for the prediction of the stability of asphaltenes in crude oils. The prediction of a crude oil's propensity towards asphaltene precipitation was more accurate with the Colloidal Instability Index and the solvent titration method. Live oil depressurization proved to be very effective for the prediction of the stability of asphaltenes for light oils, where most stability tests fail. tabs., 31 figs.

  17. 15 CFR 754.3 - Petroleum products not including crude oil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Petroleum products not including crude... SUPPLY CONTROLS § 754.3 Petroleum products not including crude oil. (a) License requirement. As indicated... required to all destinations, including Canada, for the export of petroleum products, excluding crude oil...

  18. Wax deposition in crude oil pipelines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Assuncao, Pablo Morelato; Rodrigues, Lorennzo Marrochi Nolding [Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Sao Mateus, ES (Brazil). Centro Universitario Norte do Espirito Santo. Engenharia de Petroleo; Romero, Mao Ilich [University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States). Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute], e-mail: mromerov@uwyo.edu

    2010-07-01

    Crude oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons which consists of aromatics, paraffins, naphthenics, resins asphaltenes, etc. When the temperature of crude oil is reduced, the heavy components, like paraffin, will precipitate and deposit on the pipe internal wall in the form of a wax-oil gel. The gel deposit consists of wax crystals that trap some amount of oil. As the temperature gets cooler, more wax will precipitate and the thickness of the wax gel will increase, causing gradual solidification of the crude and eventually the oil stop moving inside the offshore pipeline. Crude oil may not be able to be re-mobilized during re-startup. The effective diameter will be reduced with wax deposition, resulting in several problems, for example, higher pressure drop which means additional pumping energy costs, poor oil quality, use of chemical components like precipitation inhibitors or flowing facilitators, equipment failure, risk of leakage, clogging of the ducts and process equipment. Wax deposition problems can become so sever that the whole pipeline can be completely blocked. It would cost millions of dollars to remediate an offshore pipeline that is blocked by wax. Wax solubility decreases drastically with decreasing temperature. At low temperatures, as encountered in deep water production, is easy to wax precipitate. The highest temperature below which the paraffins begins to precipitate as wax crystals is defined as wax appearance temperature (WAT). Deposition process is a complex free surface problem involving thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, mass and heat transfer. In this work, a numerical analysis of wax deposition by molecular diffusion and shear dispersion mechanisms in crude oil pipeline is studied. Diffusion flux of wax toward the wall is estimated by Fick's law of diffusion, in similar way the shear dispersion; wax concentration gradient at the solid-liquid interface is obtained by the volume fraction conservation equation; and since the wax deposition

  19. World market of crude oil - review of possible scenarios of forecasting for the crude oil price movement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janevski, Risto

    2003-01-01

    Throughout most of 2002, crude oil prices were solidly within the range preferred by producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), $22 to $28 per barrel for the OPEC 'basket price' (Fig. 1). OPEC producers have been demonstrating disciplined adherence to announced cutbacks in production. Early in 2003, a dramatic upward turn in crude oil prices was brought about by a combination of two factors. First, a general strike against the Chavez regime resulted in a sudden drop in Venezuela's oil exports. Although other OPEC producers agreed to increase production to make up for the lost Venezuelan output, the obvious strain on worldwide spare capacity kept prices high. Second, price volatility was exacerbated by fears of war in Iraq. (Original)

  20. Imported resources - oil crude oil processing in the Czech Republic and its prospectives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soucek, I.; Ottis, I. [Kaucuk, Kralupy nad Vitavou (Czechoslovakia)

    1995-12-01

    This paper examines the availability of various crude oils, addressing specifically crude oil pipelines to the Czech Republic, both existing and under construction. Secondly, the economic status of two main Czech refineries is examined in comparison to international trends, technical configurations, and product supply and demand.

  1. Lifting the US crude oil export ban: A numerical partial equilibrium analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Langer, Lissy; Huppmann, Daniel; Holz, Franziska

    2016-01-01

    The upheaval in global crude oil markets and the boom in shale oil production in North America brought scrutiny on the US export ban for crude oil from 1975. The ban was eventually lifted in early 2016. This paper examines the shifts of global trade flows and strategic refinery investments in a spatial, game-theoretic partial equilibrium model. We consider detailed oil supply chain infrastructure with multiple crude oil types, distinct oil products, as well as specific refinery configurations and modes of transport. Prices, quantities produced and consumed, as well as infrastructure and refining capacity investments are endogenous to the model. We compare two scenarios: an insulated US crude oil market, and a counter-factual with lifted export restrictions. We find a significant expansion of US sweet crude exports with the lift of the export ban. In the US refinery sector, more (imported) heavy sour crude is transformed. Countries importing US sweet crude gain from higher product output, while avoiding costly refinery investments. Producers of heavy sour crude (e.g. the Middle East) are incentivised to climb up the value chain to defend their market share and maintain their dominant position. - Highlights: • We study the impacts of lifting the US crude ban on global oil flows and investments. • We find massive expansion of US sweet crude oil exports. • We analyze the resulting welfare effects for US producers, refiners and consumers. • We indicate the changes on global trade patterns. • We conclude that lifting the ban is the right policy for the US and the global economy.

  2. Tweens demulsification effects on heavy crude oil/water emulsion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nastaran Hayati Roodbari

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The demulsification role of Tweens (nonionic polymers was determined in the separation of water from heavy crude oil emulsion. According to the previous researches, these nonionic polymers, having hydrophilic and lipophilic groups, are appropriate for making oil in water emulsion. In this research their effects in certain concentrations on demulsifying of water in crude oil emulsion were proved. High molecular weight, alkenes’ chains and groups of ketone and ester in these polymers can improve their performance for the demulsification of water in crude oil emulsion. Their efficiencies are improved with electronegative groups such as oxygen. They leave no corrosion effect because they are neutral and do not leave counter ions.

  3. Causality Relationship between Crude Oil Variables and Budget Variables in Malaysia

    OpenAIRE

    Zakaria, Zukarnain; Shamsuddin, Sofian

    2017-01-01

    As an oil and gas exporter, Malaysia profited from higher world energy prices. However, the fall in oil prices from highs in 2014 significantly affected Malaysia’s government revenue (GR), hence its expenditure since the Malaysian GR still largely depends on oil revenues. Malaysia also has problems with high spending on energy subsidy, shrinking in its net crude oil export, and narrowing the gap between its crude oil production and consumption. Given this scenario, not only shocks in crude oi...

  4. Effects of Dual-Pump Recovery on Crude-Oil Contamination of Groundwater, Bemidji, Minnesota

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delin, G. N.; Herkelrath, W. N.; Lounsbury, S.

    2009-12-01

    wells, average oil thicknesses measured in wells at the north pool (0.6 m) and south pool (0.3 m) were largely unaffected. Dissolved-oxygen measurements indicate that a new plume caused by injection of wastewater in the infiltration gallery expanded rapidly immediately following the start of the remediation in 1999. The result was an expansion of the anoxic plume of groundwater upgradient and beneath the existing natural attenuation plume. Vapor sampling results were ambiguous. From 2004-2008, CH4 and CO2 vapor concentrations decreased in upgradient areas above the floating crude oil and increased in downgradient areas above the crude oil. Conversely, O2 vapor concentrations increased in upgradient areas above the floating crude oil and decreased in downgradient areas above the crude oil. Observed changes in vapor concentrations appear to be unrelated to the renewed remediation but instead are consistent with a continuing shift in microbial population from iron reducing to methanogenic conditions. Results indicate that oil phase recovery at this site is challenging, and that considerable volumes of mobile and entrapped oil may still remain in the subsurface in spite of remediation efforts.

  5. Upgrading of heavy crude oil with supported and unsupported transition metals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nares, H.R.; Schacht-Hernandez, P.; Cabrera-Reyes, M.C.; Ramirez-Garnica, M.; Cazarez-Candia, O. [Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo, Atepehuacan (Mexico)

    2006-07-01

    Heavy crude oil presents many problems such as difficulty in transportation, low processing capacity in refineries, and low mobility through the reservoir due to high viscosity which affects the index of productivity of the wells. Because of these challenges, it is necessary to enhance heavy crude oil, both aboveground and underground. The effects of several metallic oxides used to upgrade heavy crude oil properties were examined in order to increase the mobility of reservoir oil by reducing viscosity and improving the quality of the oil. This can be accomplished by reducing the asphaltene and sulfur contents and increasing the American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity using transition metal supported in alumina and unsupported from transition metals derived from either acetylacetonate or alkylhexanoate in liquid phase homogeneously mixed with heavy crude oil as well as metal transition supported in alumina. KU-H heavy crude oil from the Golf of Mexico was studied. The results were obtained by Simulated Distillation and True Boiling Point (TBP). It was concluded that the use of crude oil thermal hydrocracking allowed the API gravity to increase and considerably reduce the viscosity. As a result, the productivity index in wells was increased. However there is a high formation of coke that could damage the conductivity of the rock and then reduce the potential of oil recovery. 27 refs., 3 tabs., 5 figs.

  6. Daily Crude Oil Price Forecasting Using Hybridizing Wavelet and Artificial Neural Network Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ani Shabri

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A new method based on integrating discrete wavelet transform and artificial neural networks (WANN model for daily crude oil price forecasting is proposed. The discrete Mallat wavelet transform is used to decompose the crude price series into one approximation series and some details series (DS. The new series obtained by adding the effective one approximation series and DS component is then used as input into the ANN model to forecast crude oil price. The relative performance of WANN model was compared to regular ANN model for crude oil forecasting at lead times of 1 day for two main crude oil price series, West Texas Intermediate (WTI and Brent crude oil spot prices. In both cases, WANN model was found to provide more accurate crude oil prices forecasts than individual ANN model.

  7. EVALUATION OF CORROSION COST OF CRUDE OIL PROCESSING INDUSTRY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ADESANYA A.O.

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Crude oil production industry as the hub of Nigeria Economy is not immune to the global financial meltdown being experienced world over which have resulted in a continual fall of oil price. This has necessitated the need to reduce cost of production. One of the major costs of production is corrosion cost, hence, its evaluation. This research work outlined the basic principles of corrosion prevention, monitoring and inspection and attempted to describe ways in which these measures may be adopted in the context of oil production. A wide range of facilities are used in crude oil production making it difficult to evaluate precisely the extent of corrosion and its cost implication. In this study, cost of corrosion per barrel was determined and the annualized value of corrosion cost was also determined using the principles of engineering economy and results analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that among the corrosion prevention methods identified, the use of chemical treatment gave the highest cost contribution (81% of the total cost of prevention while coating added 19%. Cleaning pigging and cathodic protection gave no cost. The contribution of corrosion maintenance methods are 60% for repairs and 40% for replacement. Also among the corrosion monitoring and inspection identified, NDT gave the highest cost contribution of 41% of the total cost, followed by coating survey (34%. Cathodic protection survey and crude analysis gives the lowest cost contribution of 19% and 6% respectively. Corrosion control cost per barrel was found to be 77 cent/barrel. The significance of this cost was not much due to high price of crude oil in the international market. But the effect of corrosion in crude oil processing takes its toll on crude oil production (i.e. deferment.

  8. Oil field rejuvenation work starts at 14 project sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petzet, G.A.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that the U.S. Department of Energy and oil and gas companies have released more information about a joint effort to rejuvenate aging U.S. oil fields in danger of abandonment. Work is starting on 14 demonstration projects that could recover 21 million bbl of oil from the fluvial dominated deltaic (FDD) reservoirs in which they are conducted. Wider application of the same techniques, if they are successful, could results in addition of 6.3 billion bbl of reserves, nearly 25% of U.S. crude oil reserves. A multidisciplinary team approach is to be used, with as many as 11 operators, service companies, universities, or state agencies participating in each project. All of the projects will culminate in extensive technology transfer activities. Here are descriptions of the projects gleaned from public abstracts provided by the DOE contractors

  9. Can reserve additions in mature crude oil provinces attenuate supply-side peak oil?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Okullo, Samuel; Reynes, Frederic

    2010-09-15

    More often, oil supply has been modeled on the basis of resource availability and demand. The impact of strategy between oil producers has largely been ignored or overly simplified. In this paper, we formulate a model that embodies a weak and strong OPEC for varied rates of reserve additions. With this economic equilibrium model which has the capability to generate a supply side peak in oil production, we show that although reserves of conventional crude oil may seem abundant. OPEC has the ability to lead to substantial crude oil reserve depletion in non-OPEC countries by 2050 given likely depletion rates.

  10. Crude oil degradation by Bacillus and Micrococcus species isolated ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Microorganisms capable of degrading crude oil were isolated from soil compost in Kano, northwestern Nigeria. The work was carried out with the aim of determining crude-oil biodegradation potentials of Bacillus and Micrococcus species isolated from the soil compost as well as the assessment of the applicability of ...

  11. Volatility spillovers in China’s crude oil, corn and fuel ethanol markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haixia, Wu; Shiping, Li

    2013-01-01

    Price volatility spillovers among China’s crude oil, corn and fuel ethanol markets are analyzed based on weekly price data from September 5, 2003 to August 31, 2012, employing the univariate EGARCH model and the BEKK-MVGARCH model, respectively. The empirical results indicate a higher interaction among crude oil, corn and fuel ethanol markets after September, 2008. In the overall sample period, the results simultaneously provide strong evidence that there exist unidirectional spillover effects from the crude oil market to the corn and fuel ethanol markets, and double-directional spillovers between the corn market and the fuel ethanol market. However, the spillover effects from the corn and fuel ethanol markets to the crude oil market are not significant. -- Highlights: •Employing univariate EGARCH model and BEKK-MVGARCH model, respectively. Unidirectional spillover effects from crude oil market to corn and fuel ethanol markets. •Double-directional spillovers between corn market and fuel ethanol market. •The spillover effects from corn and fuel ethanol markets to crude oil market are not significant. •The empirical results indicate a higher interaction among crude oil, corn and fuel ethanol markets after September, 2008

  12. Degradation of crude oil by marine cyanobacteria

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Raghukumar, C.; Vipparty, V.; David, J.J.; Chandramohan, D.

    The marine cyanobacteria Oscillatoria salina Biswas, Plectonema terebrans Bornet et Flanhault and Aphanocapsa sp. degraded Bombay High crude oil when grown in artificial seawater nutrients as well as in plain natural seawater. Oil removals...

  13. Hydrothermal Liquefaction Biocrude Compositions Compared to Petroleum Crude and Shale Oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jarvis, Jacqueline M.; Billing, Justin M.; Hallen, Richard T.; Schmidt, Andrew J.; Schaub, Tanner M.

    2017-02-17

    We provide a direct and detailed comparison of the chemical composition of petroleum crude oil (from the Gulf of Mexico), shale oil, and three biocrudes (i.e., clean pine, microalgae Chlorella sp., and sewage sludge feedstocks) generated by hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). Ultrahigh resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) reveals that HTL biocrudes are compositionally more similar to shale oil than petroleum crude oil and that only a few heteroatom classes (e.g., N1, N2, N1O1, and O1) are common to organic sediment- and biomass-derived oils. All HTL biocrudes contain a diverse range of oxygen-containing compounds when compared to either petroleum crude or shale oil. Overall, petroleum crude and shale oil are compositionally dissimilar to HTL oils, and >85% of the elemental compositions identified within the positive-ion electrospray (ESI) mass spectra of the HTL biocrudes were not present in either the petroleum crude or shale oil (>43% for negative-ion ESI). Direct comparison of the heteroatom classes that are common to both organic sedimentand biomass-derived oils shows that HTL biocrudes generally contain species with both smaller core structures and a lower degree of alkylation relative to either the petroleum crude or the shale oil. Three-dimensional plots of carbon number versus molecular double bond equivalents (with observed abundance as the third dimension) for abundant molecular classes reveal the specific relationship of the composition of HTL biocrudes to petroleum and shale oils to inform the possible incorporation of these oils into refinery operations as a partial amendment to conventional petroleum feeds.

  14. Solids precipitation in crude oils, gas-to-liquids and their blends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramanathan, Karthik

    Gas-to-liquids (GTL) liquids are obtained from syngas by the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The blending of GTL liquids produced from natural gas/coal reserves and crude oils is a possibility in the near future for multiple reasons. Solids precipitation is a major problem in pipelines and refineries leading to significant additional operating costs. The effect of the addition of a paraffinic GTL liquid to crude oils on solids precipitation was investigated in this study. A Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic technique was used to obtain solid-liquid equilibria (SLE) data for the various samples. The SLE of multiple systems of model oils composed of n-alkanes was investigated preliminarily. Blends of a model oil simulating a GTL liquid composition and a crude oil showed that the wax precipitation temperature (WPT) decreased upon blending. Three crude oils from different geographic regions (Alaskan North Slope, Colorado and Venezuela) and a laboratory-produced GTL liquid were used in the preparation of blends with five different concentrations of the GTL liquid. The wax precipitation temperatures of the blends were found to decrease with the increasing addition of the GTL liquid for all the oils. This effect was attributed to the solvent effect of the low molecular weight-paraffinic GTL liquid on the crude oils. The weight percent solid precipitated that was estimated as a function of temperature did not show a uniform trend for the set of crude oils. The asphaltene onset studies done on the blends with near-infrared spectroscopy indicated that the addition of GTL liquid could have a stabilizing effect on the asphaltenes in some oils. Analytical techniques such as distillation, solvent separation, HPLC, GC, and GPC were used to obtain detailed composition data on the samples. Two sets of compositional data with 49 and 86 pseudo-components were used to describe the three crude oils used in the blending work. The wax precipitation was calculated using a

  15. Exploration of Hydrocarbon Degrading Bacteria on Soils Contaminated by Crude Oil From South Sumatera

    OpenAIRE

    Napoleon, A; Probowati, D S

    2014-01-01

    The goal of this research was to explore hydrocarbon degrading bacteria on crude oil contaminated soil with potential to degrade hydrocarbon in oil pollutant. The research started by early August 2013 till January 2014. Soil sampling for this research was taken on several places with contaminated soil location such as Benakat, Rimau, and Pengabuan all of it located in South Sumatera. Conclusion from this research Isolates obtained from three (3) sites of contaminated soil and treated using SB...

  16. Comparative study of biodegradation of crude oil in soil amended ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Analysis of soil samples treated with 10% (v/w) Escravos light crude oil and amended with chicken droppings and NPK fertilizer revealed that the aerobic heterotrophic bacterial counts were depressed while the proliferation of crude oil degrading bacteria (CDB) in the soil was encouraged. The counts of CDB in oil free ...

  17. Thermal properties and burning efficiency of crude oils and refined fuel oil

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Gelderen, Laurens; Alva, Wilson Ulises Rojas; Mindykowski, Pierrick Anthony

    2017-01-01

    The thermal properties and burning efficiencies of fresh and weathered crude oils and a refined fuel oil were studied in order to improve the available input data for field ignition systems for the in-situ burning of crude oil on water. The time to ignition, surface temperature upon ignition, heat......-cooled holder for a cone calorimeter under incident heat fluxes of 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kW/m2. The results clearly showed that the weathered oils were the hardest to ignite, with increased ignition times and critical heat fluxes of 5-10 kW/m2. Evaporation and emulsification were shown...

  18. Synthesis copolymer use to reduce pour point temperature of diamond crude oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Than, Dao Viet; Chuong, Thai Hong; Tuy, Dao Quoc

    2017-09-01

    Diamond oil field is located in Block 01&02 Offshore Vietnam. Crude oil from Diamond Well Head Platform (WHP) is evacuated to FPSO via 20km 10" subsea flexible pipeline. The lowest seabed temperature in the field is 22°C, while the pour point temperature (PPT) of Diamond crude oil is very high (36°C) due to high paraffin content (25%). So studying to research a suitable Pour Point Depressant (PPD) for the crude oil is very important. The PPD must have ability to reduce pour point temperature of crude oil from 36°C to 21°C.

  19. NEB view of development potential and markets for heavy crude oil. [Canada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scotland, W A; Gutek, A M.H.

    1977-01-01

    The phased reduction in total crude oil and equivalent exports, from 911 Mpbd in 1974 to 465 Mbpd in 1976, has no doubt had a disruptive effect on the rate of development of heavy crude oil reserves. The effect could have become more series as total exports continued to drop. However, the separate licensing of heavy crude oil for export will allow heavy crude oil to enter available markets until the early 1980s. The construction of one or several upgrading facilities by the early 1980s, combined with growing domestic requirements for heavy crude oil feedstock, could make the disposition of heavy oil largely independent of the purchasing patterns of export markets. The prospect of increased market stability combined with increasing cash flows should provide an appropriate environment to optimize the role that heavy oil resources can play in Canada's future energy balance. (12 refs.)

  20. The Effect of the Operating Conditions on the Apparent Viscosity of Crude Palm Oil During Oil Clarification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sulaiman Al-Zuhair, Mirghani I. Ahmed and Yousif A. Abakr

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses the apparent viscosity of crude palm oil, using rotary viscometer, under different boundary conditions. It was experimentally shown that the apparent viscosity of palm oil drops with increasing of the shear rate and the temperature.  However, the effect of temperature on the viscosity tends to fade at temperatures beyond 80 oC.  A correlation between the apparent viscosity of crude palm oil and the operating conditions was developed. This correlation can be used in design of crude palm oil settlers and in determining the optimum operating conditions.Key Words:  Crude palm oil, apparent viscosity, shear rate, modelling, separation 

  1. Electrical desalting - preparing of the crude oil for further processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asadi, Nadija; Minovski, Mino; Sokolovski, Aleksandar

    1999-01-01

    Desalting as well as dewatering of the crude oil is important preparing process, which takes place in crude units on the refinery plants. One of the most efficient ways of desalting is use of high voltage electricity. In this work attention is paid on the principals of this process, illustrated with practically gained results from the OKTA Crude Oil Refinery in Macedonia. (Original)

  2. Procedures in field systems for collecting and demulsifying crude oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vakhitov, G G; Graifer, V I; Tronov, V P; Zakirov, I G

    1969-01-01

    This microscopic study of crude oil emulsification and demulsification showed that the sooner an emulsion is chemically treated, the less its stability. This finding led to the practice of adding demulsifiers to the crude oil in pipelines. This method of demulsification is now used in Romashkino, Bablinsk, and Elkhovs fields. By this early addition of a chemical, the tendency of the pipeline to form stable, highly viscous emulsions is reduced. This treatment also facilitates separation of water from oil in storage tanks. Repeated tests have shown that pipeline demulsification is a highly effective and economic process. This method reduces crude oil dewatering costs by several hundred percent.

  3. Manihot esculenta crantz in crude oil contaminated soil amended ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Studies on the performance of Manihot esculenta, Crantz (TMS 30572) in a crude oil polluted soil was investigated in the Botanic Garden of University of Port Harcourt. The soil samples were polluted at four different levels (0%, 2%, 4% and 6%) with crude oil and amended with organic supplement (decomposed Centrosem ...

  4. Effects of Crude Oil and Oil Products on Growth of Some Edible ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The vegetative growth response of three local edible mushrooms: Pleurotus pulmonarius (Pp), Pleurotus tuber-regium (Pt) and Lentinus squarrosulus (Ls) on different concentrations of Crude oil (COIL), Automotive Gasoline Oil (AGO), Fresh Engine Oil (ENGOIL) and Spent Engine Oil (SENGOIL) was investigated. The result ...

  5. Global market trade policy analysis for petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bagheri, F.

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This article is based on surveying the custom tariffs imposed on the world export market of Petroleum Oils and Oils Obtained from Bituminous Minerals, Crude. We obtained the data according to the most updated available data provided online by UNCTAD and World Bank. The results indicate that none of the 142 countries in the world market of this product have imposed non-tariff trade barriers on the import of Petroleum Oils and Oils Obtained from Bituminous Minerals, Crude. The developed countries and the countries with transition economies are the main world import partners. European Union, United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, South Africa, Australia, Turkey, Brazil, Sweden and Belarus are the examples and have imposed low custom tariffs on Petroleum Oils and Oils Obtained from Bituminous Minerals, Crude.

  6. A MODEL FOR DIFFUSION CONTROLLED BIOAVAILABILITY OF CRUDE OIL COMPONENTS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crude oil is a complex mixture of several different structural classes of compounds including alkanes, aromatics, heterocyclic polar compounds, and asphaltenes. The rate and extent of microbial degradation of crude oil depends on the interaction between the physical and biochemi...

  7. Crude oil pricing in Asia and future problems; Asia no gen`yu pricing to kongo no kadai

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kato, T. [The Institute of Energy Economics, Tokyo (Japan)

    1997-01-30

    This paper describes pricing factors of crude oil for Asia and future problems. Price of the Middle East crude oil for Asia is determined by linking the spot price of Dubayy crude oil using as a marker. Factors affecting the pricing of marker crude oil include the information dispatching functions for prices of spot market and paper market of marker crude oil, the presence of competitive crude oil, and the correlation between market of oil products and price of crude oil. The paper market of Dubayy crude oil with a small scale of trading provides poor impact and transparency. In Asia, there is no strong competitive crude oil except the Middle East crude oil. There is only a weak price linking between crude oil and products. These are the background that the price of Middle East crude oil stays at the high level and the price adjusting functions are hard to work. The marker crude oil should be changed to another except Dubayy crude oil, and information should be dispatched from purchasers based on the stable standard crude oil. The real paper market should be created, and the force of speaking to oil producing countries should be enhanced by concentrating forces of major oil consuming countries in Asia. It is necessary to find out competitive crude oils. 5 figs., 6 tabs.

  8. Dispersed catalysts for transforming extra heavy crude oil into transportable upgraded crude: phase identification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martinez, S.; Canizales, E.; Machin, I. [Gerencia Depttal de Investigacion Estrategica en Refinacion PDVSA Intevep (Venezuela); Segovia, X.; Rivas, A.; Lopez, E.; Pena, J.P.; Rojas, J.D.; Sardella, R. [Gerencia Depttal de Infraestructura y Mejoramiento en Faja Petrolifera PDVSA Intevep (Venezuela)

    2011-07-01

    A new technology to convert extra heavy crude oil into transportable upgraded crude has been developed. A water/oil emulsion composed of steam and catalyst precursors is introduced in the feed which then generates unsupported dispersed catalyst in situ under thermal decomposition. The aim of this paper is to characterize the particles. The study was conducted in a laboratory and on a pilot scale on three different vacuum residues using high resolution transmission electron microscopy and a transmission electron microscope. Results showed that the particles were formed by oxides and inorganic sulphur based in transition metals and their sizes ranged between 5 and 120 nm; in addition, good dispersion was observed. This study demonstrated that the process involved in the generation of dispersed catalyst is extremely complex and showed that further work with heavy crude oils and its residua is required to understand the mechanisms involved.

  9. Evaluating the US government's crude oil price projections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Williams, M.D.

    1992-01-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) 1991 official long run crude oil price projections are evaluated by comparing parameter averages for the forecast period (1991-2010) to parameter averages from crude oil price history (1859-1990). The parameters used in the evaluation are average price, average annual price changes, and average cycle duration (in years). All prices used in the analysis are annual prices in constant 1990 dollars per barrel. 13 figs

  10. Remediation trials of crude oil contaminated soil using different ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A 3 month remediation trial of the use of detergent and sawdust in different combination forms in the restoration of a crude oil contaminated tropical soil was investigated. 8 remediation treatments labeled A – H in addition to the control (I) were used in 10 kg soil artificially polluted with 300 ml crude oil each. Remediation ...

  11. Crude oil prices: Are our oil markets too tight?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simmons, M.R.

    1997-01-01

    The answer to the question posed in the title is that tightness in the market will surely prevail through 1997. And as discussed herein, with worldwide demand expected to continue to grow, there will be a strong call on extra oil supply. Meeting those demands, however, will not be straightforward--as many observers wrongly believe--considering the industry's practice of maintaining crude stocks at ''Just in time'' inventory levels. Further, impact will be felt from the growing rig shortage, particularly for deepwater units, and down-stream capacity limits. While these factors indicate 1997 should be another good year for the service industry, it is difficult to get any kind of consensus view from the oil price market. With most observers' information dominated by the rarely optimistic futures price of crude, as reflected by the NYMEX, the important fact is that oil prices have remained stable for three years and increased steadily through 1996

  12. Process for removing heavy metal compounds from heavy crude oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cha, Chang Y.; Boysen, John E.; Branthaver, Jan F.

    1991-01-01

    A process is provided for removing heavy metal compounds from heavy crude oil by mixing the heavy crude oil with tar sand; preheating the mixture to a temperature of about 650.degree. F.; heating said mixture to up to 800.degree. F.; and separating tar sand from the light oils formed during said heating. The heavy metals removed from the heavy oils can be recovered from the spent sand for other uses.

  13. Crude oil prices : how high, how much harm?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levesque, M.; Alexander, C.

    2002-01-01

    This paper discussed the issue of crude oil prices and the economy. Crude oil prices are on the rise due to the recent events in the Middle East. In early April, West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed to nearly US$28 a barrel. Most of the increase reflects the expectation of stronger world oil demand combined with supply constraints on the part of OPEC. Although there has been some concern expressed that rising oil prices may hinder economic recovery, the authors of this report do not see evidence that rising oil prices would throw economic recovery off course, arguing that the current spike will be short-lived. They stated that even under a worse-case scenario where prices remain inflated, there is little reason to fear for the health of the Canadian economy. OPEC is expected to increase its low production quotas in June. In addition, non-OPEC nations (Russia in particular) are expected to increase oil production in the coming months. The authors also indicated that it is unlikely that conflict in the West Bank will disrupt oil supply because Israel is not an oil-exporting nation. However, oil supply could be affected if other Arab nations were drawn into the issue. It was also noted that military action against Iraq would increase oil prices, possibly as high as US$40 a barrel, but the full extent of this hike in price will probably be unsustainable. In addition, the authors emphasized that the increase in energy costs would not be enough to seriously jeopardize the economic recovery in the United States. As for Canada, it is estimated that a US$10 per barrel increase in crude oil prices would have a small, but positive impact on Canadian GDP because in contrast to the United States, Canada produces much more energy than it consumers. In 2001, Canada ran a trade surplus of $2.8 billion. The report ended by stating that although higher oil prices could add a full percentage point to headline inflation by the end of the year, core inflation is likely to remain

  14. Radiation doses and hazards from processing of crude oil at the Tema oil refinery in Ghana

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Darko, E. O.; Kpeglo, D. O.; Akaho, E. H. K.; Schandorf, C.; Adu, P. A. S.; Faanu, A.; Abankwah, E.; Lawluvi, H.; Awudu, A. R.

    2012-01-01

    Processing of crude oil has been carried out in Ghana for more than four decades without measures to assess the hazards associated with the naturally occurring radionuclides in the raw and processed materials. This study investigates the exposure of the public to 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K in crude oil, petroleum products and wastes at the Tema oil refinery in Ghana using gamma-ray spectrometry. The study shows higher activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides in the wastes than the crude oil and the products with estimated hazard indices less than unity. The values obtained in the study are within recommended limits for public exposure indicating that radiation exposure from processing of the crude oil at the refinery does not pose any significant radiological hazard but may require monitoring to establish long-term effect on both public and workers. (authors)

  15. Radiation doses and hazards from processing of crude oil at the Tema oil refinery in Ghana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darko, E O; Kpeglo, D O; Akaho, E H K; Schandorf, C; Adu, P A S; Faanu, A; Abankwah, E; Lawluvi, H; Awudu, A R

    2012-02-01

    Processing of crude oil has been carried out in Ghana for more than four decades without measures to assess the hazards associated with the naturally occurring radionuclides in the raw and processed materials. This study investigates the exposure of the public to (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K in crude oil, petroleum products and wastes at the Tema oil refinery in Ghana using gamma-ray spectrometry. The study shows higher activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides in the wastes than the crude oil and the products with estimated hazard indices less than unity. The values obtained in the study are within recommended limits for public exposure indicating that radiation exposure from processing of the crude oil at the refinery does not pose any significant radiological hazard but may require monitoring to establish long-term effect on both public and workers.

  16. Crude oil price analysis and forecasting based on variational mode decomposition and independent component analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    E, Jianwei; Bao, Yanling; Ye, Jimin

    2017-10-01

    As one of the most vital energy resources in the world, crude oil plays a significant role in international economic market. The fluctuation of crude oil price has attracted academic and commercial attention. There exist many methods in forecasting the trend of crude oil price. However, traditional models failed in predicting accurately. Based on this, a hybrid method will be proposed in this paper, which combines variational mode decomposition (VMD), independent component analysis (ICA) and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), called VMD-ICA-ARIMA. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence factors of crude oil price and predict the future crude oil price. Major steps can be concluded as follows: Firstly, applying the VMD model on the original signal (crude oil price), the modes function can be decomposed adaptively. Secondly, independent components are separated by the ICA, and how the independent components affect the crude oil price is analyzed. Finally, forecasting the price of crude oil price by the ARIMA model, the forecasting trend demonstrates that crude oil price declines periodically. Comparing with benchmark ARIMA and EEMD-ICA-ARIMA, VMD-ICA-ARIMA can forecast the crude oil price more accurately.

  17. An empirical analysis of the risk of crude oil imports in China using improved portfolio approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Gang; Wei, Yi-Ming; Fan, Ying; Liu, Lan-Cui

    2007-01-01

    This paper quantifies the diversification index of China's crude oil imports during the period 1996-2004, and explores the relationship between the monthly prices and Brent crude oil cash prices. Accordingly, we calculate the systematic and specific risks using portfolio theory of China's crude oil import over the period 1996-2004. Because China's crude oil import increased rapidly since 1996, we improve upon the traditional portfolio theory and develop a risk index model of portfolio theory for crude oil imports in order to explore objectively the changes in China's crude oil import risks. The results show that China's crude oil import risk is affected extensively by the fluctuation of international oil prices. So the traditional portfolio theory is insufficient to measure China's crude oil import risk. The improved portfolio theory risks index model reflects the effect of international oil prices, diversification, imports, and geopolitics factors etc., on crude oil import risk, and changes in crude oil import risk. Therefore, the risk index model of portfolio theory provides greater theoretical and methodological robustness as an indicator of China's crude oil import security than that offered from the application of traditional measures of dependence. (author)

  18. Experimental Study on Characteristics of Oil Particle Distribution in Water-Gelled Crude Oil Two-Phase Flow System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liu Xiaoyan

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The conventional gathering and transportation mode of heating the produced fluid of oil wells with hot water or steam may result in excessive energy consumption. In order to perform the unheated transportation, the idea of hydraulic suspension transport of the gelled crude oil is proposed based on the actual production of Daqing Oilfield, and the experimental system is established to test characteristics of oil particle distribution which have an important effect on the hydraulic suspension transportation. In the experiment, the image of gelled crude oil particle distribution was obtained in a horizontal pipe with inner diameter of 0.053 m, and then the law of particle distribution was investigated by the theoretical model. The results showed that the gelled crude oil hydraulic suspension transport could be achieved without any chemical reagent when the gelled crude oil was transformed into particles and dispersedly suspended in water. The results also showed that the gelled oil particles of 0–4 mm in size accounted for 92% or more of all particles, and the percentage of gelled crude oil particles of a size of 4 mm gradually increased with the increasing mixed flow rate.

  19. Use of adsorption and gas chromatographic techniques in estimating biodegradation of indigenous crude oils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kokub, D.; Allahi, A.; Shafeeq, M.; Khalid, Z.M.; Malik, K.A.; Hussain, A.

    1993-01-01

    Indigenous crude oils could be degraded and emulsified upto varying degree by locally isolated bacteria. Degradation and emulsification was found to be dependent upon the chemical composition of the crude oils. Tando Alum and Khashkheli crude oils were emulsified in 27 and 33 days of incubation respectively. While Joyamair crude oil and not emulsify even mainly due to high viscosity of this oil. Using adsorption chromatographic technique, oil from control (uninoculated) and bio degraded flasks was fractioned into the deasphaltened oil containing saturate, aromatic, NSO (nitrogen, sulphur, oxygen) containing hydrocarbons) and soluble asphaltenes. Saturate fractions from control and degraded oil were further analysed by gas liquid chromatography. From these analyses, it was observed that saturate fraction was preferentially utilized and the crude oils having greater contents of saturate fraction were better emulsified than those low in this fraction. Utilization of various fractions of crude oils was in the order saturate> aromatic> NSO. (author)

  20. Multivariate EMD-Based Modeling and Forecasting of Crude Oil Price

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaijian He

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Recent empirical studies reveal evidence of the co-existence of heterogeneous data characteristics distinguishable by time scale in the movement crude oil prices. In this paper we propose a new multivariate Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD-based model to take advantage of these heterogeneous characteristics of the price movement and model them in the crude oil markets. Empirical studies in benchmark crude oil markets confirm that more diverse heterogeneous data characteristics can be revealed and modeled in the projected time delayed domain. The proposed model demonstrates the superior performance compared to the benchmark models.

  1. Breakthrough Adsorption Study of Crude Oil Removal Using Buffing Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setyaningsih, L. W. N.; Yuliansyah, A. T.; Prasetyo, A.; Arimanintan, S. K.; Putri, D. R.

    2018-05-01

    The utilization of leather industry solid waste as adsorbent to separate oil from water emulsions of surfactant flooding process is a solution that is relatively inexpensive. This study was conducted aiming to obtain a mathematical model that is appropriate for the adsorption process of crude oil by buffing dust in emulsion phase with a continuous adsorption method. Variations in the column adsorption experiments were carried out, such as: flow rate of feed of water-crude oil-surfactant, the concentration of crude oil in the feed, and mass of adsorbent used. Data were evaluated using three models: Adams Bohart, Thomas and Yan. Best results are obtained on the following conditions, the feed flow rate of 60 mL/minute, the crude oil concentration in feed is 1.5% volume and the mass of adsorbent used was 10 g. The values of kinetic constant and adsorption capacity obtained from Yan Model was 21.7774 mL/mg/minute and 220.9581 mg/g with the relative error obtained is 5.4424%.

  2. Crude oil hedging: benchmarking price protection strategies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krapels, Edward N.; Pratt, Michael

    1998-01-01

    This report presents a review of hedging (protection against a loss) strategies in the crude oil futures and options markets. The introductory section of the report gives details of hedging instruments, and the purposes of hedging crude oil. Hedging strategies including pure futures strategies, pure options strategies, options combination strategies, exotic (Asian) options strategies, and insurance instruments are described. The West Texas intermediate (WTI) market depth, liquidity and hedging effectiveness are examined, and winners and losers, and energy consumers are considered. The appendix gives tables and charts summarising the outcomes of futures and options strategies under different market conditions and expectations. (UK)

  3. Effect of asphaltenes on crude oil wax crystallization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kriz, Pavel; Andersen, Simon Ivar

    2005-01-01

    The paper summarizes the experimental work done on asphaltene influenced wax crystallization. Three different asphaltenes (from stable oil, instable oil, and deposit) were mixed at several concentrations or dispersions into the waxy crude oil. These blends were evaluated by viscometry and yield s...

  4. Potentially beneficial spill-related effects of chemicals routinely added to crude oils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ross, S.; Maharaj, S.

    1993-01-01

    Amoco Trinidad Oil Company produces 60,000 bbl/d of oil from the Trinidadian offshore. The oil is pipelined ashore where it is processed and returned offshore to a buoy mooring for transport up Trinidad's east coast. Amoco Trinidad has developed comprehensive oil spill contingency plans, starting from computer models of spill scenarios. The models used initially assumed that the oils would emulsify quickly and the spills would become highly viscous and persistent, reaching the shoreline in 15-24 h. Such behavior would render ineffective the use of dispersants as a spill countermeasure. Studies showed a poor potential capability of physical recovery systems for spills off the Trinidad east coast due to high sea states, strong winds, and other factors. These results led to questioning of the spill model's assumptions, and laboratory tests were conducted to study the actual behavior of the crude oils. It was found that the oil was difficult to emulsify and highly prone to breakup and dispersion. These surprising results were explained by the presence of surfactants added during processing. A revised modelling exercise showed that if the surfactants stay with the oil, spills up to 100,000 bbl will dissipate in 15 h or less at average wind conditions. To guard against the possibility that the surfactants may not stay with the spilled oil, and to help accelerate dispersion of oil spills, Amoco Trinidad has developed a dispersant-use capacity for its spill contingency plan. It is suggested that additives normally added to crude oils during production and processing in other areas may also be providing spill cleanup benefits similar to those found in the Trinidad case. 9 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs

  5. Application of alkaline waterflooding to a high acidity crude oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sayyouh, M.H. (King Sand Univ., Riyadh (SA). Petroleum Engineering Dept.); Abdel-Waly, A.; Osman, A. (Cairo Univ. (EG). Petroleum Engineering Dept.); Awara, A.Z. (Geisum Oil Company, Cairo (EG))

    The enhanced recovery of a high acidity crude oil (South Geisum crude) by alkaline solutions is studied. Acidity, interfacial tension, and contact angle, were investigated. Displacement tests were carried out to study the effect of alkaline slug concentration, slug size, oil alkali type, temperature and viscosity on recovery. The interfacial tension between crude oil and formation water decreases with increasing alkaline concentration until a minimum, after which it increases again. Contact angle measurements indicated oil-wetting conditions that increase by the addition of alkaline solutions. At the early stages of displacement, oil recovery increases with increasing alkaline concentration until a maximum at 4% by weight NaOH concentration. Also, at such early stages, an excessive increase in alkaline concentration results in lower oil recovery. On the other hand, after the injection of many pore volumes of water, oil recovery is almost the same regardless of the alkaline concentration. Oil recovery increases with increasing alkaline slug size until a maximum at 15% PV. Sodium hydroxide slugs produce more oil recovery than sodium carbonate slugs. Oil recovery increases with increasing temperature (from 25 to 55{sup 0}C) and decreasing oil viscosity.

  6. The Necessity of a Graded Tariff System between Crude Oil and Oil Products

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, B.R. [SK Corporation, Seoul (Korea)

    2002-06-01

    Even though the graded tariff system between crude oil and oil products has been continuously insisted by oil refining companies since the export and import liberalization of 1997, and its necessity has been admitted by the government, press, and academia, the expanded implementation of the graded tariff system has not been yet realized. Some people says that the graded tariff system between crude oil and oil products is a kind of desperate plans, which oil refining companies suggests to stop the importing companies' rapid growth, so it will eventually restrict the competition of the domestic oil market due to the withering of importing companies. However, the graded tariff system between crude oil and oil products should have been enforced in 1997 as a complementary measure of the import liberalization like other industries or the advanced countries' cases. It is the basic tariff principle that the low tariff is levied on raw materials and the high tariff on final products in order to protect domestic industry. The remaining things are just to form the sympathy and to agree socially for the reorganization of tariff structure in the reasonable way. It is not desirable to make a fool mistake such as a proverb; t is too late to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted. owing to the unreasonable tariff system.

  7. Heavy oils processing materials requirements crude processing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sloley, Andrew W. [CH2M Hill, Englewood, CO (United States)

    2012-07-01

    Over time, recommended best practices for crude unit materials selection have evolved to accommodate new operating requirements, feed qualities, and product qualities. The shift to heavier oil processing is one of the major changes in crude feed quality occurring over the last 20 years. The three major types of crude unit corrosion include sulfidation attack, naphthenic acid attack, and corrosion resulting from hydrolyzable chlorides. Heavy oils processing makes all three areas worse. Heavy oils have higher sulfur content; higher naphthenic acid content; and are more difficult to desalt, leading to higher chloride corrosion rates. Materials selection involves two major criteria, meeting required safety standards, and optimizing economics of the overall plant. Proper materials selection is only one component of a plant integrity approach. Materials selection cannot eliminate all corrosion. Proper materials selection requires appropriate support from other elements of an integrity protection program. The elements of integrity preservation include: materials selection (type and corrosion allowance); management limits on operating conditions allowed; feed quality control; chemical additives for corrosion reduction; and preventive maintenance and inspection (PMI). The following discussion must be taken in the context of the application of required supporting work in all the other areas. Within that context, specific materials recommendations are made to minimize corrosion due to the most common causes in the crude unit. (author)

  8. Heavy crude oils - From Geology to Upgrading - An Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huc, A.Y.

    2010-01-01

    Heavy oils, extra-heavy oils and tar sands are major players for the future of energy. They represent a massive world resource, at least the size of conventional oils. They are found all over the world but Canada and Venezuela together account, by themselves, for more than half of world deposits. They share the same origin as the lighter conventional oils, but their geological fate drove them into thick, viscous tar-like crude oils. Most of them result from alteration processes mediated by microbial degradation. They are characterized by a low content of lighter cuts and a high content of impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen compounds and metals; so, their production is difficult and deployment of specific processes is required in order to enhance their transportability and to upgrade them into valuable products meeting market needs, and honouring environmental requirements. Although these resources are increasingly becoming commercially producible, less than 1% of total heavy crude oil deposits worldwide are under active development. The voluntarily wide scope of this volume encompasses geology, production, transportation, upgrading, economics and environmental issues of heavy oils. It does not pretend to be exhaustive, but to provide an authoritative view of this very important energy resource. Besides presenting the current status of knowledge and technology involved in exploiting heavy oils, the purpose is to provide an insight into technical, economic and environmental challenges that should be taken up in order to increase the efficiency of production and processing, and finally to give a prospective view of the emerging technologies which will contribute to releasing the immense potential reserves of heavy oil and tar deposits. Contents: Part 1. Heavy Crude Oils.1. Heavy Crude Oils in the Perspective of World Oil Demand. 2. Definitions and Specificities. 3. Geological Origin of Heavy Crude Oils. 4. Properties and composition. Part 2. Reservoir Engineering

  9. Sulfur transfer in the distillate fractions of Arabian crude oils under gamma-irradiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Basfar, Ahmed A.; Soliman, Yasser S.; Alkhuraiji, Turki S.

    2017-01-01

    Desulfurization of light distillation fractions including gasoline, kerosene and diesel obtained from the four Arabian crude oils (heavy, medium, light and extra light) upon γ-rays irradiation to different doses was investigated. In addition, yields vol%, FTIR analysis, kinematic viscosity and density of all distillation fractions of irradiated crude oils were evaluated. Limited radiation-induced desulfurization of those fractions was observed up to an irradiation dose of 200 kGy. FTIR analysis of those fractions indicates the absence of oxidized sulfur compounds, represented by S=O of sulfone group, indicating that γ-irradiation of the Arabian crude oils at normal conditions does not induce an oxidative desulfurization in those distillation fractions. Radiation-induced sulfur transfer decreases by 28.56% and increases in total sulfur by 16.8% in Arabian extra light oil and Arabian medium crude oil respectively. - Highlights: • Limited desulfurization in the light distillate fraction of Arabian crude oils using γ-rays was observed. • FTIR analysis confirms limited unchanged in density, viscosity and yields of Arabian crude oils. • In absence of oxidizer, radiation-induced sulfur transfer was observed in gasoline and diesel fractions of Arabian crude oils. • Radiation-induced oxidative desulfuration of the light distillate fractions depends on its characteristics.

  10. Forecasting crude oil price with an EMD-based neural network ensemble learning paradigm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Lean; Wang, Shouyang; Lai, Kin Keung

    2008-01-01

    In this study, an empirical mode decomposition (EMD) based neural network ensemble learning paradigm is proposed for world crude oil spot price forecasting. For this purpose, the original crude oil spot price series were first decomposed into a finite, and often small, number of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). Then a three-layer feed-forward neural network (FNN) model was used to model each of the extracted IMFs, so that the tendencies of these IMFs could be accurately predicted. Finally, the prediction results of all IMFs are combined with an adaptive linear neural network (ALNN), to formulate an ensemble output for the original crude oil price series. For verification and testing, two main crude oil price series, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil spot price and Brent crude oil spot price, are used to test the effectiveness of the proposed EMD-based neural network ensemble learning methodology. Empirical results obtained demonstrate attractiveness of the proposed EMD-based neural network ensemble learning paradigm. (author)

  11. CFD modeling of fouling in crude oil pre-heaters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bayat, Mahmoud; Aminian, Javad; Bazmi, Mansour; Shahhosseini, Shahrokh; Sharifi, Khashayar

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► A conceptual CFD-based model to predict fouling in industrial crude oil pre-heaters. ► Tracing fouling formation in the induction and developing continuation periods. ► Effect of chemical components, shell-side HTC and turbulent flow on the fouling rate. - Abstract: In this study, a conceptual procedure based on the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technique has been developed to predict fouling rate in an industrial crude oil pre-heater. According to the developed CFD concept crude oil was assumed to be composed of three pseudo-components comprising of petroleum, asphaltene and salt. The binary diffusion coefficients were appropriately categorized into five different groups. The species transport model was applied to simulate the mixing and transport of chemical species. The possibility of adherence of reaction products to the wall was taken into account by applying a high viscosity for the products in competition with the shear stress on the wall. Results showed a reasonable agreement between the model predictions and the plant data. The CFD model could be applied to new operating conditions to investigate the details of the crude oil fouling in the industrial pre-heaters.

  12. Nonlinear joint dynamics between prices of crude oil and refined products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Tao; Ma, Guofeng; Liu, Guangsheng

    2015-02-01

    In this paper, we investigate the relationships between crude oil and refined product prices. We find that nonlinear correlations are stronger in the long-term than in the short-term. Crude oil and product prices are cointegrated and financial crisis in 2007-2008 caused a structural break of the cointegrating relationship. Moreover, different from the findings in most studies, we reveal that the relationships are almost symmetric based on a threshold error correction model. The so-called 'asymmetric relationships' are caused by some outliers and financial crisis. Most of the time, crude oil prices play the major role in the adjustment process of the long-term equilibrium. However, refined product prices dominated crude oil prices during the period of financial crisis. Important policy and risk management implications can be learned from the empirical findings.

  13. Toxicity of crude oil products and detergent on serum alkaline ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The comparative effect of exposing Clarias gariepinus juveniles (100.20 + 0.8g) to diferent concentrations of crude oil products and detergent were studied. Bonny Light Crude oil (BLCO), Premium motor spirit (PMS), Dual purpose kerosene (DPK) and Ariel Enzymax Detergent (AED) were respectively applied at three ...

  14. Characteristics of bicyclic sesquiterpanes in crude oils and petroleum products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Chun; Wang, Zhendi; Hollebone, Bruce P; Brown, Carl E; Landriault, Mike

    2009-05-15

    This study presents a quantitative gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of bicyclic sesquiterpanes (BSs) in numerous crude oils and refined petroleum products including light and mid-range distillate fuels, residual fuels, and lubricating oils collected from various sources. Ten commonly recognized bicyclic sesquiterpanes were determined in all the studied crude oils and diesel range fuels with principal dominance of BS3 (C(15)H(28)), BS5 (C(15)H(28)) and BS10 (C(16)H(30)), while they were generally not detected or in trace in light fuel oils like gasoline and kerosene and most lubricating oils. Laboratory distillation of crude oils demonstrated that sesquiterpanes were highly enriched in the medium distillation fractions of approximately 180 to 481 degrees C and were generally absent or very low in the light distillation fraction (boiling point to approximately 180 degrees C) and the heavy residual fraction (>481 degrees C). The effect of evaporative weathering on a series of diagnostic ratios of sesquiterpanes, n-alkanes, and biomarkers was evaluated with two suites of weathered oil samples. The change of abundance of sesquiterpanes was used to determine the extent of weathering of artificially evaporated crude oils and diesel. In addition to the pentacyclic biomarker C(29) and C(30) alphabeta-hopane, C(15) and C(16) sesquiterpanes might be alternative internal marker compounds to provide a direct way to estimate the depletion of oils, particularly diesels, in oil spill investigations. These findings may offer potential applications for both oil identification and oil-source correlation in cases where the tri- to pentacyclic biomarkers are absent due to refining or environmental weathering of oils.

  15. Literature Survey of Crude Oil Properties Relevant to Handling and Fire Safety in Transport.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lord, David [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Luketa, Anay [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Wocken, Chad [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Schlasner, Steve [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Aulich, Ted [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Allen, Ray [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Rudeen, David Keith [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2015-03-01

    Several fiery rail accidents in 2013-2015 in the U.S. and Canada carrying crude oil produced from the Bakken region of North Dakota have raised questions at many levels on the safety of transporting this, and other types of crude oil, by rail. Sandia National Laboratories was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate the material properties of crude oils, and in particular the so-called "tight oils" like Bakken that comprise the majority of crude oil rail shipments in the U.S. at the current time. The current report is a literature survey of public sources of information on crude oil properties that have some bearing on the likelihood or severity of combustion events that may occur around spills associated with rail transport. The report also contains background information including a review of the notional "tight oil" field operating environment, as well a basic description of crude oils and potential combustion events in rail transport. This page intentionally blank

  16. New insights into oxidation behaviours of crude oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, J.; Mehta, S.A.; Moore, R.G. [Calgary Univ., AB (Canada)

    2006-07-01

    Innovative technologies will be needed to develop many of the world's oil reservoirs in an economically sustainable manner. In recent years, air injection for light oil reservoirs has gained recognition as an Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) process. In this process, the oxygen from the injected air reacts with a small fraction of the reservoir oil at high temperature to produce a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The produced gas generated by the reaction mobilizes the oil downstream, thereby sweeping oil towards the production wells. High pressure air injection used in light oil reservoirs differs from the process used in heavy oil reservoirs, despite the fact that various oxidation reaction schemes exist. The key challenge facing the air injection process is the complexity of the oxidation reaction for crude oil and the lack of understanding of the oxidation behavior of light oils. This study identified a range of oxidation behaviors between light oil and heavy oil. The relationship between crude oil composition and its oxidation behaviors was also examined with reference to 3 different oils and their SARA (saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes) fractions. This study was carried out at various pressures and temperatures using thermogravimetry and pressurized differential scanning calorimetry (PDSC) as the thermal analysis techniques.

  17. Problems in waterflooding fields containing paraffinic crude oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kovalev, A G; Lyutin, L V; Perevalov, V G

    1968-11-01

    When Caspian seawater is injected into the Uzen field reservoir, the temperature of the reservoir oil can be lowered 10/sup 0/ to 20/sup 0/C below initial reservoir temperature. Because Uzen crude oil is saturated with paraffin, the cold injection water can deposit paraffin in the formation and reduce oil recovery. In a related study, it was shown that the lower temperature should not adversely affect capillary and wettability behavior of the crude oil in the reservoir. Oil recovery was found to be essentially independent of water composition. However, fresh water is easier to handle in injection systems than brines. Several studies have shown that oil recovery from Uzen field should be increased by use of hot injection water. Various methods of heating the water are discussed. To reduce corrosivity and scaling of hot brine, sodium hexametaphosphate is added in concentrations of 2 to 15 mg/liter. It is concluded that it would be practical to use hot injection water in this field.

  18. Biodegradation of Bonnylight crude oil by locally isolated fungi from oil contaminated soils in Akure, Ondo state

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ekundayo, F.O.

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim: This present investigation was conducted to determine the capability of fungi isolated from soil samples collected from two automobile workshopsto bioremediate Bonnylight crude oil.Methodology and Results: The fungi present on the soil samples collected from two automobile workshops in Akure, Nigeria were investigated using standard microbiological techniques. These fungal isolates were screened for the ability to degrade Bonnylight crude oil. The bioremediation of Bonnylight crude oil was observed spectrophotometrically using the broth culture (non- harvested cells and harvested cells of the fungi isolated from the contaminated sites for a period of 20 days on minimal salt broth. Mycotypha microspora, Penicllium italicum, Botryris cinerea, Gliocladium deliquescence, Verticillium albo–atrum and Aspergillus niger were isolated from the contaminated site while Neurospora crassa, A. parasiticus, A. niger and Gonatobotryum apiculatum were isolated from uncontaminated sites. All the fungal isolates were capable of active degradation in varying degrees.Conclusion: The study shows that all the isolated fungi were capable of degrading the crude oil in varying degrees. The active crude oil utilizing fungi in this study were Aspergillus niger (both harvested and non harvested cells and Gliocladium deliquescence (non harvested cells and Penicillium italicum (harvested cells. Aspergillus niger has best degrading ability than other fungi in non harvested and harvested cell condition. However, non harvested cells recorded the higher degradative ability than harvested cells. Therefore, non harvested cells can be employed in bioremediation of Bonnylight crude oil.Significance and Impact of Study: The fungi isolated from automobile mechanic workshops contaminated soil can be exploited in the bioremediation of Bonny Light crude oil.

  19. Determining Optimal Crude Oil Price Benchmark in Nigeria: An Empirical Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saibu Olufemi Muibi

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper contributes to on-going empirical search for an appropriate crude oil price benchmark that ensures greater financial stability and efficient fiscal management in Nigeria. It adopted the seasonally adjusted ARIMA forecasting models using monthly data series from 2000m01 to 2012m12 to predict future movement in Nigeria crude oil prices. The paper derived a more robust and dynamic framework that accommodates fluctuation in crude oil price and also in government spending. The result shows that if the incessant withdrawal from the ECA fund and the increasing debt profile of government in recent times are factored into the benchmark, the real crude oil numerical fiscal rule is (US$82.3 for 2013 which is higher than the official benchmark of $75 used for 2013 and 2014 budget proposal. The paper argues that the current long run price rule based on 5-10 year moving average approach adopted by government is rigid and inflexible as a rule for managing Nigerian oil funds. The unrealistic assumption of the extant benchmark accounted for excessive depletion and lack of accountability of the excess crude oil account. The paper concludes that except the federal government can curtail its spending profligacy and adopts a more stringent fiscal discipline rules, the current benchmark is unrealistic and unsuitable for fiscal management of oil revenue in the context of Nigerian economic spending profile.

  20. Canadian crude oil production and supply forecast 2006-2020

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-05-01

    In order to enable members to plan for pipeline capacity requirements for transporting Canadian crude oil to markets, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) 2006-2020 crude oil production and supply forecast provides a long-range outlook of Canadian crude oil production. It provides a forecast of supply and demand for both western and eastern Canada. Because offshore eastern oil production does not rely on pipeline access to reach markets, the analysis primarily focuses on western Canadian production and supply. Over the next fifteen years, Alberta's oil sands provides the main source of growth in the western Canadian production forecast. A survey of CAPP members encompassing all oil sands projects was conducted. Survey responses reflect both planned and envisioned projects over a fifteen year period, although some of the envisioned projects have been risk adjusted by modifying the potential completion schedules for projects which are deemed more uncertain. Detailed tables are provided on forecast data. Three sets of tables are included to show production, two supply scenarios and a high level assessment of the need for incremental pipeline capacity. The report also discusses delays and risk factors that could slow the pace of oil sands development and the corresponding increase in production being forecast in the base case. 16 tabs

  1. Seahorse (Hippocampus reidi) as a bioindicator of crude oil exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delunardo, Frederico Augusto Cariello; de Carvalho, Luciano Rodrigues; da Silva, Bruno Ferreira; Galão, Michel; Val, Adalberto Luís; Chippari-Gomes, Adriana R

    2015-07-01

    This study explored the suitability of the seahorse Hippocampus reidi (Ginsburg, 1933) for assessing biomarkers of genotoxic effects and its use as a sentinel organism to detect the effects of acute exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons. Fish were exposed to three concentrations of crude oil (10, 20 and 30 g/kg) for 96 h, and the activity of phase II biotransformation enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST) was measured. In addition, we performed genotoxicity assays, such as comet assay, micronucleus (MN) test and nuclear abnormalities (NA) induction, on the erythrocytes of the fish species. Our results revealed that the inhibition of hepatic GST activity in H. reidi was dependent on increasing crude oil concentrations. In contrast, an increase in the damage index (DI) and MN frequency were observed with increased crude oil concentrations. These results indicate that the alkaline comet assay and micronucleus test were suitable and useful in the evaluation of the genotoxicity of crude oil, which could improve determinations of the impact of oil spills on fish populations. In addition, H. reidi is a promising "sentinel organism" to detect the genotoxic impact of petroleum hydrocarbons. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Forecasting short-run crude oil price using high- and low-inventory variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ye, Michael; Zyren, John; Shore, Joanne

    2006-01-01

    Since inventories have a lower bound or a minimum operating level, economic literature suggests a nonlinear relationship between inventory level and commodity prices. This was found to be the case in the short-run crude oil market. In order to explore this inventory-price relationship, two nonlinear inventory variables are defined and derived from the monthly normal level and relative level of OECD crude oil inventories from post 1991 Gulf War to October 2003: one for the low inventory state and another for the high inventory state of the crude oil market. Incorporation of low- and high-inventory variables in a single equation model to forecast short-run WTI crude oil prices enhances the model fit and forecast ability

  3. Effects of different remediation treatments on crude oil contaminated saline soil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Yong-Chao; Guo, Shu-Hai; Wang, Jia-Ning; Li, Dan; Wang, Hui; Zeng, De-Hui

    2014-12-01

    Remediation of the petroleum contaminated soil is essential to maintain the sustainable development of soil ecosystem. Bioremediation using microorganisms and plants is a promising method for the degradation of crude oil contaminants. The effects of different remediation treatments, including nitrogen addition, Suaeda salsa planting, and arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi inoculation individually or combined, on crude oil contaminated saline soil were assessed using a microcosm experiment. The results showed that different remediation treatments significantly affected the physicochemical properties, oil contaminant degradation and bacterial community structure of the oil contaminated saline soil. Nitrogen addition stimulated the degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbon significantly at the initial 30d of remediation. Coupling of different remediation techniques was more effective in degrading crude oil contaminants. Applications of nitrogen, AM fungi and their combination enhanced the phytoremediation efficiency of S. salsa significantly. The main bacterial community composition in the crude oil contaminated saline soil shifted with the remediation processes. γ-Proteobacteria, β-Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the pioneer oil-degraders at the initial stage, and Firmicutes were considered to be able to degrade the recalcitrant components at the later stage. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. In-Situ Burning of Crude Oil on Water

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Gelderen, Laurens

    in the small scale water basin. Boilovers were also observed during the burning of a heavy crude oil with a substantial light fraction without a water layer, however, which suggests that water is not essential for boilover occurrence. Further studies are required to determine the conditions under which......The fire dynamics and fire chemistry of in-situ burning of crude oil on water was studied in order to improve predictions on the suitability of this oil spill response method. For this purpose, several operational parameters were studied to determine the factors that control the burning efficiency...... of in-situ burning, i.e. the amount of oil (in wt%) removed from the water surface by the burning process. The burning efficiency is the main parameter for expressing the oil removal effectiveness of in-situ burning as response method and is thus relevant for suitability predictions of in-situ burning...

  5. Import demand of crude oil and economic growth. Evidence from India

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghosh, Sajal

    2009-01-01

    This study establishes a long-run equilibrium relationship among quantity of crude oil import, income and price of the imported crude in India for the time span 1970-1971 to 2005-2006 using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach of cointegration. Empirical results show that the long-term income elasticity of imported crude in India is 1.97 and there exists a unidirectional long-run causality running from economic growth to crude oil import. So reduction of crude oil import will not affect the future economic growth in India in the long-run. India should take various energy efficiency and demand side management measures in transport sector along with other measures like expanding and strengthening indigenous resource-base, substituting imported fuels by domestic fuels and de-controlling the price of petroleum products to reduce its import dependence. (author)

  6. Influence of asphaltene aggregation and pressure on crude oil emulsion stability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Auflem, Inge Harald

    2002-07-01

    Water-in-crude oil emulsions stabilised by various surface-active components are one of the major problems in relation to petroleum production. This thesis presents results from high-pressure separation experiments on ''live'' crude oil and model oil emulsions, as well as studies of Interactions between various indigenous stabilising materials in crude oil. A high-pressure separation rig was used to study the influence of gas and gas bubbles on the separation of water-in-crude oil emulsions. The results were interpreted as a flotation effect from rising gas bubbles, which led to increased separation efficiency. The separation properties of a ''live'' crude oil were compared to crude oil samples recombined with various gases. The results showed that water-in-oil emulsions produced from the ''live'' crude oil samples, generally separated faster and more complete, than emulsions based on recombined samples of the same crude oil. Adsorption of asphaltenes and resins onto a hydrophilic surface from solutions with varying aromatic/aliphatic character was investigated by a quarts crystal microbalance. The results showed that asphaltenes adsorbed to a larger degree than the resins. The resins were unable to desorb pre-adsorbed asphaltenes from the surface, and neither did they adsorb onto the asphaltene-coated surface. In solutions of both of resins and asphaltenes the two constituents associated in bulk liquid and adsorbed to the surface in the form of mixed aggregates. Near infrared spectroscopy and pulsed field gradient spin echo nuclear magnetic resonance were used to study asphaltene aggregation and the influence of various amphiphiles on the asphaltene aggregate size. The results showed Interactions between the asphaltenes and various chemicals, which were proposed to be due to acid-base interactions. Among the chemicals used were various naphthenic acids. Synthesised monodisperse acids gave a reduction of size of the asphaltene aggregates, whereas polydisperse

  7. Influence of asphaltene aggregation and pressure on crude oil emulsion stability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Auflem, Inge Harald

    2002-07-01

    Water-in-crude oil emulsions stabilised by various surface-active components are one of the major problems in relation to petroleum production. This thesis presents results from high-pressure separation experiments on ''live'' crude oil and model oil emulsions, as well as studies of Interactions between various indigenous stabilising materials in crude oil. A high-pressure separation rig was used to study the influence of gas and gas bubbles on the separation of water-in-crude oil emulsions. The results were interpreted as a flotation effect from rising gas bubbles, which led to increased separation efficiency. The separation properties of a ''live'' crude oil were compared to crude oil samples recombined with various gases. The results showed that water-in-oil emulsions produced from the ''live'' crude oil samples, generally separated faster and more complete, than emulsions based on recombined samples of the same crude oil. Adsorption of asphaltenes and resins onto a hydrophilic surface from solutions with varying aromatic/aliphatic character was investigated by a quarts crystal microbalance. The results showed that asphaltenes adsorbed to a larger degree than the resins. The resins were unable to desorb pre-adsorbed asphaltenes from the surface, and neither did they adsorb onto the asphaltene-coated surface. In solutions of both of resins and asphaltenes the two constituents associated in bulk liquid and adsorbed to the surface in the form of mixed aggregates. Near infrared spectroscopy and pulsed field gradient spin echo nuclear magnetic resonance were used to study asphaltene aggregation and the influence of various amphiphiles on the asphaltene aggregate size. The results showed Interactions between the asphaltenes and various chemicals, which were proposed to be due to acid-base interactions. Among the chemicals used were various naphthenic acids. Synthesised monodisperse acids gave a reduction of

  8. Hedging strategy for crude oil trading and the factors influencing hedging effectiveness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yun, Won-Cheol; Jae Kim, Hyun

    2010-01-01

    This study analyzes the hedging effectiveness of different hedge type and period by Korean oil traders. Both crude oil price and exchange rate risks are considered. Theoretical models are formulated to estimate the hedge ratios by separate and complex hedge types. The hedging period covers 1-12 months. This study also performs some statistical works to investigate the relationship between the hedging effectiveness and the crude oil price sensitivity to exchange rate. In addition, the relationship between the hedging effectiveness and the volatilities of crude oil price and exchange rate is analyzed. (author)

  9. Chemical composition of Pechora Sea crude oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Derkach S. R.

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The physicochemical properties of the Pechora Sea shelf oil and its chemical composition have been studied using the methods of refractometry, titrimetry, viscometry, rheometry and standard methods for the analysis of oil and petroleum products. The fractionation of oil is held at atmospheric pressure, some fractions boiling at the temperature below and above 211 °C have been received. Chemical structural-group composition of oil and its components has been investigated using a Fourier infrared (IR spectroscopy method. The density of oil has been obtained, it is equal to 24.2 API. The chemical composition analysis shows that water content in the investigated oil sample is about 0.03 % (by weight. The oil sample contains hydrocarbons (including alkanes, naphthenes, arenes and asphaltenes with resins; their content is equal to 89 and 10 % (by weight respectively. Alkane content is about 66 %, including alkanes of normal structure – about 37 %. The solidification temperature of oil sample is equal to –43 °C. This low temperature testifies obliquely low content of solid alkanes (paraffin. Bearing in mind the content of asphaltenes with resins we can refer the investigated oil sample to resinous oils. On the other hand spectral coefficient values (aromaticity quotient and aliphaticity quotient show that oil sample belongs to naphthenic oils. According to the data of Fourier IR spectroscopy contents of naphthenes and arenes are 5.9 and 17.8 % respectively. Thus, the obtained data of chemical structural-group composition of crude oil and its fractions indicate that this oil belongs to the heavy resinous naphthenic oils. The rheological parameters obtained at the shear deformation conditions characterize the crude oil as a visco-plastic medium.

  10. Down-hole catalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weissman, J.G.; Kessler, R.V.; Sawicki, R.A.; Belgrave, J.D.M.; Laureshen, C.J.; Mehta, S.A.; Moore, R.G.; Ursenbach, M.G. [University of Calgary, Calgary, AB (Canada). Dept. of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering

    1996-07-01

    Several processing options have been developed to accomplish near-well bore in-situ upgrading of heavy crude oils. These processes are designed to pass oil over a fixed bed of catalyst prior to entering the production well, the catalyst being placed by conventional gravel pack methods. The presence of brine and the need to provide heat and reactant gases in a down-hole environment provide challenges not present in conventional processing. These issues were addressed and the processes demonstrated by use of a modified combustion tube apparatus. Middle-Eastern heavy crude oil and the corresponding brine were used at the appropriate reservoir conditions. In-situ combustion was used to generate reactive gases and to drive fluids over a heated sand or catalysts bed, simulating the catalyst contacting portion of the proposed processes. The heavy crude oil was found to be amenable to in-situ combustion at anticipated reservoir conditions, with a relatively low air requirement. Forcing the oil to flow over a heated zone prior to production results in some upgrading of the oil, as compared to the original oil, due to thermal effects. Passing the oil over a hydroprocessing catalyst located in the heated zone results in a product that is significantly upgraded as compared to either the original oil or thermally processed oil. Catalytic upgrading is due to hydrogenation and the results in about a 50% sulfur removal and an 8{degree} API gravity increase. Additionally, the heated catalyst was found to be efficient at converting CO to additional H{sub 2}. While all of the technologies needed for a successful field trial of in-situ catalytic upgrading exist, a demonstration has yet to be undertaken. 27 refs., 5 figs., 5 tabs.

  11. Comparisons Between Asphaltenes from the Dead and Live-Oil Samples of the Same Crude Oils

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aquino-Olivos, M.A.; Andersen, Simon Ivar; Lira-Galeana, C.

    2003-01-01

    extracted and analyzed. These pressure-driven asphaltenes found on the filter were found to make up in the range between 50 and 100 ppm of the whole crude oil. Opening of the cell did not reveal asphaltenes retained due to wall adhesion. Size exclusion chromatography tests performed on both the live......-oil-derived asphaltenes and the standard asphaltenes as precipitated by atmospheric titration on the same crude oil, revealed that the live-oil asphaltenes had apparent smaller hydrodynamic volume and narrower distributions than the standard asphaltenes for two oils. Further FTIR tests also showed large differences...

  12. Crude oil metabolites in groundwater at two spill sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bekins, Barbara A.; Cozzarelli, Isabelle M.; Erickson, Melinda L.; Steenson, Ross; Thorn, Kevin A.

    2016-01-01

    Two groundwater plumes in north central Minnesota with residual crude oil sources have 20 to 50 mg/L of nonvolatile dissolved organic carbon (NVDOC). These values are over 10 times higher than benzene and two to three times higher than Diesel Range Organics in the same wells. On the basis of previous work, most of the NVDOC consists of partial transformation products from the crude oil. Monitoring data from 1988 to 2015 at one of the sites located near Bemidji, MN show that the plume of metabolites is expanding toward a lakeshore located 335 m from the source zone. Other mass balance studies of the site have demonstrated that the plume expansion is driven by the combined effect of continued presence of the residual crude oil source and depletion of the electron accepting capacity of solid phase iron oxide and hydroxides on the aquifer sediments. These plumes of metabolites are not covered by regulatory monitoring and reporting requirements in Minnesota and other states. Yet, a review of toxicology studies indicates that polar metabolites of crude oil may pose a risk to aquatic and mammalian species. Together the results suggest that at sites where residual sources are present, monitoring of NVDOC may be warranted to evaluate the fates of plumes of hydrocarbon transformation products.

  13. An estimation of crude oil import demand in Turkey: Evidence from time-varying parameters approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ozturk, Ilhan; Arisoy, Ibrahim

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study is to model crude oil import demand and estimate the price and income elasticities of imported crude oil in Turkey based on a time-varying parameters (TVP) approach with the aim of obtaining accurate and more robust estimates of price and income elasticities. This study employs annual time series data of domestic oil consumption, real GDP, and oil price for the period 1966–2012. The empirical results indicate that both the income and price elasticities are in line with the theoretical expectations. However, the income elasticity is statistically significant while the price elasticity is statistically insignificant. The relatively high value of income elasticity (1.182) from this study suggests that crude oil import in Turkey is more responsive to changes in income level. This result indicates that imported crude oil is a normal good and rising income levels will foster higher consumption of oil based equipments, vehicles and services by economic agents. The estimated income elasticity of 1.182 suggests that imported crude oil consumption grows at a higher rate than income. This in turn reduces oil intensity over time. Therefore, crude oil import during the estimation period is substantially driven by income. - Highlights: • We estimated the price and income elasticities of imported crude oil in Turkey. • Income elasticity is statistically significant and it is 1.182. • The price elasticity is statistically insignificant. • Crude oil import in Turkey is more responsive to changes in income level. • Crude oil import during the estimation period is substantially driven by income.

  14. New heavy crude oil flow improver increases delivery : application scenarios

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pierce, J.; Johnston, R.; Lauzon, P. [ConocoPhillips Specialty Products Inc., Houston, TX (United States)

    2009-07-01

    Flow improvers or drag reducing agents have been used for over 25 years as a method to increase fluid flow in hydrocarbon pipelines. The technology is effective in refined projects, light and medium crude oils. This paper presented a new development in flow improver technology that allows treatment of heavy crude oil slates. It discussed case studies of flow improver treatment of heavy oils in various pipeline system as well as factors that affect commercial success. tabs., figs.

  15. Multivariate Time Series Forecasting of Crude Palm Oil Price Using Machine Learning Techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanchymalay, Kasturi; Salim, N.; Sukprasert, Anupong; Krishnan, Ramesh; Raba'ah Hashim, Ummi

    2017-08-01

    The aim of this paper was to study the correlation between crude palm oil (CPO) price, selected vegetable oil prices (such as soybean oil, coconut oil, and olive oil, rapeseed oil and sunflower oil), crude oil and the monthly exchange rate. Comparative analysis was then performed on CPO price forecasting results using the machine learning techniques. Monthly CPO prices, selected vegetable oil prices, crude oil prices and monthly exchange rate data from January 1987 to February 2017 were utilized. Preliminary analysis showed a positive and high correlation between the CPO price and soy bean oil price and also between CPO price and crude oil price. Experiments were conducted using multi-layer perception, support vector regression and Holt Winter exponential smoothing techniques. The results were assessed by using criteria of root mean square error (RMSE), means absolute error (MAE), means absolute percentage error (MAPE) and Direction of accuracy (DA). Among these three techniques, support vector regression(SVR) with Sequential minimal optimization (SMO) algorithm showed relatively better results compared to multi-layer perceptron and Holt Winters exponential smoothing method.

  16. Kurdistan crude oils as feedstock for production of aromatics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdulsalam R. Karim

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Crude oils from various locations in Iraqi Kurdistan were fully evaluated, so that enables refiners to improve their operation by selecting the best crude oil that yields high naphtha content to be used as a catalytic reforming feedstock after determination of total sulfur content and then de sulfurizing them, then cyclizing or reforming these sweet naphtha cuts to produce aromatic fractions which can be split into benzene, toluene, and xylenes.

  17. US crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    This report presents estimates of proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids as of December 31, 1991, as well as production volumes for the United States, and selected States and State subdivisions for the year 1991. Estimates are presented for the following four categories of natural gas: total gas (wet after lease separation), its two major components (nonassociated and associated-dissolved gas), and total dry gas (wet gas adjusted for the removal of liquids at natural gas processing plants). In addition, two components of natural gas liquids, lease condensate and natural gas plant liquids, have their reserves and production data presented. Also included is information on indicated additional crude oil reserves and crude oil, natural gas, and lease condensate reserves in nonproducing reservoirs. A discussion of notable oil and gas exploration and development activities during 1991 is also presented

  18. Experiment on the Influence Factors of Steam Distillation Rate of Crude Oil in Porous Media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tian Guoqing

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available To explore the influence of complexity of reservoir properties in porous media and the diversity of operating conditions on the steam distillation rate of crude oil in the process of heavy oil exploitation with steam injection, steam distillation simulation devices are used to study steam distillation rate of crude oil in porous media. Then steam distillation ratio is obtained under the condition of different core permeability, oil saturation, steam temperatures, system pressure, steam injection rates and steam distillation rates with different viscosities of crude oil. The results show that the steam distillation rate of crude oil in porous media depends mainly on the nature of the crude oil itself, for temperature and pressure are the key factors compared with the pore structure, the initial oil saturation and steam injection rate. The experimental results help estimate the amount of crude oil and the required steam in the reservoir in the steam drive process, aiming to facilitate the optimization design and operation of steam drive.

  19. Volatility spillover between crude oil and exchange rate: A copula-CARR approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pu, Y. J.; Guo, M. Y.

    2017-11-01

    Oil provides a powerful impetus for modern society's production and life. The influences of oil price fluctuations on socio-economic development are obvious, and it draws more attention from scholars. However, the distribution of oil is highly centralized, which leads to the vast majority of oil trading through foreign trade. As a result, exchange rate plays an important role in the oil business. Study on the relationship between exchange rate and crude oil gradually becomes a hot research topic in recent years. In this paper, we use copula and CARR model to study correlation structure and relationship between crude oil price and exchange rate. We establish CARR models as marginal models and use five copulas which are Gaussian Copula, Student-t Copula, Gumbel Copula, Clayton Copula and Frank Copula to study the correlation structure between NYMEX crude oil price range and U. S. Dollar Index range. Furthermore, we use Copula-CARR model with structural breaks to detect the change points in the correlation structure between NYMEX crude oil price range and U. S. Dollar Index range. Empirical results show that the change points are closely related to the actual economic events.

  20. The efficiency of the crude oil markets: Evidence from variance ratio tests

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Charles, Amelie, E-mail: acharles@audencia.co [Audencia Nantes, School of Management, 8 route de la Joneliere, 44312 Nantes (France); Darne, Olivier, E-mail: olivier.darne@univ-nantes.f [LEMNA, University of Nantes, IEMN-IAE, Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, 44322 Nantes (France)

    2009-11-15

    This study examines the random walk hypothesis for the crude oil markets, using daily data over the period 1982-2008. The weak-form efficient market hypothesis for two crude oil markets (UK Brent and US West Texas Intermediate) is tested with non-parametric variance ratio tests developed by [Wright J.H., 2000. Alternative variance-ratio tests using ranks and signs. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 18, 1-9] and [Belaire-Franch J. and Contreras D., 2004. Ranks and signs-based multiple variance ratio tests. Working paper, Department of Economic Analysis, University of Valencia] as well as the wild-bootstrap variance ratio tests suggested by [Kim, J.H., 2006. Wild bootstrapping variance ratio tests. Economics Letters, 92, 38-43]. We find that the Brent crude oil market is weak-form efficiency while the WTI crude oil market seems to be inefficiency on the 1994-2008 sub-period, suggesting that the deregulation have not improved the efficiency on the WTI crude oil market in the sense of making returns less predictable.

  1. The efficiency of the crude oil markets. Evidence from variance ratio tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charles, Amelie; Darne, Olivier

    2009-01-01

    This study examines the random walk hypothesis for the crude oil markets, using daily data over the period 1982-2008. The weak-form efficient market hypothesis for two crude oil markets (UK Brent and US West Texas Intermediate) is tested with non-parametric variance ratio tests developed by [Wright J.H., 2000. Alternative variance-ratio tests using ranks and signs. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 18, 1-9] and [Belaire-Franch J. and Contreras D., 2004. Ranks and signs-based multiple variance ratio tests. Working paper, Department of Economic Analysis, University of Valencia] as well as the wild-bootstrap variance ratio tests suggested by [Kim, J.H., 2006. Wild bootstrapping variance ratio tests. Economics Letters, 92, 38-43]. We find that the Brent crude oil market is weak-form efficiency while the WTI crude oil market seems to be inefficiency on the 1994-2008 sub-period, suggesting that the deregulation have not improved the efficiency on the WTI crude oil market in the sense of making returns less predictable. (author)

  2. The efficiency of the crude oil markets. Evidence from variance ratio tests

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Charles, Amelie [Audencia Nantes, School of Management, 8 route de la Joneliere, 44312 Nantes (France); Darne, Olivier [LEMNA, University of Nantes, IEMN-IAE, Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, 44322 Nantes (France)

    2009-11-15

    This study examines the random walk hypothesis for the crude oil markets, using daily data over the period 1982-2008. The weak-form efficient market hypothesis for two crude oil markets (UK Brent and US West Texas Intermediate) is tested with non-parametric variance ratio tests developed by [Wright J.H., 2000. Alternative variance-ratio tests using ranks and signs. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 18, 1-9] and [Belaire-Franch J. and Contreras D., 2004. Ranks and signs-based multiple variance ratio tests. Working paper, Department of Economic Analysis, University of Valencia] as well as the wild-bootstrap variance ratio tests suggested by [Kim, J.H., 2006. Wild bootstrapping variance ratio tests. Economics Letters, 92, 38-43]. We find that the Brent crude oil market is weak-form efficiency while the WTI crude oil market seems to be inefficiency on the 1994-2008 sub-period, suggesting that the deregulation have not improved the efficiency on the WTI crude oil market in the sense of making returns less predictable. (author)

  3. Crude oil import policy of Turkey: Historical analysis of determinants and implications since 1968

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ediger, Volkan S.; Berk, Istemi

    2011-01-01

    Turkey is one of the most energy import dependent countries in the world, suffering deeply from the economic and strategic burdens of oil importation. Our purpose is to determine the factors behind the crude oil import policy of Turkey and to measure their contribution to a well-organized import strategy. We implemented a principle component analysis to construct an Oil Import Vulnerability Index (OIVI) based on four factors, which are crude oil import dependency of primary energy consumption, crude oil import bill as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), non-diversification of import sources, and share of oil in total energy import. The contribution of these factors to the OIVI is found to be approximately equal. While an overall deterioration in the OIVI has been observed during periods of increasing oil prices, better diversification of oil import sources has lead to significant improvements. We suggest Turkish policy-makers implement sound policies, emphasizing diversification of crude oil import sources and reduction of the share of crude oil in primary energy imports to increase energy supply security. This study has also demonstrated that it is possible to construct an index representing crude oil vulnerability caused by import dependency. - Research highlights: →We examine the factors lying behind the crude oil import policy of Turkey. → We measure the contribution of each factor to a well-organized import strategy. → We constrtuct an Oil Import Vulnerability Index using principle component analysis. → We suggest that four factors affect oil import policies with almost equal weights. → Source diversification is found to be the core issue in oil import policies.

  4. Crude oil import policy of Turkey: Historical analysis of determinants and implications since 1968

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ediger, Volkan S., E-mail: volkanediger@gmail.co [Izmir University of Economics, Sakarya Caddesi, No. 156, 35330 Izmir (Turkey); Berk, Istemi [Izmir University of Economics, Sakarya Caddesi, No. 156, 35330 Izmir (Turkey)

    2011-04-15

    Turkey is one of the most energy import dependent countries in the world, suffering deeply from the economic and strategic burdens of oil importation. Our purpose is to determine the factors behind the crude oil import policy of Turkey and to measure their contribution to a well-organized import strategy. We implemented a principle component analysis to construct an Oil Import Vulnerability Index (OIVI) based on four factors, which are crude oil import dependency of primary energy consumption, crude oil import bill as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), non-diversification of import sources, and share of oil in total energy import. The contribution of these factors to the OIVI is found to be approximately equal. While an overall deterioration in the OIVI has been observed during periods of increasing oil prices, better diversification of oil import sources has lead to significant improvements. We suggest Turkish policy-makers implement sound policies, emphasizing diversification of crude oil import sources and reduction of the share of crude oil in primary energy imports to increase energy supply security. This study has also demonstrated that it is possible to construct an index representing crude oil vulnerability caused by import dependency. - Research highlights: {yields}We examine the factors lying behind the crude oil import policy of Turkey. {yields} We measure the contribution of each factor to a well-organized import strategy. {yields} We constrtuct an Oil Import Vulnerability Index using principle component analysis. {yields} We suggest that four factors affect oil import policies with almost equal weights. {yields} Source diversification is found to be the core issue in oil import policies.

  5. Tanker spills Norwegian crude oil off Shetlands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1993-01-01

    This paper reports that crude oil was spilling last week from the U.S. owned Braer tanker after the 89,000 dwt vessel ran aground on the south end of Scotland's Shetland Islands. Workers were trying to assess the extent of damage to the tanker, shoreline, and wildlife after the January 5 accident. Braer's cargo amounted to 607,000 bbl of Norwegian oil bound for Canada. Braer loaded its cargo and sailed January 3 from Den norske stats oljeselskap AS's Mongstad, Norway, terminal with crude from Gullfaks field in the Norwegian North Sea. The $11 million shipment was destined for Ultramar Canada Inc.'s 125,000 b/d refinery at St. Romuald, Que

  6. Biosurfactant production by Mucor circinelloides on waste frying oil and possible uses in crude oil remediation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasanizadeh, Parvin; Moghimi, Hamid; Hamedi, Javad

    2017-10-01

    Biosurfactants are biocompatible surface active agents which many microorganisms produce. This study investigated the production of biosurfactants by Mucor circinelloides. The effects of different factors on biosurfactant production, including carbon sources and concentrations, nitrogen sources, and iron (II) concentration, were studied and the optimum condition determined. Finally, the strain's ability to remove the crude oil and its relationship with biosurfactant production was evaluated. The results showed that M. circinelloides could reduce the surface tension of the culture medium to 26.6 mN/m and create a clear zone of 12.9 cm diameter in an oil-spreading test. The maximum surface tension reduction was recorded 3 days after incubation. The optimum condition for biosurfactant production was achieved in the presence of 8% waste frying oil as a carbon source, 2 g/L yeast extract as a nitrogen source, and 0.01 mM FeSO 4 . M. circinelloides could consume 8% waste frying oil in 5 days of incubation, and 87.6% crude oil in 12 days of incubation. A direct correlation was observed between oil degradation and surface tension reduction in the first 3 days of fungal growth. The results showed that the waste frying oil could be recommended as an inexpensive oily waste substance for biosurfactant production, and M. circinelloides could have the potential to treat waste frying oil. According to the results, the produced crude biosurfactant or fungal strain could be directly used for the mycoremediation of crude oil contamination in oil fields.

  7. Speculation and volatility spillover in the crude oil and agricultural commodity markets: A Bayesian analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Du Xiaodong; Yu, Cindy L.; Hayes, Dermot J.

    2011-01-01

    This paper assesses factors that potentially influence the volatility of crude oil prices and the possible linkage between this volatility and agricultural commodity markets. Stochastic volatility models are applied to weekly crude oil, corn, and wheat futures prices from November 1998 to January 2009. Model parameters are estimated using Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. Speculation, scalping, and petroleum inventories are found to be important in explaining the volatility of crude oil prices. Several properties of crude oil price dynamics are established, including mean-reversion, an asymmetry between returns and volatility, volatility clustering, and infrequent compound jumps. We find evidence of volatility spillover among crude oil, corn, and wheat markets after the fall of 2006. This can be largely explained by tightened interdependence between crude oil and these commodity markets induced by ethanol production.

  8. Optimization of China Crude Oil Transportation Network with Genetic Ant Colony Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yao Wang

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Taking into consideration both shipping and pipeline transport, this paper first analysed the risk factors for different modes of crude oil import transportation. Then, based on the minimum of both transportation cost and overall risk, a multi-objective programming model was established to optimize the transportation network of crude oil import, and the genetic algorithm and ant colony algorithm were employed to solve the problem. The optimized result shows that VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier is superior in long distance sea transportation, whereas pipeline transport is more secure than sea transport. Finally, this paper provides related safeguard suggestions on crude oil import transportation.

  9. Interactions between zooplankton and crude oil: toxic effects and bioaccumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo Almeda

    Full Text Available We conducted ship-, shore- and laboratory-based crude oil exposure experiments to investigate (1 the effects of crude oil (Louisiana light sweet oil on survival and bioaccumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs in mesozooplankton communities, (2 the lethal effects of dispersant (Corexit 9500A and dispersant-treated oil on mesozooplankton, (3 the influence of UVB radiation/sunlight exposure on the toxicity of dispersed crude oil to mesozooplankton, and (4 the role of marine protozoans on the sublethal effects of crude oil and in the bioaccumulation of PAHs in the copepod Acartia tonsa. Mortality of mesozooplankton increased with increasing oil concentration following a sigmoid model with a median lethal concentration of 32.4 µl L(-1 in 16 h. At the ratio of dispersant to oil commonly used in the treatment of oil spills (i.e. 1∶20, dispersant (0.25 µl L(-1 and dispersant-treated oil were 2.3 and 3.4 times more toxic, respectively, than crude oil alone (5 µl L(-1 to mesozooplankton. UVB radiation increased the lethal effects of dispersed crude oil in mesozooplankton communities by 35%. We observed selective bioaccumulation of five PAHs, fluoranthene, phenanthrene, pyrene, chrysene and benzo[b]fluoranthene in both mesozooplankton communities and in the copepod A. tonsa. The presence of the protozoan Oxyrrhis marina reduced sublethal effects of oil on A. tonsa and was related to lower accumulations of PAHs in tissues and fecal pellets, suggesting that protozoa may be important in mitigating the harmful effects of crude oil exposure in copepods and the transfer of PAHs to higher trophic levels. Overall, our results indicate that the negative impact of oil spills on mesozooplankton may be increased by the use of chemical dispersant and UV radiation, but attenuated by crude oil-microbial food webs interactions, and that both mesozooplankton and protozoans may play an important role in fate of PAHs in marine environments.

  10. Interactions between Zooplankton and Crude Oil: Toxic Effects and Bioaccumulation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almeda, Rodrigo; Wambaugh, Zoe; Wang, Zucheng; Hyatt, Cammie; Liu, Zhanfei; Buskey, Edward J.

    2013-01-01

    We conducted ship-, shore- and laboratory-based crude oil exposure experiments to investigate (1) the effects of crude oil (Louisiana light sweet oil) on survival and bioaccumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in mesozooplankton communities, (2) the lethal effects of dispersant (Corexit 9500A) and dispersant-treated oil on mesozooplankton, (3) the influence of UVB radiation/sunlight exposure on the toxicity of dispersed crude oil to mesozooplankton, and (4) the role of marine protozoans on the sublethal effects of crude oil and in the bioaccumulation of PAHs in the copepod Acartia tonsa. Mortality of mesozooplankton increased with increasing oil concentration following a sigmoid model with a median lethal concentration of 32.4 µl L−1 in 16 h. At the ratio of dispersant to oil commonly used in the treatment of oil spills (i.e. 1∶20), dispersant (0.25 µl L−1) and dispersant- treated oil were 2.3 and 3.4 times more toxic, respectively, than crude oil alone (5 µl L−1) to mesozooplankton. UVB radiation increased the lethal effects of dispersed crude oil in mesozooplankton communities by 35%. We observed selective bioaccumulation of five PAHs, fluoranthene, phenanthrene, pyrene, chrysene and benzo[b]fluoranthene in both mesozooplankton communities and in the copepod A. tonsa. The presence of the protozoan Oxyrrhis marina reduced sublethal effects of oil on A. tonsa and was related to lower accumulations of PAHs in tissues and fecal pellets, suggesting that protozoa may be important in mitigating the harmful effects of crude oil exposure in copepods and the transfer of PAHs to higher trophic levels. Overall, our results indicate that the negative impact of oil spills on mesozooplankton may be increased by the use of chemical dispersant and UV radiation, but attenuated by crude oil-microbial food webs interactions, and that both mesozooplankton and protozoans may play an important role in fate of PAHs in marine environments. PMID:23840628

  11. Comparative Toxicity of Different Crude Oils on the Cardiac Function of Marine Medaka (Oryzias melastigma Embryo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhendong Zhang

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The acute toxic effect of different crude oils (heavy crude oil and bonny light crude oil on embryos of marine medaka Oryzias melastigma was measured and evaluated by exposure to the water-accommodated fraction (WAF in the present study. The cardiac function of medaka embryos was used as target organ of ecotoxicological effect induced by oil exposure. Results showed that the developing marine medaka heart was a sensitive target organ to crude oil exposure the heavy crude oil WAF was more toxic to cardiac function of medaka embryos than bonny light cured oil one. Cardiac function of medaka embryos was clearly affected by exposure to heavy crude oil WAF after 24 hours exposure and showed a dose-dependent slowing of heart rate. Furthermore, swelled and enlarged heart morphology, lowered blood circulation and accumulation of blood cells around the heart area were found. However, the toxic effect of bonny light crude oil on cardiac function of medaka embryos was comparatively low. Statistical results showed that the cardiac function was only affected by highest bonny light crude oil WAF (9.8 mg/L exposure treatment. These findings indicated that cardiac function of marine medaka embryo was a good toxicity model for oil pollution and could be used to compare and evaluate the toxicity of different crude oils. The heart rate was an appropriate endpoint in the acute toxicity test.

  12. Workshop Papers: Directions and Marketing of Synthetic Crude Oil and Heavy Oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    This workshop was organized by the National Centre for Upgrading Technology in an effort to bring together experts from the various sectors of the petroleum industry to outline their views of the directions that the synthetic crude oil market will pursue over the next decade and into the 21. century. The motivation for the Workshop came from the many announcements during 1996 and 1997 by several Canadian oil companies about plans to initiate or expand their heavy oil and synthetic crude production. During the same period, at least one US refiner also announced plans to revamp an existing refinery to allow it to process Canadian heavy oil and synthetic crude. The workshop was organized to review these plans and to discuss such questions as (1) Would the selected technologies be the familiar carbon rejection or hydrogen addition methods, or would there be radical advanced technologies? (2) Would the products be fully or partially upgraded? (3) How would they be processed in the refinery? (4) Would there be a market? This collection of papers or viewgraphs comprise all the formal presentations given at the workshop. The final section also contains the edited notes recorded during the question and answer periods. refs., tabs., figs

  13. Refining crude oils and gasolines, etc

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1931-11-23

    A process of refining crude oils and gasolines distilled from shale and the like is described, consisting of submitting them to a prewash with soda, an oxidation preferably with hypochlorite solution, a hydrogenation with nascent hydrogen, and finally rectification and neutralization.

  14. The role of Canadian heavy crude oil in the North American market

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mink, F J; Antonia, H A

    1977-01-01

    Canadian reserves of heavy gravity crude oil are vast and the potential producibility from those reserves is expected to be surplus to Canadian requirements into the 1990s. This study focuses on the impact that market constraints may have on the future supply of heavy gravity crude oils from the W. Canadian basin. It observes that severe export restrictions will not only limit the orderly development of available reserves in the area but also will impair the prospects of additional enhanced recovery of conventional heavy crude reserves and restrict future experimental applications of oil sands recovery in the Cold Lake deposit of Alberta. Since it is expected that export restrictions for heavy gravity crude oil will be lifted in the future, the outlook for expanded development of indigenous reserves is promising.

  15. Characterization of dioxygenases and biosurfactants produced by crude oil degrading soil bacteria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Santhakumar Muthukamalam

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Role of microbes in bioremediation of oil spills has become inevitable owing to their eco friendly nature. This study focused on the isolation and characterization of bacterial strains with superior oil degrading potential from crude-oil contaminated soil. Three such bacterial strains were selected and subsequently identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis as Corynebacterium aurimucosum, Acinetobacter baumannii and Microbacterium hydrocarbonoxydans respectively. The specific activity of catechol 1,2 dioxygenase (C12O and catechol 2,3 dioxygenase (C23O was determined in these three strains wherein the activity of C12O was more than that of C23O. Among the three strains, Microbacterium hydrocarbonoxydans exhibited superior crude oil degrading ability as evidenced by its superior growth rate in crude oil enriched medium and enhanced activity of dioxygenases. Also degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH in crude oil was higher with Microbacterium hydrocarbonoxydans. The three strains also produced biosurfactants of glycolipid nature as indicated d by biochemical, FTIR and GCMS analysis. These findings emphasize that such bacterial strains with superior oil degrading capacity may find their potential application in bioremediation of oil spills and conservation of marine and soil ecosystem.

  16. Film self-assembly properties of vacuum residua from crude oil and correlation to the stability of water/crude oil emulsions[Supercritical fluid extraction and fractional technology (SFEF)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peng, Bo

    2005-07-01

    In this thesis, SFEF technology has been used to obtain a fine separation of vacuum residua. Three kinds of vacuum residua from Iranian Heavy Crude Oil, Iranian Light Crude Oil and Daqing Crude Oil have been separated respectively into three series narrow cut fractions as a function of the average molecular weight. And their molecular parameters have been characterized by Vapour Pressure Osmometry(VPO) system, Ultraviolet(UV) spectroscopy, Infrared(IR) spectroscopy as well as by elemental analysis. The various fractions of vacuum residua have been added to an oil/water model system. The oil phase used was pure heptane, pure toluene, a mixture of heptane and toluene etc. Various properties of the interfacial film have been studied such as the self-assembly properties, interfacial tension and interfacial viscosity, etc. The self-assembly procedure of interfacial film of vacuum residua fractions were focused by means of the Wilhelmy plate method (Paper 1). The self-assembly states of interfacial film of vacuum residua fraction from Iranian Heavy and Daqing crude oil have been revealed by using Langmuir-Blodgett technology respectively (Paper II and Paper III). From measurement of the interfacial shear viscosity, the mechanical strength of the interfacial film formed by the vacuum residua fraction has been described (Paper IV) and the roles of the surfactants added in the interfacial film have been confirmed (Paper V). At the same time, the oil/water interfacial tensions of vacuum residua fractions from the three kinds of crude oil have been studied and compared (Paper VI and Paper VII). Characteristic properties of emulsions stabilized by the vacuum residua, such as Zeta potential (Paper VIII) and particle size distribution (Paper IX), have also been studied. An attempt has been made to explain the variations of emulsion properties in terms of the interfacial self-assembly of vacuum residua fractions. Finally, based up the above research and using chemometric methods

  17. Application of microbiological methods for secondary oil recovery from the Carpathian crude oil reservoirs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Karaskiewicz, J

    1974-01-01

    The investigation made it possible to isolate from different ecologic environmental (soil, crude oil, formation water, industrial wastes) bacteria cultures of the genus Arthrobacter, Clostridium, Mycobacterium, Peptococcus, and Pseudomonas. These heterotrophic bacteria are characterized by a high metabolic and biogeochemical activity hydrocarbon transformation. Experiments on a technical scale were conducted from 1961 to 1971 in 20 wells; in this study, only the 16 most typical examples are discussed. The experiments were conducted in Carpathian crude oil reservoirs. To each well, a 500:1 mixture of the so-called bacteria vaccine (containing an active biomass of cultures obtained by a specific cultivation method and holding 6 x 10/sup 5/ bacteria cells in 1 ml of fluid, 2,000 kg of molasses, and 50 cu m of water originating from the reservoir submitted to treatment) was injected at 500 to 1,200 m. The intensification of the microbiological processes in the reservoir was observed. This phenomenon occurred not only in the wells to which the bacteria vaccine was injected, but also in the surrounding producing wells. At the same time, an increase in the crude oil production occurred on the average within the range from 20 to 200% and the surpluses of crude oil production continued for 2 to 8 yr. (92 refs.)

  18. Price and income elasticities of crude oil import demand in South Africa: A cointegration analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ziramba, Emmanuel

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines the demand for imported crude oil in South Africa as a function of real income and the price of crude oil over the period 1980-2006. We carried out the Johansen co integration multivariate analysis to determine the long-run income and price elasticities. A unique long-run cointegration relationship exists between crude oil imports and the explanatory variables. The short-run dynamics are estimated by specifying a general error correction model. The estimated long-run price and income elasticities of -0.147 and 0.429 suggest that import demand for crude oil is price and income inelastic. There is also evidence of unidirectional long-run causality running from real GDP to crude oil imports. - Research Highlights: →The paper examines the demand for imported crude oil in South Africa over the period 1980-2006. → The estimated long-run price and income elasticities are -0.147 and 0.429, respectively. → There is evidence of unidirectional long-run causality running from real GDP to crude oil imports.

  19. Price and income elasticities of crude oil import demand in South Africa: A cointegration analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ziramba, Emmanuel, E-mail: zirame@unisa.ac.z [Department of Economics, University of South Africa, P.O Box 392, Unisa 0003 (South Africa)

    2010-12-15

    This paper examines the demand for imported crude oil in South Africa as a function of real income and the price of crude oil over the period 1980-2006. We carried out the Johansen co integration multivariate analysis to determine the long-run income and price elasticities. A unique long-run cointegration relationship exists between crude oil imports and the explanatory variables. The short-run dynamics are estimated by specifying a general error correction model. The estimated long-run price and income elasticities of -0.147 and 0.429 suggest that import demand for crude oil is price and income inelastic. There is also evidence of unidirectional long-run causality running from real GDP to crude oil imports. - Research Highlights: {yields}The paper examines the demand for imported crude oil in South Africa over the period 1980-2006. {yields} The estimated long-run price and income elasticities are -0.147 and 0.429, respectively. {yields} There is evidence of unidirectional long-run causality running from real GDP to crude oil imports.

  20. Well-to-refinery emissions and net-energy analysis of China's crude-oil supply

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masnadi, Mohammad S.; El-Houjeiri, Hassan M.; Schunack, Dominik; Li, Yunpo; Roberts, Samori O.; Przesmitzki, Steven; Brandt, Adam R.; Wang, Michael

    2018-03-01

    Oil is China's second-largest energy source, so it is essential to understand the country's greenhouse gas emissions from crude-oil production. Chinese crude supply is sourced from numerous major global petroleum producers. Here, we use a per-barrel well-to-refinery life-cycle analysis model with data derived from hundreds of public and commercial sources to model the Chinese crude mix and the upstream carbon intensities and energetic productivity of China's crude supply. We generate a carbon-denominated supply curve representing Chinese crude-oil supply from 146 oilfields in 20 countries. The selected fields are estimated to emit between 1.5 and 46.9 g CO2eq MJ-1 of oil, with volume-weighted average emissions of 8.4 g CO2eq MJ-1. These estimates are higher than some existing databases, illustrating the importance of bottom-up models to support life-cycle analysis databases. This study provides quantitative insight into China's energy policy and the economic and environmental implications of China's oil consumption.

  1. New contact system in crude oil desalting process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forero, J; Duque; Diaz, J; Nunez, A; Guarin, F; Carvajal, F

    2001-01-01

    The effect of the ICP contactor and the mixture valve on the desalting process was evaluated as a contact system in the crude oil washing process. The evaluation was carried out in the two desalters at the Cartagena refinery (GRC) and a desalter at the Barrancabermeja refinery (GCB) of ECOPETROL. The pressure drop was measured and the efficiency of the desalting processes, dehydration and hydrocarbon crude intake in the water was calculated based on the BS and W measurement, salt content and hydrocarbon concentration in the water. Results showed that the contactor improved desalting, water in the crude oil was reduced and crude carry-over in the wastewater was reduced between 50 and 92% at the Barrancabermeja refinery, and between 40 and 95% at the Cartagena refinery, which mean savings of approximately us$ 373.000 dollars per year at both refineries, due to the fact that less water is loaded into the process. Furthermore, hydrocarbon 1055 in wastewater was reduced by about 3650 barrels per year. The pressure drop was reduced between 88 and 94 % in relation to the mixing valve

  2. Effects of selected thermophilic microorganisms on crude oils at elevated temperatures and pressures. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Premuzic, E.T.; Lin, M.S.

    1995-07-01

    During the past several years, a considerable amount of work has been carried out showing that microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is promising and the resulting biotechnology may be deliverable. At the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), systematic studies have been conducted which dealt with the effects of thermophilic and thermoadapted bacteria on the chemical and physical properties of selected types of crude oils at elevated temperatures and pressures. Particular attention was paid to heavy crude oils from Venezuela, California, Alabama, Arkansas, Wyoming, Alaska, and other oil producing areas. Current studies indicate that during the biotreatment several chemical and physical properties of crude oils are affected. The oils are (1) emulsified; (2) acidified; (3) there is a qualitative and quantitative change in light and heavy fractions of the crudes; (4) there are chemical changes in fractions containing sulfur compounds; (5) there is an apparent reduction in the concentration of trace metals; (6) the qualitative and quantitative changes appear to be microbial species dependent; and (7) there is a distinction between {open_quotes}biodegraded{close_quotes} and {open_quotes}biotreated{close_quotes} oils. Preliminary results indicate the introduced microorganisms may become the dominant species in the bioconversion of oils. These studies also indicate the biochemical interactions between crude oils and microorganisms follow distinct trends, characterized by a group of chemical markers. Core-flooding experiments have shown significant additional crude oil recoveries are achievable with thermophilic microorganisms at elevated temperatures similar to those found in oil reservoirs. In addition, the biochemical treatment of crude oils has technological applications in downstream processing of crude oils such as in upgrading of low grade oils and the production of hydrocarbon based detergents.

  3. Formulation of best-fit hydrophile/lipophile balance-dielectric permittivity demulsifiers for treatment of crude oil emulsions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C.M. Ojinnaka

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The commerce of crude oil depends heavily on its water and salt contents usually referred to as Basic Sediments and Water (BS&W, which is co-produced with the crude oil in the form of emulsion. The lower the BS&W, the higher the market value of the crude. The presence of water in crude oil causes corrosion, lowers capacity utilization of production and processing plant parts and pipelines, reduces oil recovery and increases the oil content of the effluent water. The stabilizing factors of crude oil emulsions vary from one oil field to the other and with time in the same well as co-produced water increases, or after a well treatment and Enhanced Oil Recovery Operations (EOR. Periodical assessment and possible change of demulsifiers employed is therefore necessary at certain stages of crude oil productions, but this is not encouraged due to lack of general formulation procedures and the rigorous nature of bottle test method that is currently being used for assessment and selection. In this paper, the factors that affect the stability of crude oil emulsions are presented. Efforts of researchers in formulating demulsifiers based on these factors and their screening methods were reviewed. The context sets the stage for further exploration of possible relationship(s between the physical parameters of the crude oil and the demulsifiers, and exploiting same in the formulation of new demulsifiers capable of resolving crude oil emulsions using chemicals with improved surface activity and crude extracts of indigenous plants.

  4. Characterization of crude oils and petroleum products: (I Elution liquid chromatographic separation and gas chromatographic analysis of crude oils and petroleum products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E.O. Odebunmi

    2002-12-01

    Full Text Available Some physical and chemical properties of samples of light, medium and heavy Nigerian crude oils and petroleum products including gasoline, kerosene and engine oil have been measured and are reported in this paper. The crude oils and petroleum products have also been characterized by fractional distillation and elution liquid chromatography. The fractions obtained from elution liquid chromatography were analyzed using gas chromatography (GC. The GC fractions were identified by comparing the retention time of peaks in the unknown samples with those of components of calibration standard mixtures. The importance of the physico-chemical properties and the significance of the fractional distillation and chromatographic separation methods to industrial process operations have been discussed.

  5. Reduction of Sulphur Content of Urals Crude Oil Prior to Processing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The presence of sulphur in crude oil poses enormous challenges as regards its negative environmental and economic impacts. As such, the safety of the personnel and the equipment is at high risk during the processing of Urals crude oil in Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) because of its sour nature.

  6. Effects of crude oil pollution on the germination of Zea mays and Capsicum frutescens

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amakiri, J.O.; Onofeghara, F.A.

    1984-01-01

    The effects of crude oil pollution on the germination of Zea mays F7 and F27 and Capsicum frutescens were investigated. Crude oil was found to inhibit the germination of all the seed types used. The rate of germination decreased signficantly with increase in the length of the period of presoaking. The germination percentage of oil-soaked seeds of Zea mays also fell significantly with time. Seeds of Capsicum frutescens are most tolerant of crude oil in their germination response. The seeds were found to retain almost 100% viability after nearly 1 year of presoaking in crude oil. The lag phase preceding the germination of such seeds, however, increased threefold. Germination inhibition is attributed primarily to the physical surface characteristics of soil, which make it function as a physical barrier to water and oxygen. However, crude oil, where it penetrates, may be toxic to the embryos.

  7. Level shift two-components autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity modelling for WTI crude oil market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sin, Kuek Jia; Cheong, Chin Wen; Hooi, Tan Siow

    2017-04-01

    This study aims to investigate the crude oil volatility using a two components autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH) model with the inclusion of abrupt jump feature. The model is able to capture abrupt jumps, news impact, clustering volatility, long persistence volatility and heavy-tailed distributed error which are commonly observed in the crude oil time series. For the empirical study, we have selected the WTI crude oil index from year 2000 to 2016. The results found that by including the multiple-abrupt jumps in ARCH model, there are significant improvements of estimation evaluations as compared with the standard ARCH models. The outcomes of this study can provide useful information for risk management and portfolio analysis in the crude oil markets.

  8. Identification of CYP1A inducing compounds in crude oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khan, C.W.; Hodson, P.V. [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada). Dept. of Biology; Hollebone, B.P.; Wang, Z. [Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Environmental Technology Advancement Directorate; Brown, R.S. [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada). Dept. of Chemistry

    2004-07-01

    One of the major sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aquatic ecosystems is crude oil. PAHs are responsible for developmental malformations in the early life stages of fish. The induction of CYP1A enzyme is characteristic of developmental toxicity caused by crude oil. As such, it is an effective biomarker of PAH uptake. It is not known which PAHs cause toxicity because of the complex chemical composition of crude oil. In this study, an approach called Toxicity Identification and Evaluation (TIE) was used with different crude oils to separate bioavailable PAHs into petroleum sub-fractions. The extent of CYP1A induction in rainbow trout was measured after 48 hour exposures to each fraction. Low temperature vacuum distillation was used to create white gas, kerosene, coal tar/bitumen and wax fractions. Hepatic CYP1A activity was induced by whole oil and some fractions. The highest PAH concentration was found in the coal tar/bitumen fraction which accounted for most CYP1A induction in whole oil. The wax fraction also caused moderate CYP1A induction, but the white gas fraction did not cause any CYP1A induction. The hypothesis that alkyl PAH may be the most significant source of CYP1A inducers in the coal tar/bitumen fraction was supported by chemical analysis of CYP1A induction potency. Results showed that benzo[a]pyrene accounts for nearly all of the CYP1A induction caused by the wax fraction.

  9. Crude oil prices: Speculation versus fundamentals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolodziej, Marek Krzysztof

    Beginning in 2004, the price of crude oil fluctuates rapidly over a wide range. Large and rapid price increases have recessionary consequences and dampen long-term infrastructural investment. I investigate whether price changes are driven by market fundamentals or speculation. With regard to market fundamentals, I revisit econometric evidence for the importance of demand shocks, as proxied by dry maritime cargo rates, on oil prices. When I eliminate transportation costs from both sides of the equation, disaggregate OPEC and non-OPEC production, and allow for more than one cointegrating relation, I find that previous specifications are inconsistent with arguments that demand shocks play an important role. Instead, results confirm the importance of OPEC supply shocks. I investigate two channels by which speculation may affect oil prices; the direct effect of trader behavior and changes in oil from a commodity to a financial asset. With regard to trader behavior, I find evidence that trader positions are required to explain the spread between spot and futures prices of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The inclusion of trader positions clarifies the process of equilibrium error correction, such that there is bidirectional causality between prices and trader positions. This creates the possibility of speculative bubbles. With regard to oil as a commodity and/or financial asset, I use a Kalman Filter model to estimate the time-varying partial correlation between returns to investments in equity and oil markets. This correlation changes from negative to positive at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. The low interest rates used to rescue the economy depress convenience yields, which reduces the benefits of holding oil as a commodity. Instead, oil becomes a financial asset (on net) as the oil market changed from contango to backwardation. Contradicting simple political narratives, my research suggests that both market fundamentals and speculation drive

  10. Performance of Diesel Engine Using Blended Crude Jatropha Oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamarudin, Kamarul Azhar; Mohd Sazali, Nor Shahida Akma; Mohd Ali, Mas Fauzi; Alimin, Ahmad Jais; Khir, Saffiah Abdullah

    2010-06-01

    Vegetable oil presents a very promising alternative to diesel oil since it is renewable and has similar properties to the diesel. In view of this, crude jatropha oil is selected and its viscosity is reduced by blending it with diesel. Since jatropha oil has properties which are similar to mineral diesel, it can be used in compression ignition engines without any engine modification. This paper presents the results of investigation carried out on a four-cylinder, four strokes and indirect-injection diesel engine. The engine, operated using composition blends of crude jatropha oil and diesel, were compared with mineral diesel. An experimental investigation has been carried out to analyze the performance characteristics of a compression ignition engine from the blended fuel (5%, 10%, 20% and 30%). A naturally aspirated four-stroke indirect injection diesel engine was tested at full load conditions, speeds between 1000 and 3500 rpm with intervals of 500 rpm. Results obtained from the measures of torque, power, specific fuel consumptions, thermal efficiency and brake mean effective pressure are nearly the same between blended and diesel fuel. An overall graph shows that the performance of relevant parameters from blended fuel is most likely similar to the performance produced from diesel. The experimental results proved that the use of crude jatropha oil in compression ignition engines is a viable alternative to diesel.

  11. Distillation fraction-specific ecotoxicological evaluation of a paraffin-rich crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Erlacher, Elisabeth; Loibner, Andreas P.; Kendler, Romana; Scherr, Kerstin E.

    2013-01-01

    Crude oil is a complex mixture of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHC) with distinct chemical, physical and toxicological properties relevant for contaminated site risk assessment. Ecotoxicological effects of crude oil distillation fractions on luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri), earthworms (Dendrobaena hortensis) and invertebrates (Heterocypris incongruens) were tested using two spiked soils and their elutriates. Fraction 2 (F2) had an equivalent carbon number (ECN) range of >10 to 16, and F3 from >16 to 39. F2 showed a substantially higher ecotoxicological effect than F3 for Vibrio and Dendrobaena. In contrast, severe inhibition of Heterocypris by the poorly soluble F3 is attributed to mechanical organ blockage. Immediate sequestration of PHC to the organic matter-rich soil effected reduced toxicity for all organisms. This study indicates that a more differentiated consideration (i) of PHC mixtures based on ECN range and (ii) of model soil properties employed for ecotoxicity testing should be included into PHC-contaminated site risk assessment. -- Highlights: ► Crude oil distillates show distinctly different effects on receptor organisms. ► Toxicity of the higher boiling point Fraction is attributed to physical effects. ► TPH sorption to the organic-matter rich soil occurred immediately after spiking. -- A differentiated consideration of the prevailing crude oil distillation fractions and of model soil properties employed for ecotoxicity testing should be included into the risk assessment of crude oil contaminated sites

  12. The US gasoline situation and crude oil prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    2004-01-01

    Before and during the United States' summer driving season, concern over the country's gasoline supply can potentially influence the direction of the petroleum market. There are three causes of concern: a persistent lack of gasoline-producing capacity; a patchwork of as many as 18 different kinds of gasoline specifications; and the introduction of stringent new specifications for reformulated gasoline. However, gasoline stocks should be able to meet the needs of this year's driving season, at a time of ample crude oil availability, with strong imports. But, unplanned outages in the US logistics system and refining centres, or major disruptions in external gasoline supplies, could trigger price spikes that would, in turn, lead to frequently stronger crude oil prices, especially with the observed robust oil demand growth in China. (Author)

  13. Agricultural Commodities and Crude Oil Prices: An Empirical Investigation of Their Relationship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleni Zafeiriou

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Within the last few decades, the extended use of biodiesel and bioethanol has established interlinkages between energy markets and agricultural commodity markets. The present work examines the bivariate relationships of crude oil–corn and crude oil–soybean futures prices with the assistance of the ARDL cointegration approach. Our findings confirm that crude oil prices affect the prices of agricultural products used in the production of biodiesel, as well as of ethanol, validating the interaction of energy and agricultural commodity markets. The practical value of the present work is that the findings provide policy makers with insight into the interlinkages between agricultural and energy markets to promote biodiesel or bioethanol by affecting crude oil prices. The novelty of the present work stands on the use of futures prices that incorporate all available information and thus are more appropriate to identify supply and demand shocks and price spillovers than real prices. Finally, the period of study includes extremely low, as well as extremely high, crude oil prices and the results illustrate that biofuels cannot be substituted for crude oil and protect economies from energy volatility.

  14. Response surface analysis to improve dispersed crude oil biodegradation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zahed, Mohammad A.; Aziz, Hamidi A.; Mohajeri, Leila [School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Penang (Malaysia); Isa, Mohamed H. [Civil Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Tronoh, Perak (Malaysia)

    2012-03-15

    In this research, the bioremediation of dispersed crude oil, based on the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus supplementation in the closed system, was optimized by the application of response surface methodology and central composite design. Correlation analysis of the mathematical-regression model demonstrated that a quadratic polynomial model could be used to optimize the hydrocarbon bioremediation (R{sup 2} = 0.9256). Statistical significance was checked by analysis of variance and residual analysis. Natural attenuation was removed by 22.1% of crude oil in 28 days. The highest removal on un-optimized condition of 68.1% were observed by using nitrogen of 20.00 mg/L and phosphorus of 2.00 mg/L in 28 days while optimization process exhibited a crude oil removal of 69.5% via nitrogen of 16.05 mg/L and phosphorus 1.34 mg/L in 27 days therefore optimization can improve biodegradation in shorter time with less nutrient consumption. (Copyright copyright 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  15. Extraction and characterization of crude oil asphaltenes sub fractions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferreira, Silas R.; Calado, Lucas S.; Honse, Siller O.; Mansur, Claudia R.E.; Lucas, Elizabete F.

    2011-01-01

    Asphaltenes from crude oil have been studied for a long time. However, until today their chemical structures and physical-chemical properties are not well established. Nowadays, it is accepted that asphaltenes are dispersed in the crude oil as macro structures, which are mainly constituted of some condensed aromatic rings (about 6-20), containing aliphatic or naphthenic groups. The asphaltenes are also defined as the crude oil fraction that is insoluble in low molar mass n-alkanes and soluble in aromatic solvents, like benzene and toluene In order to investigate the molecular structure, in this work the asphaltenes were separated by using a different procedure as that normally described in the literature and characterized by infrared spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, x-ray fluorescence, elemental analyses and particle size and size distribution. The difference in subfractions polarity can be attributed not only to the aromaticity changes but also to the content of elements, such as N, O, Fe, V, Si e Ni. (author)

  16. Global economic activity and crude oil prices. A cointegration analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Yanan; Wang, Shouyang; Lai, Kin Keung

    2010-01-01

    This paper empirically investigates the cointegrating relationship between crude oil prices and global economic activity. The Kilian economic index is used as an indicator of global economic activity. Based on a supply-demand framework and the cointegration theory, we find that real futures prices of crude oil are cointegrated with the Kilian economic index and a trade weighted US dollar index, and crude oil prices are influenced significantly by fluctuations in the Kilian economic index through both long-run equilibrium conditions and short-run impacts. We also develop an empirically stable, data-coherent and single-equation error-correction model (ECM) which has sensible economic properties. Empirical results based on the ECM show that the adjustment implied by a permanent change in the Kilian economic index is a relatively drawn-out process. (author)

  17. Characterization of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Post-Burn Crude Oil ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In the Niger delta, crude oil spilled soils are burned as a means of decontaminating the impacted soils. Gas chromatography - flame ionization detector (GCFID) analyses were performed on oil residues extracted from burnt spilled oil soil samples to facilitate detailed chemical composition and characterization of petroleum ...

  18. Biodegradation of crude oil in different types of marine sediment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hii, Y.S.; Law, A.T.

    1999-01-01

    An active oil-oxidizing bacterium, named Nap C was isolated from the sediment sample of Port Dickson coastal area for this study. Nap C is a gram negative, rod shape marine bacterium. It forms spore when the condition is not favorable. Three different types of treated marine sediment; sand, silt and clay were used in this study. The degradation of Malaysian Tapis A crude oil in the different types of marine sediment were assessed. Silt type of marine sediment was found to sustain highest biodegradation compared to clay type and sand type. 8.6.67% of the Malaysian Tapis A crude oil was degraded in silt type of marine sediment within 10 days of incubation. Where as there were only 60% and 73% of the Malaysian Tapis A crude oil was degraded in sand and clay type of marine sediment respectively. Microbial biomass estimation in the sediment was estimated by indirect phospholipid enumeration technique. (author)

  19. Islamic versus conventional stock market and its co-movement with crude oil: a wavelet analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Kamarudin, Eka Azrin; Masih, Mansur

    2015-01-01

    Crude oil market plays an important role in economic development and its price changes give huge impact to the financial markets. In this paper, the relationships between crude oil and stock markets are examined. This study has selected Malaysian Islamic and conventional stock markets as a case study. Financialisation of crude oil and its frequent inclusion into investment portfolios warrant an analysis of the relationship between crude oil and stock market indices at various time scales or i...

  20. A Formula for the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion of Crude Oils ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A new formula for the calculation of the coefficient of world crude oils has been developed. The formula is semi theoretical. The empirical part was obtained by regression calculation of the Formation Volume Factor of the gas free crude oil at reservoir temperature. Comparison of the calculated values of the Formation ...

  1. Enhancing crude oil degradation in a sandy soil: Effects of addition ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study investigated the effects of the addition of poultry manure alone and in combination with surfactant (Goldcrew or Corexit) and/or alternate carbon substrate (glucose or starch) on crude oil degradation in a sandy soil. With poultry manure alone, optimal crude oil degradation was obtained at a concentration of 4.0% ...

  2. Identification of crude-oil components and microorganisms that cause souring under anaerobic conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasegawa, R; Toyama, K; Miyanaga, K; Tanji, Y

    2014-02-01

    Oil souring has important implications with respect to energy resources. Understanding the physiology of the microorganisms that play a role and the biological mechanisms are both important for the maintenance of infrastructure and mitigation of corrosion processes. The objective of this study was to identify crude-oil components and microorganisms in oil-field water that contribute to crude-oil souring. To identify the crude-oil components and microorganisms that are responsible for anaerobic souring in oil reservoirs, biological conversion of crude-oil components under anaerobic conditions was investigated. Microorganisms in oil field water in Akita, Japan degraded alkanes and aromatics to volatile fatty acids (VFAs) under anaerobic conditions, and fermenting bacteria such as Fusibacter sp. were involved in VFA production. Aromatics such as toluene and ethylbenzene were degraded by sulfate-reducing bacteria (Desulfotignum sp.) via the fumarate-addition pathway and not only degradation of VFA but also degradation of aromatics by sulfate-reducing bacteria was the cause of souring. Naphthenic acid and 2,4-xylenol were not converted.

  3. Rheological Investigation on the Effect of Shear and Time Dependent Behavior of Waxy Crude Oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Japper-Jaafar A.

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Rheological measurements are essential in transporting crude oil, especially for waxy crude oil. Several rheological measurements have been conducted to determine various rheological properties of waxy crude oil including the viscosity, yield strength, wax appearance temperature (WAT, wax disappearance temperature (WDT, storage modulus and loss modulus, amongst others, by using controlled stress rheometers. However, a procedure to determine the correct parameters for rheological measurements is still unavailable in the literature. The paper aims to investigate the effect of shear and time dependent behaviours of waxy crude oil during rheological measurements. It is expected that the preliminary work could lead toward a proper rheological measurement guideline for reliable rheological measurement of waxy crude oil.

  4. Price and income elasticities of crude oil import demand in South Africa. A cointegration analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ziramba, Emmanuel [Department of Economics, University of South Africa, P.O Box 392, Unisa 0003 (South Africa)

    2010-12-15

    This paper examines the demand for imported crude oil in South Africa as a function of real income and the price of crude oil over the period 1980-2006. We carried out the Johansen co integration multivariate analysis to determine the long-run income and price elasticities. A unique long-run cointegration relationship exists between crude oil imports and the explanatory variables. The short-run dynamics are estimated by specifying a general error correction model. The estimated long-run price and income elasticities of -0.147 and 0.429 suggest that import demand for crude oil is price and income inelastic. There is also evidence of unidirectional long-run causality running from real GDP to crude oil imports. (author)

  5. De-emulsifiers for water-in-crude oil-emulsions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zaki, N. [Egyptian Petroleum Research Inst. (EPRI), Cairo (Egypt); Al-Sabagh, A. [Egyptian Petroleum Research Inst. (EPRI), Cairo (Egypt)

    1997-01-01

    The efficiency of 18 different polyalkylphenols-polyalkylene-polyamines-formaldehyde ethoxylates (PAPAFE) in the deemulsification of water-in-crude oil-emulsion were studied. In this respect, two naturally occurring Egyptian water-in-curde oil-emulsions were used to test the investigated de-emulsifiers. The effect of the variation in the molecular structure of the (PAPAFE) on their de-emulsification potency is investigated. The investigation reveals that de-emulsifiers containing nonyl phenol reduce crude oil-water interfacial tension (IFT) and are more efficient than those containing dodecyl phenol. PAPAFE containing more amino groups are found to have better emulsion breaking ability. This is attributed to their enhanced ability to solubilize asphaltenes, which are the prime motivators for crude oil-water emulsion stability. They drag asphaltenes crosslinked at the water-crude oil interface and consequently, resulting in a substantial decrease in emulsion stability. There exists an optimum hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) for the investigated PAPAFE, ranging from 12 to 13.5 at which their maximum de-emulsification ability is attained. All studied PAPAFE showed increased de-emulsification performance by increasing the temperature from 50 to 70 C. Increasing the temperature reduces the viscosity of the crude oil continuous phase and increases the rate of diffusion of both the surfactant molecules and the dispersed water droplets. This will cause an increase in the rate of coalescence of the water droplets. (orig.) [Deutsch] Es wurde die Wirkung von 18 verschiedenen Polyalkylphenolpolyalkylenpolyamine-formaldehydethoxylaten (PAPAFE) bei der Demulgierung von Wasser-in-Rohoel-Emulsionen untersucht. Zwei in Aegypten natuerlich vorkommende Wasser-in-Rohoel-Emulsionen wurden fuer die Versuche eingesetzt, dabei wurde der Einfluss der molekularen Struktur der PAPAFEs auf das Demulgiervermoegen untersucht. Es zeigte sich, dass Demulgatoren mit Nonylphenol die

  6. Does Climate Change Mitigation Activity Affect Crude Oil Prices? Evidence from Dynamic Panel Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jude C. Dike

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper empirically investigates how climate change mitigation affects crude oil prices while using carbon intensity as the indicator for climate change mitigation. The relationship between crude oil prices and carbon intensity is estimated using an Arellano and Bond GMM dynamic panel model. This study undertakes a regional-level analysis because of the geographical similarities among the countries in a region. Regions considered for the study are Africa, Asia and Oceania, Central and South America, the EU, the Middle East, and North America. Results show that there is a positive relationship between crude oil prices and carbon intensity, and a 1% change in carbon intensity is expected to cause about 1.6% change in crude oil prices in the short run and 8.4% change in crude oil prices in the long run while the speed of adjustment is 19%.

  7. Modeling of crude oil fouling in preheat exchangers of refinery distillation units

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jafari Nasr, Mohammad Reza; Majidi Givi, Mehdi [National Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (NPC-RT), P.O. Box 14385, Tehran (Iran)

    2006-10-15

    The aim of this paper is to propose a new model for crude oil fouling in preheat exchangers of crude distillation units. The experimental results of Australian light crude oil with the tube side surface temperature between 200 and 260{sup o}C and fluid velocity ranged 0.25-0.4m/s were used [Z. Saleh, R. Sheikholeslami, A.P. Watkinson, Heat exchanger fouling by a light australian crude oil, in: Heat Exchanger Fouling and Cleaning Fundamentals and Applications, Santa Fe, 2003]. The amount of activation energy depends on the surface temperature has been calculated. A new model including a term for fouling formation and a term for fouling removal due to chemical and tube wall shear stress was proposed, respectively. The main superiority of the model are independent to Pr number, thermal fouling removal and determination of {beta} based on experimental tests. Finally using the proposed model the fouling rate of Australian light crude oil has been calculated and the threshold curves to identify fouling and no fouling formation zones have been drawn. (author)

  8. Price elasticity of demand for crude oil: estimates for 23 countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cooper, J.C.B.

    2003-01-01

    This paper uses a multiple regression model derived from an adaptation of Nerlove's partial adjustment model to estimate both the short-run and long-run elasticities of demand for crude oil in 23 countries. The estimates so obtained confirm that the demand for crude oil internationally is highly insensitive to changes in price. (author)

  9. Sulfur transfer in the distillate fractions of Arabian crude oils under gamma-irradiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basfar, Ahmed A.; Soliman, Yasser S.; Alkhuraiji, Turki S.

    2017-05-01

    Desulfurization of light distillation fractions including gasoline, kerosene and diesel obtained from the four Arabian crude oils (heavy, medium, light and extra light) upon γ-rays irradiation to different doses was investigated. In addition, yields vol%, FTIR analysis, kinematic viscosity and density of all distillation fractions of irradiated crude oils were evaluated. Limited radiation-induced desulfurization of those fractions was observed up to an irradiation dose of 200 kGy. FTIR analysis of those fractions indicates the absence of oxidized sulfur compounds, represented by S=O of sulfone group, indicating that γ-irradiation of the Arabian crude oils at normal conditions does not induce an oxidative desulfurization in those distillation fractions. Radiation-induced sulfur transfer decreases by 28.56% and increases in total sulfur by 16.8% in Arabian extra light oil and Arabian medium crude oil respectively.

  10. Life cycle water demand coefficients for crude oil production from five North American locations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, Babkir; Kumar, Amit

    2017-10-15

    The production of liquid fuels from crude oil requires water. There has been limited focus on the assessment of life cycle water demand footprints for crude oil production and refining. The overall aim of this paper is address this gap. The objective of this research is to develop water demand coefficients over the life cycle of fuels produced from crude oil pathways. Five crude oil fields were selected in the three North American countries to reflect the impact of different spatial locations and technologies on water demand. These include the Alaska North Slope, California's Kern County heavy oil, and Mars in the U.S.; Maya in Mexico; and Bow River heavy oil in Alberta, Canada. A boundary for an assessment of the life cycle water footprint was set to cover the unit operations related to exploration, drilling, extraction, and refining. The recovery technology used to extract crude oil is one of the key determining factors for water demand. The amount of produced water that is re-injected to recover the oil is essential in determining the amount of fresh water that will be required. During the complete life cycle of one barrel of conventional crude oil, 1.71-8.25 barrels of fresh water are consumed and 2.4-9.51 barrels of fresh water are withdrawn. The lowest coefficients are for Bow River heavy oil and the highest coefficients are for Maya crude oil. Of all the unit operations, exploration and drilling require the least fresh water (less than 0.015 barrel of water per barrel of oil produced). A sensitivity analysis was conducted and uncertainty in the estimates was determined. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. A reexamination of the crude oil price-unemployment relationship in the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uri, N.D.; Boyd, R.

    1996-01-01

    This study begins by asking whether fluctuations in the price of crude oil have affected employment and the rate of unemployment in the US. After reviewing previous assessments of the issue, the existence of an empirical relationship between the rate of unemployment and crude oil price volatility is established using Granger causality. Subsequently, the nature of the relationship is estimated with the results suggesting that at least three full years are required before the measurable impact of a percentage change in the real price of crude oil on the change in unemployment is exhausted. Finally, the structural stability of the functional relationship between the change in unemployment and the volatility of the price of crude oil and the percentage change in gross national product is examined

  12. Potential of oil palm empty fruit bunch ash for remediation of crude ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The potential of oil palm empty fruit bunch ash for remediation of crude oil polluted soil was investigated. Three levels (100 g, 200 g and 300 g) of ash treatments in 2 kg of soil were set up alongside a control (nil ash) after pollution with100 ml of crude oil. Composite soil samples were collected and analyzed at intervals of ...

  13. Natural gas hydrate formation and inhibition in gas/crude oil/aqueous systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daraboina, Nagu; Pachitsas, Stylianos; von Solms, Nicolas

    2015-01-01

    Gas hydrate formation in multi phase mixtures containing an aqueous phase (with dissolved salts), reservoir fluid (crude oil) and natural gas phase was investigated by using a standard rocking cell (RC-5) apparatus. The hydrate formation temperature was reduced in the presence of crude oils...... can contribute to the safe operation of sub sea pipelines in the oil and gas industry....

  14. Is there co-movement of agricultural commodities futures prices and crude oil?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Natanelov, Valeri, E-mail: valeri.natanelov@ugent.be [Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent (Belgium); Alam, Mohammad J. [Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent (Belgium); Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, Bangladesh Agricultural University (Bangladesh); McKenzie, Andrew M. [Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, AR (United States); Van Huylenbroeck, Guido [Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent (Belgium)

    2011-09-15

    Even though significant attempts have appeared in literature, the current perception of co-movement of commodity prices appear inadequate and static. In particular we focus on price movements between crude oil futures and a series of agricultural commodities and gold futures. A comparative framework is applied to identify changes in relationships through time and various cointegration methodologies and causality tests are employed. Our results indicate that co-movement is a dynamic concept and that some economic and policy development may change the relationship between commodities. Furthermore we show that biofuel policy buffers the co-movement of crude oil and corn futures until the crude oil prices surpass a certain threshold. - Highlights: > We show that co-movement of commodity futures is a temporal concept. > A variation in parallel movement between 2 large periods occurs. > Biofuel policy buffers parallel movement of corn and crude oil futures

  15. Is there co-movement of agricultural commodities futures prices and crude oil?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Natanelov, Valeri; Alam, Mohammad J.; McKenzie, Andrew M.; Van Huylenbroeck, Guido

    2011-01-01

    Even though significant attempts have appeared in literature, the current perception of co-movement of commodity prices appear inadequate and static. In particular we focus on price movements between crude oil futures and a series of agricultural commodities and gold futures. A comparative framework is applied to identify changes in relationships through time and various cointegration methodologies and causality tests are employed. Our results indicate that co-movement is a dynamic concept and that some economic and policy development may change the relationship between commodities. Furthermore we show that biofuel policy buffers the co-movement of crude oil and corn futures until the crude oil prices surpass a certain threshold. - Highlights: → We show that co-movement of commodity futures is a temporal concept. → A variation in parallel movement between 2 large periods occurs. → Biofuel policy buffers parallel movement of corn and crude oil futures

  16. Kinetic Models Study of Hydrogenation of Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Vacuum Gas Oil and Basrah Crude Oil Reaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muzher M. Ibraheem

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available             The aim of this research is to study the kinetic reaction models for catalytic hydrogenation of aromatic content for Basrah crude oil (BCO and vacuum gas oil (VGO derived from Kirkuk crude oil which has the boiling point rang of (611-833K.            This work is performed using a hydrodesulphurization (HDS pilot plant unit located in AL-Basil Company. A commercial (HDS catalyst cobalt-molybdenum (Co-Mo supported in alumina (γ-Al2O3 is used in this work. The feed is supplied by North Refinery Company in Baiji. The reaction temperatures range is (600-675 K over liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV range of (0.7-2hr-1 and hydrogen pressure is 3 MPa with H2/oil ratio of 300 of Basrah Crude oil (BCO, while the corresponding conditions for vacuum gas oil (VGO are (583-643 K, (1.5-3.75 hr-1, 3.5 MPa and 250  respectively .            The results showed that the reaction kinetics is of second order for both types of feed. Activation energies are found to be 30.396, 38.479 kJ/mole for Basrah Crude Oil (BCO and Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO respectively.

  17. Separated influence of crude oil prices on regional natural gas import prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ji, Qiang; Geng, Jiang-Bo; Fan, Ying

    2014-01-01

    This paper analyses the impact of global economic activity and international crude oil prices on natural gas import prices in three major natural gas markets using the panel cointegration model. It also investigates the shock impacts of the volatility and the increase and decrease of oil prices on regional natural gas import prices. The results show that both global economic activity and international crude oil prices have significant long-term positive effects on regional natural gas import prices. The volatility of international crude oil prices has a negative impact on regional natural gas import prices. The shock impact is weak in North America, lags in Europe and is most significant in Asia, which is mainly determined by different regional policies for price formation. In addition, the response of natural gas import prices to increases and decreases in international crude oil prices shows an asymmetrical mechanism, of which the decrease impact is relatively stronger. - Highlights: • Impacts of world economy and oil prices on regional natural gas prices are analysed • North American natural gas prices are mainly affected by world economy • Asian and European natural gas prices are mainly affected by oil prices • The volatility of oil prices has a negative impact on regional natural gas prices • The response of natural gas import prices to oil prices up and down shows asymmetry

  18. Distribution and geochemical application of aromatic hydrocarbons in crude oils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asif, M.; Tahira, F.

    2007-01-01

    Distribution of aromatic hydrocarbons was studied in a set of crude oils, five from northern Indus basin of potwar area and two from southern Indus basin. Diaromatic and triaromatic hydrocarbons were separated from highly complex mixture of sedimentary organic matter by using liquid chromatography techniques such as column chromatography, TLC and GC-FID. These classes of compounds were identified to alkylated isomers of naphthalenes and phenanthrenes by using reference chromatograms and literature data. High concentration of di-,tri- and tetra-methyl naphthalenes was observed in all crude oils except Kal. The relative increase in concentration of alkyl naphthalenes was found as moved to higher methyl substituted isomers. This suggests that they are the product of sedimentary alkylation reactions during catagensis and metagensis. The significant concentration of methyl phenanthrenes indicated source of organic matter. High levels of both 1-MP and 9-MP showed marine and terrestrial source of organic matter except Umer crude oil which is most likely to have terrestrial origin. The ratios of beta-substituted to the alpha-substituted isomers of both alkyl naphthalenes and alkyl phenanthrene were used to assess the thermal maturity of sedimentary organic matter, which revealed high maturity level of Dhurnal, Pindori, Badin and Toot crude oils. (author)

  19. Research on crude oil storage and transportation based on optimization algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Xuhua

    2018-04-01

    At present, the optimization theory and method have been widely used in the optimization scheduling and optimal operation scheme of complex production systems. Based on C++Builder 6 program development platform, the theoretical research results are implemented by computer. The simulation and intelligent decision system of crude oil storage and transportation inventory scheduling are designed. The system includes modules of project management, data management, graphics processing, simulation of oil depot operation scheme. It can realize the optimization of the scheduling scheme of crude oil storage and transportation system. A multi-point temperature measuring system for monitoring the temperature field of floating roof oil storage tank is developed. The results show that by optimizing operating parameters such as tank operating mode and temperature, the total transportation scheduling costs of the storage and transportation system can be reduced by 9.1%. Therefore, this method can realize safe and stable operation of crude oil storage and transportation system.

  20. Response, remediation and risk management of a crude oil pipeline spill

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rose, P.A.; Livingstone, W.R.

    1997-01-01

    A light crude oil spill occurred along a section of pipeline near the bank of a major river of a southern Alberta community in December of 1995. Crude oil was observed at ground surface over an area of 2,000 sq m at the top of the river slope. It had also migrated down slope through the subgrade soils and along the groundwater table toward the river. The initial emergency response measures included removing and disposing of oil-stained vegetation and snow, and the containment and recovery of free oil pooled on the ground surface. Other measures included the drilling of test holes and boreholes and the installation of groundwater monitoring and recovery wells. It was determined that phase-separated crude oil had accumulated at the water table within the flood plain sediments near the river. The water was remediated on-site to Canadian drinking water quality standards. The zone of impacted water was effectively captured, and ground water quality steadily improved

  1. Molecular Dynamics Simulation: The Behavior of Asphaltene in Crude Oil and at the Oil/Water Interface

    KAUST Repository

    Gao, Fengfeng

    2014-12-18

    Carboxyl asphaltene is commonly discussed in the petroleum industry. In most conditions, electroneutral carboxyl asphaltene molecules can be deprotonated to become carboxylate asphaltenes. Both in crude oil and at the oil/water interface, the characteristics of anionic carboxylate asphaltenes are different than those of the carboxyl asphaltenes. In this paper, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are utilized to study the structural features of different asphaltene molecules, namely, C5 Pe and anionic C5 Pe, at the molecular level. In crude oil, the electroneutral C5 Pe molecules prefer to form a steady face-to-face stacking, while the anionic C5 Pe molecules are inclined to form face-to-face stacking and T-shaped II stacking because of the repulsion of the anionic headgroups. Anionic C5 Pe has a distinct affinity to the oil/water interface during the simulation, while the C5 Pe molecules persist in the crude oil domain. A three-stage model of anionic C5 Pe molecules adsorbed at the oil/water interface is finally developed.

  2. A metric and topological analysis of determinism in the crude oil spot market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barkoulas, John T.; Chakraborty, Atreya; Ouandlous, Arav

    2012-01-01

    We test whether the spot price of crude oil is determined by stochastic rules or exhibits deterministic endogenous fluctuations. In our analysis, we employ both metric (correlation dimension and Lyapunov exponents) and topological (recurrence plots) diagnostic tools for chaotic dynamics. We find that the underlying system for crude oil spot prices (i) is of high dimensionality (no stabilization of the correlation dimension), (ii) does not exhibit sensitive dependence on initial conditions, and (iii) is not characterized by the recurrence property. Thus, the empirical evidence suggests that stochastic rather than deterministic rules are present in the system dynamics of the crude oil spot market. Recurrent plot analysis indicates that volatility clustering is an adequate, but not complete, explanation of the morphology of oil spot prices. - Highlights: ► We test whether the spot price of crude oil exhibits deterministic chaos. ► We employ both metric and topological diagnostic tools for chaos. ► Stochastic rules appear to govern the temporal evolution of oil prices. ► Volatility clustering explains the morphology of oil prices largely, but not entirely.

  3. Application of Multivariate Statistical Analysis to Biomarkers in Se-Turkey Crude Oils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gürgey, K.; Canbolat, S.

    2017-11-01

    Twenty-four crude oil samples were collected from the 24 oil fields distributed in different districts of SE-Turkey. API and Sulphur content (%), Stable Carbon Isotope, Gas Chromatography (GC), and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) data were used to construct a geochemical data matrix. The aim of this study is to examine the genetic grouping or correlations in the crude oil samples, hence the number of source rocks present in the SE-Turkey. To achieve these aims, two of the multivariate statistical analysis techniques (Principle Component Analysis [PCA] and Cluster Analysis were applied to data matrix of 24 samples and 8 source specific biomarker variables/parameters. The results showed that there are 3 genetically different oil groups: Batman-Nusaybin Oils, Adıyaman-Kozluk Oils and Diyarbakir Oils, in addition to a one mixed group. These groupings imply that at least, three different source rocks are present in South-Eastern (SE) Turkey. Grouping of the crude oil samples appears to be consistent with the geographic locations of the oils fields, subsurface stratigraphy as well as geology of the area.

  4. APPLICATION OF MULTIVARIATE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS TO BIOMARKERS IN SE-TURKEY CRUDE OILS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Gürgey

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Twenty-four crude oil samples were collected from the 24 oil fields distributed in different districts of SE-Turkey. API and Sulphur content (%, Stable Carbon Isotope, Gas Chromatography (GC, and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS data were used to construct a geochemical data matrix. The aim of this study is to examine the genetic grouping or correlations in the crude oil samples, hence the number of source rocks present in the SE-Turkey. To achieve these aims, two of the multivariate statistical analysis techniques (Principle Component Analysis [PCA] and Cluster Analysis were applied to data matrix of 24 samples and 8 source specific biomarker variables/parameters. The results showed that there are 3 genetically different oil groups: Batman-Nusaybin Oils, Adıyaman-Kozluk Oils and Diyarbakir Oils, in addition to a one mixed group. These groupings imply that at least, three different source rocks are present in South-Eastern (SE Turkey. Grouping of the crude oil samples appears to be consistent with the geographic locations of the oils fields, subsurface stratigraphy as well as geology of the area.

  5. A review of crude oil participation in the energetics of the Republic of Macedonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janevski, Risto

    1998-01-01

    Republic of Macedonia its primary energy needs, particularly after being independent, in a bigger part (approx. 70%) satisfies from its own sources, and the other part from import. The own power sources are: lignite, hydro energetics potential and firewood. Some restorable resources are represented in a much smaller range, with a consumption of geothermal and solar power. The imported energy sources are: crude oil, oil derivatives, hard coal, brown coal and coke. In the future, one more energy source it is expected from import which is natural gas. Crude oil as an energy source takes up the biggest part of the imported primary energy. In this paper the petroleum industry in Macedonia for the period 1982-1997 is presented. The period 1982-1990 is analysed separately since 1982 is the year when Macedonian Petroleum Refinery started its work in the framework of Yugoslavia. The attention is given to the second period 1991-1997 after Macedonia became an independent state. This was a period of political problems for Macedonia, first of all the Greek blockade against Macedonia, UN blockade against Yugoslavia, the unsolved relations with the former Yugoslav Republics, and on the other hand the economic problems

  6. The response of Scirpus pungens to crude oil contaminated sediments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Longpre, D; Jaouich, A [Quebec Univ., Montreal, PQ (Canada); Jarry, V [Environment Canada, Montreal, PQ (Canada); Venosa, A D [US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH (United States). National Risk Management Research Lab.; Lee, K [Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Mont Joli, PQ (Canada). Inst. Maurice Lamontagne; Suidan, M T [Cincinnati Univ., Cincinnati, OH (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    1999-01-01

    An exposure study was conducted to determine the impacts of an oil spill on the plant Scirpus pungens and to determine potential recovery rates of the species in the event of an accidental spill within the St. Lawrence River. Scirpus pungens is an important wetland plant which is essential for control of coastal erosion and which provides a unique habitat for a variety of biota. Sediments contaminated with medium-light crude oil were used in this study. Transplants in oiled and unoiled sediments were maintained in greenhouses to monitor changes in plant height, growth and mortality over a 63 day period. Results showed that plants exposed to high concentrations of oiled sediment were much smaller than those exposed to lightly contaminated sediments. Elevated oil concentrations greatly decreased plant biomass. Mortality was highly correlated with oil concentration. Transplants were able to survive, grow and produce new shoots in sediments contaminated with crude oil in a range of concentrations comparable to those associated with oil spills.

  7. The response of Scirpus pungens to crude oil contaminated sediments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Longpre, D.; Jaouich, A.; Jarry, V.; Venosa, A.D.; Lee, K.; Suidan, M.T.

    1999-01-01

    An exposure study was conducted to determine the impacts of an oil spill on the plant Scirpus pungens and to determine potential recovery rates of the species in the event of an accidental spill within the St. Lawrence River. Scirpus pungens is an important wetland plant which is essential for control of coastal erosion and which provides a unique habitat for a variety of biota. Sediments contaminated with medium-light crude oil were used in this study. Transplants in oiled and unoiled sediments were maintained in greenhouses to monitor changes in plant height, growth and mortality over a 63 day period. Results showed that plants exposed to high concentrations of oiled sediment were much smaller than those exposed to lightly contaminated sediments. Elevated oil concentrations greatly decreased plant biomass. Mortality was highly correlated with oil concentration. Transplants were able to survive, grow and produce new shoots in sediments contaminated with crude oil in a range of concentrations comparable to those associated with oil spills

  8. Novel insight into the role of heterotrophic dinoflagellates in the fate of crude oil in the sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almeda, Rodrigo; Connelly, Tara L.; Buskey, Edward J.

    2014-12-01

    Although planktonic protozoans are likely to interact with dispersed crude oil after a spill, protozoan-mediated processes affecting crude oil pollution in the sea are still not well known. Here, we present the first evidence of ingestion and defecation of physically or chemically dispersed crude oil droplets (1-86 μm in diameter) by heterotrophic dinoflagellates, major components of marine planktonic food webs. At a crude oil concentration commonly found after an oil spill (1 μL L-1), the heterotrophic dinoflagellates Noctiluca scintillans and Gyrodinium spirale grew and ingested ~0.37 μg-oil μg-Cdino-1 d-1, which could represent ~17% to 100% of dispersed oil in surface waters when heterotrophic dinoflagellates are abundant or bloom. Egestion of faecal pellets containing crude oil by heterotrophic dinoflagellates could contribute to the sinking and flux of toxic petroleum hydrocarbons in coastal waters. Our study indicates that crude oil ingestion by heterotrophic dinoflagellates is a noteworthy route by which petroleum enters marine food webs and a previously overlooked biological process influencing the fate of crude oil in the sea after spills.

  9. Crude oil market efficiency and modeling. Insights from the multiscaling autocorrelation pattern

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose; Alvarez, Jesus; Solis, Ricardo

    2010-01-01

    Empirical research on market inefficiencies focuses on the detection of autocorrelations in price time series. In the case of crude oil markets, statistical support is claimed for weak efficiency over a wide range of time-scales. However, the results are still controversial since theoretical arguments point to deviations from efficiency as prices tend to revert towards an equilibrium path. This paper studies the efficiency of crude oil markets by using lagged detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) to detect delay effects in price autocorrelations quantified in terms of a multiscaling Hurst exponent (i.e., autocorrelations are dependent of the time scale). Results based on spot price data for the period 1986-2009 indicate important deviations from efficiency associated to lagged autocorrelations, so imposing the random walk for crude oil prices has pronounced costs for forecasting. Evidences in favor of price reversion to a continuously evolving mean underscores the importance of adequately incorporating delay effects and multiscaling behavior in the modeling of crude oil price dynamics. (author)

  10. Crude oil market efficiency and modeling. Insights from the multiscaling autocorrelation pattern

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose [Departamento de Ingenieria de Procesos e Hidraulica, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Apartado Postal 55-534, Mexico D.F., 09340 (Mexico); Departamento de Economia, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Apartado Postal 55-534, Mexico D.F., 09340 (Mexico); Alvarez, Jesus [Departamento de Ingenieria de Procesos e Hidraulica, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Apartado Postal 55-534, Mexico D.F., 09340 (Mexico); Solis, Ricardo [Departamento de Economia, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Apartado Postal 55-534, Mexico D.F., 09340 (Mexico)

    2010-09-15

    Empirical research on market inefficiencies focuses on the detection of autocorrelations in price time series. In the case of crude oil markets, statistical support is claimed for weak efficiency over a wide range of time-scales. However, the results are still controversial since theoretical arguments point to deviations from efficiency as prices tend to revert towards an equilibrium path. This paper studies the efficiency of crude oil markets by using lagged detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) to detect delay effects in price autocorrelations quantified in terms of a multiscaling Hurst exponent (i.e., autocorrelations are dependent of the time scale). Results based on spot price data for the period 1986-2009 indicate important deviations from efficiency associated to lagged autocorrelations, so imposing the random walk for crude oil prices has pronounced costs for forecasting. Evidences in favor of price reversion to a continuously evolving mean underscores the importance of adequately incorporating delay effects and multiscaling behavior in the modeling of crude oil price dynamics. (author)

  11. The effect of crude oil on growth of the weed (Paspalum ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The use of grasses for phytoremediation of crude oil polluted soils especially in the tropics is a new area of study with a lot of potentials. The effect of different levels (0.00, 2.50, 5.00, 7.50, 10.00, 12.50 and 15.00%) of crude oil contamination on the growth of Paspalum scrobiculatum, a common weed in Nigeria was ...

  12. Comparison of the effects of crude and spent oils on Tilapia ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Toxic effects of bonnylight crude and spent oils on Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings were conducted under laboratory conditions at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria for two months. Five concentrations (5 ml/L, 10 ml/L, 20 m1/L, 50 m1/L and l00 ml/L) of water soluble fraction (WSF) of crude and spent oils were ...

  13. Biodegradation of crude oil and n-alkanes by fungi isolated from Oman

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Elshafie, Abdulkadir [Department of Biology, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 36 Al Khod, Muscat (Oman)], E-mail: Elshafie@squ.edu.om; AlKindi, Abdulaziz Yahya [Department of Biology, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 36 Al Khod, Muscat (Oman); Al-Busaidi, Sultan [Oman Refinery Company Laboratories, LLC, P.O. Box 3568 Ruwi PC112 (Oman); Bakheit, Charles [Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 36 Al Khod, Muscat (Oman); Albahry, S.N. [Department of Biology, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 36 Al Khod, Muscat (Oman)

    2007-11-15

    Ten fungal species isolated from tar balls collected from the beaches of Oman were tested for their abilities to grow and degrade n-alkanes and crude oil. The abilities of Aspergillus niger, A. ochraceus and Penicillium chrysogenum to degrade n-alkanes (C13-C18), crude oil were compared and their mycelial biomass was measured. Significant differences were found in the utilization of C15, C16, C17 and C18 by the three fungi. Similarly, significant differences we found in the amount of biomass produced by the three fungi growing on C13, C17, C18 and crude oil. The correlation coefficient of biomass and oil utilization was not statistically significant for Aspergillus niger, significant for Aspergillus terreus and highly significant for P. chrysogenum.

  14. Growth enhancement of effective microorganisms for bioremediation of crude oil contaminated waters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukred, Abdualdaim Mohammed; Abd-Hamid, Aidil; Hamzah, Ainon; Yusoff, Wan Mohtar Wan

    2008-07-01

    The bioremediation of polluted groundwater, wastewater aeration pond and biopond sites was investigated using bacteria isolated from these sites located at the oil refinery Terengganu Malaysia. Out of 62 isolates, only 16 isolates from groundwater (8) and wastewater aeration pond (3) and biopond (5) were chosen based on growth medium containing 1% (v/v) Tapis crude oil. Only four isolates; Acinetobacter faecalis, Staphylococcus sp., Pseudomonas putida and Neisseria elongata showed percentage biodegradation of crude oil more than 50% after 5 days using Mineral Salts Medium (MSM). The effect of physical parameters (temperature, pH and agitation) on growth by all four strains showed a maximum growth in MSM medium with 1% Tapis crude oil at 37 degrees C with pH 7 and agitation of 130 rpm.

  15. Biodegradation of crude oil and n-alkanes by fungi isolated from Oman

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elshafie, Abdulkadir; AlKindi, Abdulaziz Yahya; Al-Busaidi, Sultan; Bakheit, Charles; Albahry, S.N.

    2007-01-01

    Ten fungal species isolated from tar balls collected from the beaches of Oman were tested for their abilities to grow and degrade n-alkanes and crude oil. The abilities of Aspergillus niger, A. ochraceus and Penicillium chrysogenum to degrade n-alkanes (C13-C18), crude oil were compared and their mycelial biomass was measured. Significant differences were found in the utilization of C15, C16, C17 and C18 by the three fungi. Similarly, significant differences we found in the amount of biomass produced by the three fungi growing on C13, C17, C18 and crude oil. The correlation coefficient of biomass and oil utilization was not statistically significant for Aspergillus niger, significant for Aspergillus terreus and highly significant for P. chrysogenum

  16. Short-term outlook for Canadian crude oil to 2006 : an energy market assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-09-01

    The National Energy Board monitors the supply of all energy commodities in Canada along with the demand for Canadian energy commodities in domestic and export markets. This report is intended to expand the effectiveness of the Board's monitoring activities by providing an assessment of the current state of the petroleum industry and the potential for growth. It provides an 18-month outlook on international and domestic crude oil prices; drilling and exploration activity; supply projections for Canadian crude oil and petroleum products; Canada's crude oil trade balance and markets for Canadian crude; existing export pipeline networks and project expansion plans; and, the Canadian petroleum products industry and the impact of higher prices. It also identifies the major issues and challenges associated with the development of Canada's crude oil. The 2 major oil producing areas in Canada are the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) including the oil sands, and offshore eastern Canada. While conventional production in the WCSB is declining, development focus has shifted to Alberta's oil sands as well as Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose, the 3 major oil fields offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. High energy prices have resulted in record profits for the Canadian oil and gas industry, and has stimulated billions of dollars in investment, with Alberta's oil sands being the main beneficiary. The 19 refineries in Canada have been operating at about 90 per cent capacity for the last several years due to strong demand for transportation fuels. 10 tabs., 37 figs., 2 appendices

  17. Influence of infiltrated water on the change of formation water and oil permeability of crude oil bearing rocks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cubric, S

    1970-09-01

    A brief desription is given of the causes of permeability reduction of oil-bearing rocks, due to well damage during the drilling and well completion or when working over wells. The physical properties of 2-phase flow (crude oil-water) and the possibility of increasing the existing permeability of the formation, because of the water infiltrated from the well into the crude oil layer, are described in detail. Field examples show that there are such cases, and that the artificially increased existing permeability of water-bearing rocks can be reduced and even brought to normal, if the adjacent formation zone layer is treated with surfactants (e.g., Hyflo dissolved in crude oil).

  18. REVIEW OF PVT CORRELATIONS FOR CRUDE OILS

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    win

    approaches that of the fluids used. During the last 50 years, ... applied to crude oils from other regions (Sutton and Farshad,. 1990). ... S. S. Ikiensikimama, Department of Chemistry Engineering, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria. O. Ogboja ...

  19. Multifractal detrended cross-correlations between crude oil market and Chinese ten sector stock markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Liansheng; Zhu, Yingming; Wang, Yudong; Wang, Yiqi

    2016-11-01

    Based on the daily price data of spot prices of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil and ten CSI300 sector indices in China, we apply multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DCCA) method to investigate the cross-correlations between crude oil and Chinese sector stock markets. We find that the strength of multifractality between WTI crude oil and energy sector stock market is the highest, followed by the strength of multifractality between WTI crude oil and financial sector market, which reflects a close connection between energy and financial market. Then we do vector autoregression (VAR) analysis to capture the interdependencies among the multiple time series. By comparing the strength of multifractality for original data and residual errors of VAR model, we get a conclusion that vector auto-regression (VAR) model could not be used to describe the dynamics of the cross-correlations between WTI crude oil and the ten sector stock markets.

  20. Reduction of benzene and naphthalene mass transfer from crude oils by aging-induced interfacial films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghoshal, Subhasis; Pasion, Catherine; Alshafie, Mohammed

    2004-04-01

    Semi-rigid films or skins form at the interface of crude oil and water as a result of the accumulation of asphaltene and resin fractions when the water-immiscible crude oil is contacted with water for a period of time or "aged". The time varying patterns of area-independent mass transfer coefficients of two compounds, benzene and naphthalene, for dissolution from crude oil and gasoline were determined. Aqueous concentrations of the compounds were measured in the eluent from flow-through reactors, where a nondispersed oil phase and constant oil-water interfacial area were maintained. For Brent Blend crude oil and for gasoline amended with asphaltenes and resins, a rapid decrease in both benzene and naphthalene mass transfer coefficients over the first few days of aging was observed. The mass transfer coefficients of the two target solutes were reduced by up to 80% over 35 d although the equilibrium partition coefficients were unchanged. Aging of gasoline, which has negligible amounts of asphaltene and resin, did not result in a change in the solute mass transfer coefficients. The study demonstrates that formation of crude oil-water interfacial films comprised of asphaltenes and resins contribute to time-dependent decreases in rates of release of environmentally relevant solutes from crude oils and may contribute to the persistence of such solutes at crude oil-contaminated sites. It is estimated that the interfacial film has an extremely low film mass transfer coefficient in the range of 10(-6) cm/min.

  1. Acetylation of oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber as an adsorbent for removal of crude oil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asadpour, Robabeh; Sapari, Nasiman B; Isa, Mohamed Hasnain; Kakooei, Saeid

    2016-06-01

    Removal of oil spillage from the environment is a global concern. Various methods, including the use of fibers as sorbents, have been developed for oil spill control. Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) fiber is a plant biomass that may be acetylated by acetic anhydride using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) as a catalyst; here, the extent of acetylation may be calculated in terms of weight percent gain (WPG). The modified fiber was used to remove Tapis and Arabian crude oils. The optimum time, temperature, and catalyst concentration were 4 h, 120 °C, and 3 %, respectively, and these parameters could achieve an 11.49 % increase in WPG. The optimized parameters improved the adsorption capacity of OPEFB fibers for crude oil removal. The acetylated OPEFB fibers were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy to observe the functional groups available and morphology. Kinetic and isotherm studies were conducted using different contact times and oil/water ratios. The rate of oil sorption onto the OPEFB fibers can be adequately described by the pseudo-second-order equation. Adsorption studies revealed that adsorption of crude oil on treated OPEFB fiber could be best described by the Langmuir isotherm model.

  2. GC/MS determination of bicyclic sesquiterpanes in crude oils and petroleum products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, C.; Wang, Z.; Hollebone, B.; Brown, C.E.; Landriault, M.

    2008-01-01

    A study was conducted in which sesquiterpanes, a component of crude oils and petroleum products, were identified and characterized in an effort to determine the feasibility of using them as biomarkers for fingerprinting and identifying unknown lighter petroleum product spills. The study compared the distributions of sesquiterpanes in different oils, oil distillation fractions and refined products, including light and mid-range distillate fuels, residual fuels and lubricating oils. Evaporative weathering effects on sesquiterpane distribution and concentration were quantitatively studied and several diagnostic indices of sesquiterpane were developed for oil correlation and differentiation. Bicyclic sesquiterpanes in crude oils and oil products have much different abundances and distributions. Therefore, the relevant sesquiterpane ratios are different. Bicyclic sesquiterpanes are mostly partitioned into the medium distillation fractions. The study showed that concentrations of sesquiterpanes in crude oil and diesel fuel increase in proportion with the increase of weathering percentages. Relevant diagnostic ratios therefore remained stable. It was concluded that C 15 and C 16 sesquiterpanes may be alternative internal tracers to provide a direct way to estimate the depletion of oils, particularly diesels, in oil spill investigations. 13 refs., 6 tabs., 4 figs

  3. Bioremediation of crude oil spills in marine and terrestrial environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prince, R.C.

    1995-01-01

    Bioremediation can be a safe and effective tool for dealing with crude oil spills, as demonstrated during the cleanup following the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. Crude oil has also been spilled on land, and bioremediation is a promising option for land spills too. Nevertheless, there are still areas where understanding of the phenomenon is rather incomplete. Research groups around the world are addressing these problems, and this symposium provides an excellent overview of some of this work

  4. A new approach to model strain change of gelled waxy crude oil under constant stress

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hou, Lei; Song, Changyu; Yan, Wei

    2014-01-01

    Deformation of gelled waxy crude oil with loaded stress is worthy of research for the flow assurance of pipelining system. A dispersion parameter was introduced to characterize the disruption degree of wax crystal structure in crude oil with shear action. Based on fractional calculus theory, a rh...... monotonously with test temperature. Multiple creep curves of gelled waxy crude oil at a certain temperature can be described with this model......., a rheological model incorporating dispersion parameter was proposed to describe creep of gelled waxy crude. A discrete and numerical algorithm was proposed to solve the model. Combining with the experimental results of five kinds of waxy crude oil, the model parameters were regressed and found to change...

  5. Testing the evolution of crude oil market efficiency: Data have the conn

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Bing; Li, Xiao-Ming; He, Fei

    2014-01-01

    Utilising a time-varying GAR (1)-TGARCH (1,1) model with different frequency data, we investigate the weak-form efficiency of major global crude oil spot markets in Europe, the US, the UAE and China for the period from December 2001 to August 2013. Our empirical results with weekly data indicate that all four markets have reached efficiency with few brief inefficient periods during the past decade, whereas the daily crude oil returns series suggest intermittent and inconsistent efficiency. We argue that the weekly Friday series fit the data better than the average series in autocorrelation tests. The evidence suggests that all four markets exhibit asymmetries in return-volatility reactions to different information shocks and that they react more strongly to bad news than to good news. The 2008 financial crisis has significantly affected the efficiency of oil markets. Furthermore, a comovement phenomenon and volatility spillover effects exist among the oil markets. Policy recommendations consistent with our empirical results are proposed, which address three issues: implementing prudential regulations, establishing an Asian pricing centre and improving transparency in crude oil spot markets. - Highlights: • We adopt a time-varying model to test the weak-form efficiency of crude oil markets. • Weekly oil returns series have been extremely efficient during the past decade. • Daily oil returns series have presented intermittent and inconsistent efficiency. • Oil markets react asymmetrically to different information shocks. • Policy recommendations are proposed according to the degree of efficiency

  6. Improving oil biodegradability of aliphatic crude oil fraction by ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The percentage of biodegrading ability of B. subtilis and the mixture of these bacteria to n-alkanes and isoprenoids (pristine, phytane) were measured and compared with control. Crude oil is used as a sole source of energy and the incubation period was 24 days, the hydrocarbons loss are detected each 6 day interval using ...

  7. Influence of the crude oil type to platforming effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kafedzhiski, Branko; Crvenkova, Suzana; Zikovski, Toni

    1999-01-01

    Platforming is one of the most subtleties processing in refinery industry and it is permanent source for research and finding out the higher optimum degree. Optimum of the last effects of platforming directly depends on many parameters. One of the more important parameters is the type of the crude. The purpose of this work is presenting positive and negative effect to the platforming parameters caused by different types of crude in OCTA Crude Oil Refinery - Skopje (Macedonia). (Author)

  8. Physical aspects of crude oil spills on northern terrain. Task Force on Northern Oil Development, Report No. 74-25

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mackay, D; Charles, M E; Phillips, C R

    1974-01-01

    The physical aspects of crude oil spills on the terrain of the Mackenzie Valley were investigated. The aqueous solubility of Norman Wells crude oil has been determined and it has been established that about half of the dissolved hydrocarbon is aromatic. The distribution of hydrocarbons between the oil and aqueous phases is in good agreement with predicted values. The permeability of the surface terrain to oil at Norman Wells was found to decrease very rapidly with depth below the surface. A simple, in-situ method for determination of the profile was developed. The implication of the results is that flow will occur more readily near the surface than near the basement. The spreading rates of two crude oils on water were studied on two lakes near Inuvik. Pembina crude oil showed only one spreading front, whereas Norman Wells crude oil showed a bulk front preceded by a surface-slick. Once the initial separation occurred, wind drove both fronts across the water at about 6 percent of the wind speed. The area of surface-active contamination was several times the area of the bulk oil film. The isothermal spreading of five crude oils on ice under gravity-viscous conditions was examined. The radius of the slick was found to increase linearly with the ratio (time/viscosity)/sup /sup 1///sub 5//. Surface roughness effects were negligible. An attempt has been made to predict the behavior of a 50,000 barrel oil spill in the taiga region of the Mackenzie Valley, under both summer and winter conditions. The areas affected and the amounts of hydrocarbon evaporated were predicted. These predictions are valuable in providing a scenario of an oil spill incident which will assist in assessing the environmental impact of oil spills in the Mackenzie Valley and in preparing for clean-up measures. Burning as a clean-up procedure considered in some detail. Other methods specifically designed for Arctic conditions will probably prove more satisfactory.

  9. Biodegradability of northern crude oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cook, F D; Westlake, D W.S.

    1976-01-01

    Field studies on the microbiological degradation of crude oils encompassed the placing of oil-soaked plots in two areas in the Northwest Territories and Alberta. Replicate plots received amendments of fertilizer, oil-utilizing bacteria, fertilizer plus bacteria or were untreated except for the oil. Changes in microbial numbers and chemical composition of recovered oil were determined periodically. The initial stimulatory effect on bacterial numbers brought about by the addition of fertilizers to oil-soaked plots diminished two years after the application to a point where the differences were no longer significant. Experiments carried out in the Norman Wells area to determine the effect of the amount of fertilizer applied on oil degradation have yielded inconclusive results. The data suggest that at least 2.7 kg of urea-phosphate fertilizer per kl of oil is required to maintain a reasonable oil degradation rate. Preliminary studies on the use of fertilizer coated with chemicals to increase its hydrophobic character indicate that they could be useful in treating wet-land oil spills. Soils from the McKenzie River drainage basin indicate that bacteria are present which can use oil under mesophilic conditions. However, the ability to use the same oil under psychrophilic conditions is more restricted. At least one bacterial species from each mixed population studied was capable of bringing about chemical changes in oil similar to those observed for the original mixed culture. The potential hazards and uses of the seeding of oil spills is discussed relative to the environmental conditions found in the northern part of Canada. 35 refs., 2 figs., 15 tabs.

  10. Crude Oil Resource: A Blessing Or Curse To Nigeria – The Case Of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Crude Oil Resource: A Blessing Or Curse To Nigeria – The Case Of The Niger Delta. S Tamuno, JM Felix. Abstract. This paper examines the question as to whether crude oil resource is a blessing or curse to Nigeria: The case of the Niger Delta Region. The paper traces the origin of oil exploration and exploitation from ...

  11. Acid esterification of a high free fatty acid crude palm oil and crude rubber seed oil blend: Optimization and parametric analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khan, Modhar A.; Yusup, Suzana; Ahmad, Murni M. [Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Chemical Engineering, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak (Malaysia)

    2010-12-15

    Free fatty acids content plays an important role in selecting the appropriate route for biodiesel production. Oils with high content of free fatty acids can be treated by acid esterification where an alcohol reacts with the given oil in the presence of acid catalyst. In the current study, an equivolume blend of crude rubber seed oil and crude palm oil is fed to the reaction with methanol as the alcohol of choice and sulfuric acid. Selected reaction parameters were optimized, using Taguchi method for design of experiments, to yield the lowest free fatty acid content in the final product. The investigated parameters include alcohol to oil ratio, temperature and amount of catalyst. The effect and significance of each parameter were then studied based on the fractional factorial design and verified by additional experiments. The optimum conditions for acid esterification which could reduce the free fatty acid content in the feedstock to lower than 0.6% (95% reduction) were 65 C, 15:1 methanol to oil ratio (by mole) and 0.5 wt% H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} after 3 h of reaction time. Temperature had been found to have the most effect on the reduction of free fatty acids followed by reactants ratio while increasing catalyst amount had nominal effect. (author)

  12. Novel insight into the role of heterotrophic dinoflagellates in the fate of crude oil in the sea

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Almeda, Rodrigo; Connelly, Tara L.; Buskey, Edward J.

    2014-01-01

    Although planktonic protozoans are likely to interact with dispersed crude oil after a spill, protozoan-mediated processes affecting crude oil pollution in the sea are still not well known. Here, we present the first evidence of ingestion and defecation of physically or chemically dispersed crude...... to 0.37 mu g-oil mg-C-dino (-1) d(-1), which could represent similar to 17% to 100% of dispersed oil in surface waters when heterotrophic dinoflagellates are abundant or bloom. Egestion of faecal pellets containing crude oil by heterotrophic dinoflagellates could contribute to the sinking and flux...... of toxic petroleum hydrocarbons in coastal waters. Our study indicates that crude oil ingestion by heterotrophic dinoflagellates is a noteworthy route by which petroleum enters marine food webs and a previously overlooked biological process influencing the fate of crude oil in the sea after spills....

  13. What about oil reserve depletion and crude oil price evolution?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2007-01-01

    The objective of this report is to give a synthesis of different points of view with respect to the 'Peak Oil' perspective and to the crude oil price evolution. In the first part, the authors examine the evolutions and assessments of oil reserves and productions, by discussing the different types of reserve, the optimistic and pessimistic points of views. Then, in the second part, they analyse the long term price formation, the various production technical costs (conventional oils, heavy oils and asphaltic sands, coal- and gas-based synthetic hydrocarbons, bio-fuels), the external costs (notably in relationship with greenhouse emissions), the relationship between geopolitical issues and short and middle term price formation. In the third and last part, they discuss the possible evolutions and scenarios in terms of demand, production, and prices

  14. Influence of UVB radiation on the lethal and sublethal toxicity of dispersed crude oil to planktonic copepod nauplii.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almeda, Rodrigo; Harvey, Tracy E; Connelly, Tara L; Baca, Sarah; Buskey, Edward J

    2016-06-01

    Toxic effects of petroleum to marine zooplankton have been generally investigated using dissolved petroleum hydrocarbons and in the absence of sunlight. In this study, we determined the influence of natural ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation on the lethal and sublethal toxicity of dispersed crude oil to naupliar stages of the planktonic copepods Acartia tonsa, Temora turbinata and Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus. Low concentrations of dispersed crude oil (1 μL L(-1)) caused a significant reduction in survival, growth and swimming activity of copepod nauplii after 48 h of exposure. UVB radiation increased toxicity of dispersed crude oil by 1.3-3.8 times, depending on the experiment and measured variables. Ingestion of crude oil droplets may increase photoenhanced toxicity of crude oil to copepod nauplii by enhancing photosensitization. Photoenhanced sublethal toxicity was significantly higher when T. turbinata nauplii were exposed to dispersant-treated oil than crude oil alone, suggesting that chemical dispersion of crude oil may promote photoenhanced toxicity to marine zooplankton. Our results demonstrate that acute exposure to concentrations of dispersed crude oil and dispersant (Corexit 9500) commonly found in the sea after oil spills are highly toxic to copepod nauplii and that natural levels of UVB radiation substantially increase the toxicity of crude oil to these planktonic organisms. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of considering sunlight in petroleum toxicological studies and models to better estimate the impact of crude oil spills on marine zooplankton. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  15. The Effect of the Operating Conditions on the Apparent Viscosity of Crude Palm Oil During Oil Clarification

    OpenAIRE

    Sulaiman Al-Zuhair, Mirghani I. Ahmed and Yousif A. Abakr

    2012-01-01

    This paper discusses the apparent viscosity of crude palm oil, using rotary viscometer, under different boundary conditions. It was experimentally shown that the apparent viscosity of palm oil drops with increasing of the shear rate and the temperature.  However, the effect of temperature on the viscosity tends to fade at temperatures beyond 80 oC.  A correlation between the apparent viscosity of crude palm oil and the operating conditions was developed. This correlation can be used...

  16. Conversion of Crude Oil to Methane by a Microbial Consortium Enriched From Oil Reservoir Production Waters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolina eBerdugo-Clavijo

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The methanogenic biodegradation of crude oil is an important process occurring in petroleum reservoirs and other oil-containing environments such as contaminated aquifers. In this process, syntrophic bacteria degrade hydrocarbon substrates to products such as acetate, and/or H2 and CO2 that are then used by methanogens to produce methane in a thermodynamically dependent manner. We enriched a methanogenic crude oil-degrading consortium from production waters sampled from a low temperature heavy oil reservoir. Alkylsuccinates indicative of fumarate addition to C5 and C6 n-alkanes were identified in the culture (above levels found in controls, corresponding to the detection of an alkyl succinate synthase gene (assA in the culture. In addition, the enrichment culture was tested for its ability to produce methane from residual oil in a sandstone-packed column system simulating a mature field. Methane production rates of up 5.8 μmol CH4/g of oil/day were measured in the column system. Amounts of produced methane were in relatively good agreement with hydrocarbon loss showing depletion of more than 50% of saturate and aromatic hydrocarbons. Microbial community analysis revealed that the enrichment culture was dominated by members of the genus Smithella, Methanosaeta, and Methanoculleus. However, a shift in microbial community occurred following incubation of the enrichment in the sandstone columns. Here, Methanobacterium sp. were most abundant, as were bacterial members of the genus Pseudomonas and other known biofilm forming organisms. Our findings show that microorganisms enriched from petroleum reservoir waters can bioconvert crude oil components to methane both planktonically and in sandstone-packed columns as test systems. Further, the results suggest that different organisms may contribute to oil biodegradation within different phases (e.g., planktonic versus sessile within a subsurface crude oil reservoir.

  17. Oil and Cars: The Impact of Crude Oil Prices on the Stock Returns of Automotive Companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bettina Lis

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we are testing whether the impact of oil prices is different on the overall market and automotive companies. In addition we investigate, if this relationship is nonlinear. For this we use stock return data of US, German and Japanese car companies, and returns of share indices from the same countries as control variables, and Brent crude oil price changes. We first estimate the impact of crude oil on the indices, then clean the indices from these influences, and afterwards estimate the impact on the stocks. For this we are using OLS and EGARCH (1,1. We conclude that in general the car companies‘ stocks do not react more adversely as the overall market to crude oil price increases, while Japanese companies do not show any excess sensitivity at all. German companies tend to be sensitive, and US and German companies are together more sensitive in the more recent time periods.

  18. Rheological Behaviour of Water-in-Light Crude Oil Emulsion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Husin, H.; Taju Ariffin, T. S.; Yahya, E.

    2018-05-01

    Basically, emulsions consist of two immiscible liquids which have different density. In petroleum industry, emulsions are undesirable due to their various costly problems in term of transportation difficulties and production loss. A study of the rheological behaviour of light crude oil and its mixture from Terengganu were carried out using Antoon Paar MCR 301 rheometer operated at pressure of 2.5 bar at temperature C. Water in oil emulsions were prepared by mixing light crude oil with different water volume fractions (20%, 30% and 40%). The objectives of present paper are to study the rheological behaviour of emulsion as a fuction of shear rate and model analysis that fitted with the experimental data. The rheological models of Ostwald-De-Waele and Herschel-Bulkley were fitted to the experimental results. All models represented well the rheological data, with high values for the correlation coefficients. The result indicated that variation of water content influenced shear rate-shear stress rheogram of the prepared emulsions. In the case of 100% light crude oil, the study demonstrated non-Newtonian shear thickening behavior. However, for emulsion with different volume water ratios, the rheological behaviour could be well described by Herschel-Bulkley models due to the present of yield stress parameter (R2 = 0.99807). As a conclusion, rheological studies showed that volume water ratio have a great impact on the shear stress and viscosity of water in oil emulsion and it is important to understand these factors to avoid various costly problems.

  19. Kinetic modeling and half life study on bioremediation of crude oil dispersed by Corexit 9500

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zahed, Mohammad Ali; Aziz, Hamidi Abdul; Isa, Mohamed Hasnain; Mohajeri, Leila; Mohajeri, Soraya; Kutty, Shamsul Rahman Mohamed

    2011-01-01

    Hydrocarbon pollution in marine ecosystems occurs mainly by accidental oil spills, deliberate discharge of ballast waters from oil tankers and bilge waste discharges; causing site pollution and serious adverse effects on aquatic environments as well as human health. A large number of petroleum hydrocarbons are biodegradable, thus bioremediation has become an important method for the restoration of oil polluted areas. In this research, a series of natural attenuation, crude oil (CO) and dispersed crude oil (DCO) bioremediation experiments of artificially crude oil contaminated seawater was carried out. Bacterial consortiums were identified as Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes, Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Vibrio. First order kinetics described the biodegradation of crude oil. Under abiotic conditions, oil removal was 19.9% while a maximum of 31.8% total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) removal was obtained in natural attenuation experiment. All DCO bioreactors demonstrated higher and faster removal than CO bioreactors. Half life times were 28, 32, 38 and 58 days for DCO and 31, 40, 50 and 75 days for CO with oil concentrations of 100, 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/L, respectively. The effectiveness of Corexit 9500 dispersant was monitored in the 45 day study; the results indicated that it improved the crude oil biodegradation rate.

  20. Hydrodynamism, crude oil distribution and geochemistry of the stratigraphic column in a transect of the Eastern Venezuelan Basin

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gallango, O.; Escandon, M.; Alberdi, M. (Intevep, S.A. Caracas (Venezuela)); Parnaud, F.; Pascual, J.C. (Beicip, Rueil Malmaison (France))

    1992-01-01

    The hydrocarbon accumulation history in a transect of the Eastern Venezuelan Basin is closely related to the generation and migration process as a consequence of the stratigraphic, structural and tectonic evolution of the basin during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic times. Thermal maturity assessment based on kinetic parameters using the appropriate software indicates that the generation of oil from the marine facies of the Querecual and San Antonio source rocks in the northern part of the basin took place during early Paleocene to early Miocene times prior to the start of thrusting, while the second and third phase occurred during middle Miocene to recent times in zones beneath the principal thrust in the Maturing area. The third phase of oil generation is associated with the latter thrusts which are out of sequence. Taking into consideration the development of the oil and gas kitchen through time, the hydrodynamism, the characteristics and distribution of the hydrocarbons, the migration of oil and gas have been outlined. The major differences observed among the oils, are due to maturity and post-accumulation processes such as oil mixing and biodegradation. A wide range of thermal maturity was observed in the oils, which is mainly due to the thermal stress experienced by the source rock. Association of light crudes with meteoric waters have been observed, as well as heavy to extra-heavy crudes with connate waters at greater depth. These unusual associations of crudes and formation waters are related to the hydrodynamical regime in the basin.

  1. Impact of the discovery of crude oil on inter-group relations between ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Impact of the discovery of crude oil on inter-group relations between Isoko and her immediate neighbours in the western Niger Delta of Nigeria. ... The article shows that the discovery of crude oil petroleum in the western Niger Delta marked a watershed in the history of intergroup relations in the area. Keywords: Discovery ...

  2. Supplying synthetic crude oil from Canadian oil sands: A comparative study of the costs and CO2 emissions of mining and in-situ recovery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Méjean, Aurélie; Hope, Chris

    2013-01-01

    High crude oil prices and the eventual decline of conventional oil production raise the issue of alternative fuels such as non-conventional oil. The paper describes a simple probabilistic model of the costs of synthetic crude oil produced from Canadian oil sands. Synthetic crude oil is obtained by upgrading bitumen that is first produced through mining or in-situ recovery techniques. This forward-looking analysis quantifies the effects of learning and production constraints on the costs of supplying synthetic crude oil. The sensitivity analysis shows that before 2035, the most influential parameters are the learning parameter in the case of in-situ bitumen and the depletion parameter in the case of mined bitumen. After 2035, depletion dominates in both cases. The results show that the social cost of CO 2 has a large impact on the total costs of synthetic crude oil, in particular in the case of synthetic crude oil from in-situ bitumen, due to the carbon intensity of the recovery techniques: taking into account the social cost of CO 2 adds more than half to the cost of producing synthetic crude oil from mined bitumen in 2050 (mean value), while the cost of producing synthetic crude oil from in-situ bitumen more than doubles. - Highlights: • We model the cost of Canadian synthetic crude oil (SCO) using Monte-Carlo techniques. • We reveal the uncertainty associated with each input parameter. • We quantify the effect of learning, depletion and CO 2 using sensitivity analyses. • Accounting for the social cost of CO 2 doubles the cost of SCO from in-situ bitumen. • CO 2 pricing could have a large effect on the economics of the oil sands

  3. Microbial ecology of a crude oil contaminated aquifer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bekins, B.A.; Cozzarelli, I.M.; Warren, E.; Godsy, E.M.

    2002-01-01

    Detailed microbial analyses of a glacial outwash aquifer contaminated by crude oil provide insights into the pattern of microbial succession from iron reducing to methanogenic in the anaerobic portion of the contaminant plume. We analysed sediments from this area for populations of aerobes, iron reducers, fermenters and methanogens, using the most probable number method. On the basis of the microbial data the anaerobic area can be divided into distinct physiological zones dominated by either iron-reducers or a consortium of fermenters and methanogens. Chemistry and permeability data show that methanogenic conditions develop first in areas of high hydrocarbon flux. Thus, we find methanogens both in high permeability horizons and also where separate-phase crude oil is present in either the saturated or unsaturated zone. Microbial numbers peak at the top of the separate-phase oil suggesting that growth is most rapid in locations with access to both hydrocarbons and nutrients infiltrating from the surface.

  4. Developmental toxicity in flounder embryos exposed to crude oils derived from different geographical regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Jee-Hyun; Lee, Eun-Hee; Choi, Kwang-Min; Yim, Un Hyuk; Ha, Sung Yong; An, Joon Geon; Kim, Moonkoo

    2017-06-01

    Crude oils from distinct geographical regions have distinct chemical compositions, and, as a result, their toxicity may be different. However, developmental toxicity of crude oils derived from different geographical regions has not been extensively characterized. In this study, flounder embryos were separately exposed to effluents contaminated by three crude oils including: Basrah Light (BLO), Pyrenees (PCO), and Sakhalin Vityaz (SVO), in addition to a processed fuel oil (MFO-380), to measure developmental toxicity and for gene expressions. Each oil possessed a distinct chemical composition. Edema defect was highest in embryos exposed to PCO and MFO-380 that both have a greater fraction of three-ring PAHs (33% and 22%, respectively) compared to BLO and SVO. Observed caudal fin defects were higher in embryos exposed to SVO and MFO-380, which are both dominated by naphthalenes (81% and 52%, respectively). CYP1A gene expressions were also highest in embryos exposed to SVO and MFO-380. Higher incidence of cardiotoxicity and lower nkx 2.5 expression were detected in embryos exposed to PCO. Unique gene expression profiles were observed in embryos exposed to crude oils with distinct compositions. This study demonstrates that crude oils of different geographical origins with different compositional characteristics induce developmental toxicity to different degrees. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Concentration of vanadium in crude oil and water using inductively-coupled plasma spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amin, Y.M.; Hassan, M.A.; Junkin, K.; Mahat, R.H.; Raphie, B.

    1991-01-01

    Vanadium is a trace element that is usually associated to crude oil and its products. In this study the concentration of vanadium in a few samples of local crude oil, sea and river water were determined using inductively-coupled plasma spectrometry (ICP). It is hoped that the concentration of vanadium in water can be used to indicate the possible extent of oil contamination

  6. Microbial Population Dynamics Associated with Crude-Oil Biodegradation in Diverse Soils

    OpenAIRE

    Hamamura, Natsuko; Olson, Sarah H.; Ward, David M.; Inskeep, William P.

    2006-01-01

    Soil bacterial population dynamics were examined in several crude-oil-contaminated soils to identify those organisms associated with alkane degradation and to assess patterns in microbial response across disparate soils. Seven soil types obtained from six geographically distinct areas of the United States (Arizona, Oregon, Indiana, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Montana) were used in controlled contamination experiments containing 2% (wt/wt) crude oil spiked with [1-14C]hexadecane. Microbial populat...

  7. Geotechnical properties of crude oil contaminated sand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Puri, V.K.; Das, B.M.; Cook, E.E.; Shin, E.C.

    1994-01-01

    Contamination of soil due to an oil spill influences its subsequent engineering behavior. An investigation was conducted to study the effect of crude oil contamination on compaction characteristics, shear strength, one-dimensional compression, and coefficient of permeability. Water permeability was also determined by using commercial grade motor oils as contaminants. The test results indicate that the compaction characteristics are influenced by oil contamination. The angle of internal friction of sand (based on total stress condition) decreases due to presence of oil within the pore spaces in sand. One dimensional compression characteristics of sand are significantly influenced by oil contamination resulting in a decrease in the value of constrained modulus with increase in the degree of oil contamination compared to the case of dry sand. Water permeability was observed to be a function of the initial viscosity and the degree of saturation due to the contaminating oil

  8. Forecasting Crude Oil Price Using EEMD and RVM with Adaptive PSO-Based Kernels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taiyong Li

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Crude oil, as one of the most important energy sources in the world, plays a crucial role in global economic events. An accurate prediction for crude oil price is an interesting and challenging task for enterprises, governments, investors, and researchers. To cope with this issue, in this paper, we proposed a method integrating ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD, adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO, and relevance vector machine (RVM—namely, EEMD-APSO-RVM—to predict crude oil price based on the “decomposition and ensemble” framework. Specifically, the raw time series of crude oil price were firstly decomposed into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs and one residue by EEMD. Then, RVM with combined kernels was applied to predict target value for the residue and each IMF individually. To improve the prediction performance of each component, an extended particle swarm optimization (PSO was utilized to simultaneously optimize the weights and parameters of single kernels for the combined kernel of RVM. Finally, simple addition was used to aggregate all the predicted results of components into an ensemble result as the final result. Extensive experiments were conducted on the crude oil spot price of the West Texas Intermediate (WTI to illustrate and evaluate the proposed method. The experimental results are superior to those by several state-of-the-art benchmark methods in terms of root mean squared error (RMSE, mean absolute percent error (MAPE, and directional statistic (Dstat, showing that the proposed EEMD-APSO-RVM is promising for forecasting crude oil price.

  9. Geochemical characteristics of crude oil from a tight oil reservoir in the Lucaogou Formation, Jimusar Sag, Junggar Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Z.

    2015-12-01

    Jimusar Sag, which lies in the Junggar Basin,is one of the most typical tight oil study areas in China. However, the properties and origin of the crude oil and the geochemical characteristics of the tight oil from the Lucaogou Formation have not yet been studied. In the present study, 23 crude oilsfrom the Lucaogou Formation were collected for analysis, such as physical properties, bulk composition, saturated hydrocarbon gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the calculation of various biomarker parameters. In addition,source rock evaluation and porosity permeability analysis were applied to the mudstones and siltstones. Biomarkers of suitable source rocks (TOC>1, S1+S2>6mg/g, 0.7%oil-source correlation. To analyze the hydrocarbon generation history of the Lucaogou source rock, 1D basin modeling was performed. The oil-filling history was also defined by means of basin modeling and microthermometry. The results indicated the presence of low maturity to mature crude oils originating from the burial of terrigenous organic matter beneath a saline lake in the source rocks of mainly type II1kerogen. In addition, a higher proportion of bacteria and algae was shown to contribute to the formation of crude oil in the lower section when compared with the upper section of the Lucaogou Formation. Oil-source correlations demonstrated that not all mudstones within the Lucaogou Formation contributed to oil accumulation.Crude oil from the upper and lower sections originated from thin-bedded mudstones interbedded within sweet spot sand bodies. A good coincidence of filling history and hydrocarbon generation history indicated that the Lucaogou reservoir is a typical in situ reservoir. The mudstones over or beneath the sweet spot bodies consisted of natural caprocks and prevented the vertical movement of oil by capillary forces. Despite being thicker, the thick-bedded mudstone between the upper and lower sweet spots had no obvious contribution to

  10. Toxicity of crude oil to early life stages of two fish species

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clarke, L.M.; Hodson, P.V. [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada). Dept. of Biology; Brown, R.S. [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada). Dept. of Chemistry; King, T.; Lee, K. [Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Dartmouth, NS (Canada). Bedford Inst. of Oceanography

    2004-07-01

    Fish exposed to crude oil in their early life stages exhibit signs of dioxin-like toxicity which is linked to the presence of alkyl-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Exposure is characterized by the presence of blue-sac disease which manifests itself in edema, hemorrhaging, deformities and induction of CYP1A enzymes. In this study, the extent of CYP1A induction and BSD was compared in the early life stages of rainbow trout and Japanese medaka following exposure to two crude oils (Scotian Shelf and Alaskan North Slope Crude). Embryos were exposed to a broad range of concentrations of chemically enhanced water fractions of both oils which have unique PAH composition and chemical characteristics. It was assumed that Alaskan North Slope Crude would be more toxic than Scotian Shelf because it has a higher PAH concentration. The occurrence and severity of BSD was characterized along with the extent of PAH exposure. Preliminary results confirm that PAH exposure is greater for Alaskan North Slope Crude and that the responses of the two fish species were highly correlated.

  11. Studies on sludge from waxy crude oil storage tank. II. Solvent fractionation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fazal, S.A.; Zarapkar, S.S.; Joshi, G.C. [D.G. Ruparel College, Bombay (India). Dept. of Chemistry

    1995-12-31

    The sludge formed from crude oil (Bombay Hindu Crude oil) dump storage has been analysed by solvent extraction with a series of solvents of increasing polarity. The extract fractions so obtained have been analysed extensively. The nature of the sludge is compared with the similar sludges reported by other workers. 9 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.

  12. A study of the effects of enhanced oil recovery agents on the quality of Strategic Petroleum Reserves crude oil. Final technical report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kabadi, V.N.

    1992-10-01

    The project was initiated on September 1, 1990. The objective of the project was to carry out a literature search to estimate the types and extents of long time interactions of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) agents, such as surfactants, caustics and polymers, with crude oil. This information is necessary to make recommendations about mixing EOR crude oil with crude oils from primary and secondary recovery processes in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Data were sought on both adverse and beneficial effects of EOR agents that would impact handling, transportation and refining of crude oil. An extensive literature search has been completed, and the following informations has been compiled: (1) a listing of existing EOR test and field projects; (2) a listing of currently used EOR agents; and (3) evidence of short and long term physical and chemical interactions of these EOR-agents with hydrocarbons, and their effects on the quality of crude oil at long times. This information is presented in this report. Finally some conclusions are derived and recommendations are made. Although the conclusions are based mostly on extrapolations because of lack of specific data, it is recommended that the enhancement of the rates of biodegradation of oil catalyzed by the EOR agents needs to be further studied. There is no evidence of substantial long term effects on crude oil because of other interactions. Some recommendations are also made regarding the types of studies that would be necessary to determine the effect of certain EOR agents on the rates of biodegradation of crude oil.

  13. Phylogenetic diversity of dominant bacterial communities during bioremediation of crude oil-polluted soil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eugene Thomas Cloete

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Bioremediation of hydrocarbon pollutants is advantageous owing to the cost-effectiveness of the technology and the ubiquity of hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms in the soil. Soil microbial diversity is affected by hydrocarbon perturbation thus selective enrichment of hydrocarbon utilizers occurs. Hydrocarbons interact with the soil matrix and soil microorganisms determining the fate of the contaminants relative to their chemical nature and microbial degradative capabilities respectively. Bacterial dynamics in crude oil-polluted soil microcosms undergoing bioremediation were investigated over a 42-day period. Four out of the five microcosms containing 4kg of pristine soil each were contaminated with 4% Arabian light crude oil. Three microcosms were amended with either 25g of NPK fertilizer, calcium ammonium nitrate or poultry droppings respectively while the fourth designated oil-contaminated control was unamended. The fifth microcosm had only pristine soil and was set up to ascertain indigenous bacterial community structure pre-contamination. Biostimulated soils were periodically tilled and watered. Hydrocarbon degradation was measured throughout the experimental period by gas chromatography. Gas chromatographic tracing of residual hydrocarbons in biostimulated soils showed marked attenuation of contaminants starting from the second (day 14 till the sixth (day 42 week after contamination whereas no significant reduction in hydrocarbon peaks was seen in the oil contaminated control soil throughout the 6-week experimental period. Molecular fingerprints of bacterial communities involved in aerobic biodegradation of crude oil hydrocarbons in biostimulated soils and controls were generated with DGGE using PCR-amplification of 16S rRNA gene obtained from extracted total soil community DNA. DGGE fingerprints demonstrated that NPK, calcium ammonium nitrate and poultry droppings selected different bacterial populations during the active phase of oil

  14. Crude incompatibility problems at heavy crude unit desalter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirmani, Z.; Khurshid, A.; Alam, N.; Gul, S.; Ahmed, N.

    2009-01-01

    Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) is based at Rawalpindi, Pakistan and operates a 40,000 Barrels per Stream Day (BPSD) refinery. The Heavy Crude Unit (HCU) of ARL is a fully integrated two-stage 10,000 BPSD Atmospheric and 5,700 BPSD Vacuum Distillation Unit. A 3-stage desalter designed to reduce salt and BS and W content from 2,000 parts per thousand barrels (PTB) and 2% to less than 5 PTB and 0.1% respectively, is part of HCU. The feedstock is a composite blend of 14 local Heavy Crudes received at the Refinery. Although in the past this desalter had been giving good performance, over the last one year, period since August 2005, at least nine shutdowns of the unit took place due to salt slippage and consequential tube leakages at the overhead Crude-Naphtha vapor Heat Exchanger where partial condensation of naphtha takes place. Final condensation is achieved in trim condenser. High salted water carry-over with the crude caused increased hydrolysis, formation of Hydrochloric acid and increase of tail water chlorides. Salt contents at the outlet of third desalter at times increased up to 400 PTB with 3.2% BS and W during the above mentioned upsets, as compared to normal 5-10 PTB. Fallout from this loss of desalter control was the creation of large quantities of slop due to draining of strong water oil emulsion from the desalters. Individual crudes of the blend were analyzed for affinity of water and emulsion stability. It was observed that 3 of the 14 crudes formed very strong while the remaining crudes formed weak oil water emulsion, which easily separated water from oil in desalter without any operational problem. Study was further narrowed down to one crude evaluation. Alkaline earth metallic naphthenate surfactants were detected and isolated as responsible for the strong water oil and sediments emulsion. The isolated crude was next withdrawn from the Heavy Crude blend. As soon as it was isolated and its ratio in heavy crude tank came down to 0.7 %, the problem began

  15. Crude oil and natural gas supplies and demands for Denmark

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mackay, R.M.; Probert, S.D.

    1995-01-01

    A novel technique for forecasting the supply and extraction life-cycle of a depleting fossil fuel resource has been developed. The supply side utilises a 'skewed-normal production-profile' model that yields a better representation than earlier approaches. A simple model for extrapolating crude oil and natural gas demands has also been devised, based on the so called 'modified logit function'. The predicted crude oil and natural gas balances for the period up to AD 2010 indicate the disparity between indigenous production and future consumption for Denmark. These forecasts depend on current estimates of remaining oil and gas reserves. It will consequently be necessary to revise periodically the present projections as more reliable reserve estimates become available. (author)

  16. Comparative Study of Crude Oil Contamination Effect on Industrial and Forest Soil Microbial Community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nasrin Ansari

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Petroleum hydrocarbons are widespread pollutant that enters to soil by some pathwayssuch as: Transportation of crude oil, conservation of oil compounds, crude oil spill and treatment process on refineries. Oil pollution has some ecological effect on soil that disturbed composition and diversity of microbial community. Also this pollution has some effects on microbial activity and enzymes of soil. Forests ecosystems may be polluted with petroleum hydrocarbons via different ways such as transportation and spill of crude oil from resource of petroleum storage. Industrial soil defined as the soils that located in industrial area such as petrochemical plant, mine, chemical factories and etc. These soils always contaminated to many pollutant such as: oil, diesel and heavy metals. These pollutants have some effects on the texture of the soil and microbial community. The aim of this research is to understand the effect of oil pollution on two different soils. Material and Methods: In order to evaluate the effect of crude oil on soil microbial community, two different soil samples were collected from industrial and forest soils. Six microcosms were designed in this experiment. Indeed each soil sample examined inthree microcosms asunpolluted microcosm, polluted microcosm, and polluted microcosm with nutrient supply of Nitrogen and PhosphorusSome factors were assayed in each microcosm during 120 days of experiment. The included study factors were: total heterotrophic bacteria, total crude oil degrading bacteria, dehydrogenase enzyme and crude oil biodegradation. For enumeration of heterotrophic bacteria nutrient agar medium was used. In this method serial dilutions were done from each soil and spread on nutrient agar medium then different colonies were counted. For enumeration of degrading bacteria Bushnel-Hass (BH medium were used. The composition of this medium was (g/lit: 1 gr KH2PO4, 1gr K2HPO4, 0.2 gr MgSO4.7H2O, 0.02 gr CaCl2, 1 gr NH4

  17. Catalytic cracking of crude bio-oil from glycerol-assisted liquefaction of swine manure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheng, Dan; Wang, Lijun; Shahbazi, Abolghasem; Xiu, Shuangning; Zhang, Bo

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Bio-oil from glycerol-assisted liquefaction of swine manure was cracked over zeolite. • 30-Min cracking on 5% catalyst at 400 °C yielded 46.1% bio-oil with 62.5% recovered energy. • 30-Min cracking on 5% catalyst at 400 °C removed 55.74% oxygen in the crude bio-oil. • The heating value and viscosity of the upgraded bio-oil were 41.4 MJ/kg and 3.6 cP. • Long chain acid methyl esters were cracked into alkanes, alkenes and short chain esters. - Abstract: The crude bio-oil produced from the glycerol-assisted liquefaction of swine manure which had large amount of long chain esters, was upgraded by thermal cracking over a modified zeolite catalyst. The effects of thermal cracking temperature (350–425 °C), reaction time (15–60 min) and catalyst loading (0–10 wt%) on the yield and quality of the upgraded oil were analyzed. The yield of upgraded bio-oil decreased with the increase of reaction temperature, reaction time and catalyst loading, but the viscosity, heating value and composition of the upgraded bio-oil became more desirable. Taking into the consideration both the yield and quality of the upgraded bio-oil, the optimal thermal cracking could be achieved over 5 wt% catalyst at 400 °C for 30 min. Under this condition, the yield of upgraded bio-oil was 46.14 wt% of the crude bio-oil, and 62.5% of the energy stored in the crude bio-oil was recovered. The oxygen content of the upgraded bio-oil was 15.04%, which was less than half of the original value of 33.98%. The viscosity of the upgraded bio-oil was 3.6 cP, compared with 188.9 cP for the crude bio-oil. The heating value of the upgraded bio-oil was 41.4 MJ/kg, compared with 30.54 MJ/kg for the crude bio-oil. Both the viscosity and heating value of the upgraded bio-oil were comparable to those of commercial diesel. The GC–MS analysis showed that the catalytic upgrading resulted in the increased cracking of long-chain acid methyl esters (such as hexadecanoic acid methyl ester

  18. Basic properties of crude rubber seed oil and crude palm oil blend as a potential feedstock for biodiesel production with enhanced cold flow characteristics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yusup, Suzana; Khan, Modhar [Chemical Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak (Malaysia)

    2010-10-15

    Research and development in the field of biodiesel showed that fatty acid methyl esters synthesized from agriculture or animal oils and fats, which exhibit qualifying properties, can replace diesel fuel used in internal combustion engine. However, the industry had some downfall recently with the fluctuating prices of edible oils and increasing demand for nutritional needs. Crude rubber seed oil (CRSO) and crude palm oil (CPO) were used in this study since both can be extracted and produced locally in Malaysia from their abundant plantations. The benefits of introducing such blend are that CRSO is considered a non-edible feedstock with no major industrial utilizations that has the potential to reduce the usage of CPO in biodiesel industry and was found to enhance the cold flow characteristics when blended with CPO by reducing the saturated fatty acids in the feedstock. The oils and blends were characterized for density, kinematic viscosity, heating value, acid value, free fatty acid content, refractive index, mono-, di- and triglycerides and sulphur content. Fatty acids composition and iodine value were established for an equivolume blend of the oils. (author)

  19. Basic properties of crude rubber seed oil and crude palm oil blend as a potential feedstock for biodiesel production with enhanced cold flow characteristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yusup, Suzana; Khan, Modhar

    2010-01-01

    Research and development in the field of biodiesel showed that fatty acid methyl esters synthesized from agriculture or animal oils and fats, which exhibit qualifying properties, can replace diesel fuel used in internal combustion engine. However, the industry had some downfall recently with the fluctuating prices of edible oils and increasing demand for nutritional needs. Crude rubber seed oil (CRSO) and crude palm oil (CPO) were used in this study since both can be extracted and produced locally in Malaysia from their abundant plantations. The benefits of introducing such blend are that CRSO is considered a non-edible feedstock with no major industrial utilizations that has the potential to reduce the usage of CPO in biodiesel industry and was found to enhance the cold flow characteristics when blended with CPO by reducing the saturated fatty acids in the feedstock. The oils and blends were characterized for density, kinematic viscosity, heating value, acid value, free fatty acid content, refractive index, mono-, di- and triglycerides and sulphur content. Fatty acids composition and iodine value were established for an equivolume blend of the oils.

  20. A novel apparatus for long term weathering of crude oils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berger, D.; Lun, R.; Skogen, E.; Ooijen, H. Van; Mackay, D.

    1993-01-01

    A novel apparatus is under development for exposing oil in the laboratory to prolonged weathering. The apparatus is mechanically simple and robust and involves contacting oil with water and air, and possibly with solar radiation, under controlled conditions of salinity and turbulence. The principle of operation is that the oil rests on the concave surface of water, which is held in a cylindrical glass vessel and rotated at 33 rpm. The oil is agitated by a fixed stirrer which has a variable pitch. Three oils were studied: Canadian Environmenal Protection Service standard, Kuwait crude, and Prudhoe Bay crude. Gas chromatographic analysis of the oil revealed the expected changes in composition due to evaporation, and purge and trap analysis of the water in contact with the oil determined the nature and concentration of the dissolved hydrocarbons. The apparatus also proved successful for testing the formation of water-in-oil emulsions. It is hoped that the system will contribute to an improved understanding of the mechanisms involved in the long term weathering processes which occur when oil is spilled at sea. 11 refs., 10 figs., 1 tab

  1. Effects of surfactants on bacteria and the bacterial degradation of alkanes in crude oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bruheim, Per

    1998-12-31

    This thesis investigates the effects of surfactants on the bacterial degradation of alkanes in crude oil. Several alkane oxidising Gram positive and Gram negative were tested for their abilities to oxidise alkanes in crude oil emulsified with surfactants. The surfactants used to make the oil in water emulsions were either of microbial or chemical origin. Oxidation rates of resting bacteria oxidising various crude oil in water emulsions were measured by Warburg respirometry. The emulsions were compared with non-emulsified oil to see which was the preferred substrate. The bacteria were pregrown to both the exponential and stationary phase of growth before harvesting and preparation for the Warburg experiments. 123 refs., 4 figs., 14 tabs.

  2. Classification of weathered crude oils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vogt, N.B.; Sjoegren, C.E.; Lichtenthaler, G.

    1987-01-01

    The NORDTEST procedure (1) for oil spill identification has been applied successfully at several occasions. The NORDTEST procedure includes analyses of sulfur (XRF), vanadium and nickel (ICP/AAS), GC, HPLC and UV-fluorescence. The NORDTEST procedure does not include GC-MS as an analytical method. As part of a joint Nordic to evaluate the NORDTEST procedure for oil identification, with participants from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway, thirty artificially weathered crude oils from four geographical regions have been analyzed (2). The analytical methods evaluated include sulfur analysis, vanadium and nickel analysis, infrared analysis, UV-fluorescence, gas chromatography, high pressure liquid chromatography and high resolution GC-mass spectrometry. Figure 1 shows the distribution of variables analyzed in each analytical method. The 190 variables from GC-MS were split into 7 groups according to chemical considerations. These were steranes (25 var.), triterpanes (16 var.), di(+)aromatics (63 var.), sulf. aromatics (30 var.), monoaromatics (19 var.), cycloalkanes (15 var.) and n-alkanes (22) variables. The data from these chemical analyses have been evaluated for use in oil spill identification purposes

  3. The impact of crude oil price volatility on agricultural employment in the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uri, N.D.

    1996-01-01

    This study addresses the question of whether fluctuations in the price of crude oil have affected agricultural employment in the United States. After reviewing previous assessments of the issue, the existence of an empirical relationship between agricultural employment and crude oil price volatility is established using cointegration tests. Subsequently, the nature of the relationship is estimated with the results suggesting that at least three full years are required before the measurable impacts of a percentage change in the real price of crude oil on the change in agricultural employment are exhausted. Finally, the structural stability of the functional relationship between the change in agricultural employment and the volatility of the price of crude oil, the percentage changes in expected net farm income, realized technological innovation, and the wage rate is examined. (author)

  4. Phototoxic potential of undispersed and dispersed fresh and weathered Macondo crude oils to Gulf of Mexico Marine Organisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finch, Bryson E; Marzooghi, Solmaz; Di Toro, Dominic M; Stubblefield, William A

    2017-10-01

    Crude oils contain a mixture of hydrocarbons, including phototoxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that have the ability to absorb ultraviolet (UV) light. Absorption of UV light by PAHs can substantially increase their toxicity to marine organisms. The objective of the present study was to examine the potential for phototoxicity of fresh and naturally weathered Macondo crude oils alone and in combination with the dispersant Corexit 9500 to mysid shrimp (Americamysis bahia), inland silverside (Menidia beryllina), sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus), and Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis). Acute toxicity tests were conducted using combinations of natural or artificial sunlight and low-energy water-accommodated fractions (WAFs) of fresh and weathered Macondo crude oils collected from the Gulf of Mexico. Studies were also conducted to compare the phototoxicity resulting from natural and artificial sunlight. Fresh Macondo crude oil was more phototoxic than weathered crude oils, both in the presence and in the absence of UV light. Differences in toxicity between fresh and weathered crude oils were likely attributed to lighter-ringed PAHs in fresh crude oils. Phototoxic PAHs were relatively resistant to weathering compared with lighter-ringed PAHs. The addition of Corexit 9500 to crude oil increased toxicity compared with tests with crude oil alone, by increasing phototoxic PAH concentrations in WAFs. Macondo crude oils had the potential to be phototoxic to Gulf of Mexico marine organisms if specific light conditions and PAH concentrations were present during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:2640-2650. © 2017 SETAC. © 2017 SETAC.

  5. The role of market fundamentals and speculation in recent price changes for crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaufmann, Robert K.

    2011-01-01

    I hypothesize that the price spike and collapse of 2007-2008 are driven by both changes in both market fundamentals and speculative pressures. Contrary to arguments for a demand shock, I hypothesize that prices rise sharply in 2007-2008 because ongoing growth in Chinese oil demand runs into a sudden and unexpected halt to a decade long increase in non-OPEC production. This caused a loss of OPEC spare capacity because increased demand for OPEC production runs ahead of increases in OPEC capacity. These changes are reinforced by speculative expectations. Although difficult to measure directly, I argue for the role of speculation based on the following: (1) a significant increase in private US crude oil inventories since 2004; (2) repeated and extended break-downs (starting in 2004) in the cointegrating relationship between spot and far month future prices that are inconsistent with the law of one price and arbitrage opportunities; and (3) statistical and predictive failures by an econometric model of oil prices that is based on market fundamentals. These changes are related to the behavior and impact of noise traders on asset prices to sketch mechanisms by which speculative expectations can affect crude oil prices. - Research Highlights: → The 2007-2009 spike and collapse in oil prices is caused by a combination of market fundamentals and speculative expectations. → The rise is caused by an unexpected hiatus in non-OPEC oil production, not a sudden increase in demand. → The role of speculation is suggested by an increase in oil inventories, which reverses a twenty year period of declines, a decoupling between spot and futures prices, which violates the law of one price, and a breakdown of empirical models of oil prices based solely on market fundamentals. → Speculative expectations affect oil prices via noise traders, who create a risk that deters rational arbitrageurs from betting against them.

  6. Humps in the volatility structure of the crude oil futures market: New evidence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chiarella, Carl; Kang, Boda; Nikitopoulos, Christina Sklibosios; Tô, Thuy-Duong

    2013-01-01

    This paper analyses the volatility structure of commodity derivatives markets. The model encompasses hump-shaped, unspanned stochastic volatility, which entails a finite-dimensional affine model for the commodity futures curve and quasi-analytical prices for options on commodity futures. Using an extensive database of crude oil futures and futures options spanning 21 years, we find the presence of hump-shaped, partially spanned stochastic volatility in the crude oil market. The hump shaped feature is more pronounced when the market is more volatile, and delivers better pricing as well as hedging performance under various dynamic factor hedging schemes. - Highlights: • This paper analyses the volatility structure of commodity derivatives markets. • 21-years of data on crude oil futures and futures options is used. • The crude oil futures market has hump-shaped, unspanned stochastic volatility. • The hump shaped feature is more pronounced when the market is more volatile. • Hump shape delivers better pricing and hedging compared to exponential decay

  7. A new continuous-time formulation for scheduling crude oil operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reddy, P. Chandra Prakash; Karimi, I.A.; Srinivasan, R.

    2004-01-01

    In today's competitive business climate characterized by uncertain oil markets, responding effectively and speedily to market forces, while maintaining reliable operations, is crucial to a refinery's bottom line. Optimal crude oil scheduling enables cost reduction by using cheaper crudes intelligently, minimizing crude changeovers, and avoiding ship demurrage. So far, only discrete-time formulations have stood up to the challenge of this important, nonlinear problem. A continuous-time formulation would portend numerous advantages, however, existing work in this area has just begun to scratch the surface. In this paper, we present the first complete continuous-time mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation for the short-term scheduling of operations in a refinery that receives crude from very large crude carriers via a high-volume single buoy mooring pipeline. This novel formulation accounts for real-world operational practices. We use an iterative algorithm to eliminate the crude composition discrepancy that has proven to be the Achilles heel for existing formulations. While it does not guarantee global optimality, the algorithm needs only MILP solutions and obtains excellent maximum-profit schedules for industrial problems with up to 7 days of scheduling horizon. We also report the first comparison of discrete- vs. continuous-time formulations for this complex problem. (Author)

  8. Distribution and quantitative assessment of world crude oil reserves and resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masters, Charles D.; Root, David H.; Dietzman, William D.

    1983-01-01

    World Demonstrated Reserves of crude oil are approximately 723 billion barrels of oil (BBO). Cumulative production is 445 BBO and annual production is 20 BBO. Demonstrated Reserves of crude-oil have declined over the past 10 years consistent with discoveries lagging production over the same period. The assessment of Undiscovered Resources shows a 90 percent probability that the amount discoverable lies between 321 and 1,417 BBO, 550 BBO being the most likely value. The most likely value for Ultimate recoverable resources is 1,718 BBO. The distribution of Ultimate Resources of crude oil will remain highly skewed toward the Middle East; no frontier areas that have potentials large enough to significantly affect present distribution are recognized. Rates of discovery have continued to decline over the past 20 years even though exploration activity has increased in recent years. Prudence dictates, therefore, that the low side of the assessment of Undiscovered Resources be responsibly considered and that alternate energy sources be a part of future planning. Extra-heavy oil and bitumen are assessed separately, with Reserves being figured as the annual productive capacity of installed facilities times 25 years. The annual production of extra-heavy oil is about 8 million barrels and of bitumen about 60 million barrels.

  9. Detection of genetically modified soybean in crude soybean oil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikolić, Zorica; Vasiljević, Ivana; Zdjelar, Gordana; Ðorđević, Vuk; Ignjatov, Maja; Jovičić, Dušica; Milošević, Dragana

    2014-02-15

    In order to detect presence and quantity of Roundup Ready (RR) soybean in crude oil extracted from soybean seed with a different percentage of GMO seed two extraction methods were used, CTAB and DNeasy Plant Mini Kit. The amplifications of lectin gene, used to check the presence of soybean DNA, were not achieved in all CTAB extracts of DNA, while commercial kit gave satisfactory results. Comparing actual and estimated GMO content between two extraction methods, root mean square deviation for kit is 0.208 and for CTAB is 2.127, clearly demonstrated superiority of kit over CTAB extraction. The results of quantification evidently showed that if the oil samples originate from soybean seed with varying percentage of RR, it is possible to monitor the GMO content at the first stage of processing crude oil. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Measuring efficiency of international crude oil markets: A multifractality approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niere, H. M.

    2015-01-01

    The three major international crude oil markets are treated as complex systems and their multifractal properties are explored. The study covers daily prices of Brent crude, OPEC reference basket and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude from January 2, 2003 to January 2, 2014. A multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) is employed to extract the generalized Hurst exponents in each of the time series. The generalized Hurst exponent is used to measure the degree of multifractality which in turn is used to quantify the efficiency of the three international crude oil markets. To identify whether the source of multifractality is long-range correlations or broad fat-tail distributions, shuffled data and surrogated data corresponding to each of the time series are generated. Shuffled data are obtained by randomizing the order of the price returns data. This will destroy any long-range correlation of the time series. Surrogated data is produced using the Fourier-Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (F-DFA). This is done by randomizing the phases of the price returns data in Fourier space. This will normalize the distribution of the time series. The study found that for the three crude oil markets, there is a strong dependence of the generalized Hurst exponents with respect to the order of fluctuations. This shows that the daily price time series of the markets under study have signs of multifractality. Using the degree of multifractality as a measure of efficiency, the results show that WTI is the most efficient while OPEC is the least efficient market. This implies that OPEC has the highest likelihood to be manipulated among the three markets. This reflects the fact that Brent and WTI is a very competitive market hence, it has a higher level of complexity compared against OPEC, which has a large monopoly power. Comparing with shuffled data and surrogated data, the findings suggest that for all the three crude oil markets, the multifractality is mainly due to long

  11. Investigating Asphaltenes Composition in Crude Oil Samples using ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    MBI

    2015-12-22

    Dec 22, 2015 ... composition of asphaltenes by Iatroscan TLC-FID method was compared with the weight% of asphaltenes precipitated. ... SARA in the crude oil samples were determined in this work ..... Fractionation and characterization of.

  12. Building on comparative experience : the Venezuelan extra-heavy crude oil projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Valentine, T.E.

    2004-01-01

    This paper reviewed legal considerations regarding heavy and extra heavy oil production in both Canada and Venezuela. The paper focused on Venezuela's extra heavy oil projects in the Orinoco Oil Belt, one of the world's largest accumulation of bitumen with an estimated reserve of 1.2 trillion barrels. The paper described the following four projects: the Petrozuata, Cerro Negro, SINCOR, and Hamaca heavy oil projects which are all congressionally approved joint ventures for extra-heavy crudes in the Orinoco Belt. It also described the legal regime which governs heavy oil projects in Venezuela, including the Organic Gaseous Hydrocarbon Law and the Organic Hydrocarbon Law. Twenty congressional conditions which have been imposed were also outlined along with the legal considerations and lessons learned regarding new extra-heavy crude projects under the two legal regimes. 1 fig

  13. Effect of crude oil contamination on the chlorophyll content and morpho-anatomy of Cyperus brevifolius (Rottb.) Hassk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baruah, Plabita; Saikia, Rashmi Rekha; Baruah, Partha Pratim; Deka, Suresh

    2014-11-01

    Chlorophyll plays a pivotal role in the plant physiology and its productivity. Cultivation of plants in crude oil contaminated soil has a great impact on the synthesis of chlorophyll pigment. Morpho-anatomy of the experimental plant also shows structural deformation in higher concentrations. Keeping this in mind, a laboratory investigation has been carried out to study the effect of crude oil on chlorophyll content and morpho-anatomy of Cyperus brevifolius plant. Fifteen-day-old seedling of the plant was planted in different concentrations of the crude oil mixed soil (i.e., 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, and 50,000 ppm). A control setup was also maintained without adding crude oil. Results were recorded after 6 months of plantation. Investigation revealed that there is a great impact of crude oil contamination on chlorophyll content of the leaves of the experimental plant. It also showed that chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total chlorophyll content of leaves grown in different concentrations of crude oil were found to be lower than those of the control plant. Further, results also demonstrated that chlorophyll content was lowest in the treatment that received maximum dose of crude oil. It also showed that chlorophyll content was decreased with increased concentration of crude oil. Results also demonstrated that there was a reduction in plant shoot and root biomass with the increase of crude oil concentration. Results also revealed that the shoot biomass is higher than root biomass. Morphology and anatomy of the experimental plant also show structural deformation in higher concentrations. Accumulation of crude oil on the cuticle of the transverse section of the leaves and shoot forms a thick dark layer. Estimation of the level of pollution in an environment due to oil spill is possible by the in-depth study of the harmful effects of oil on the morphology and anatomy and chlorophyll content of the plants grown in that particular environment.

  14. Price volatility, hedging and variable risk premium in the crude oil market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmad Jalali-Naini; Maryam Kazemi Manesh

    2006-01-01

    The crude oil price exhibits a high degree of volatility which varies significantly over time. Such characteristics imply that the oil market is a promising area for testing volatility models. Testing and predicting volatility using ARCH and GARCH models have grown in the literature. A useful application of the volatility models is in the formulation of hedging strategies. In this paper we compare the optimal hedge ratio for the crude oil using the classical minimum risk approach and use ARCH to incorporate the effect of heteroskedasticity in the residuals on the hedge ratio. In addition, we test for the existence of a variable risk premium in the crude oil market. We find that, assuming rational expectations, there is a non-zero risk premium. We test for the variability of the risk premia and find evidence in its support when we employed a multivariate GARCH model. (author)

  15. Optimization of crude oil degradation by Dietzia cinnamea KA1, capable of biosurfactant production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kavynifard, Amirarsalan; Ebrahimipour, Gholamhossein; Ghasempour, Alireza

    2016-05-01

    The aim of this study was isolation and characterization of a crude oil degrader and biosurfactant-producing bacterium, along with optimization of conditions for crude oil degradation. Among 11 isolates, 5 were able to emulsify crude oil in Minimal Salt Medium (MSM) among which one isolate, named KA1, showed the highest potency for growth rate and biodegradation. The isolate was identified as Dietzia cinnamea KA1 using morphological and biochemical characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The optimal conditions were 510 mM NaCl, pH 9.0, 35 °C, and minimal requirement of 46.5 mM NH4 Cl and 2.10 mM NaH2 PO4 . Gravimetric test and Gas chromatography-Mass spectroscopy technique (GC-MS) showed that Dietzia cinnamea KA1 was able to utilize and degrade 95.7% of the crude oil after 5 days, under the optimal conditions. The isolate was able to grow and produce biosurfactant when cultured in MSM supplemented with crude oil, glycerol or whey as the sole carbon sources, but bacterial growth was occurred using molasses with no biosurfactant production. This is the first report of biosurfactant production by D. cinnamea using crude oil, glycerol and whey and the first study to report a species of Dietzia degrading a wide range of hydrocarbons in a short time. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  16. Evaluation of Crude Oil Biodegradation Efficiency and Peroxidase ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ADOWIE PERE

    Increase in biomass enhanced degradation efficiency above 80 % after 10 days for all concentration of crude oil studied. Peroxidase ... compounds by various bacteria and fungi (Gianfreda et al, 1999) ... into a clean plastic container. Microbial.

  17. Ecologically friendly ways to clean up oil spills in harbor water areas: crude oil and diesel sorption behavior of natural sorbents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paulauskiene, Tatjana

    2018-04-01

    This work aimed to evaluate the sorption capacity of natural sorbents (wool, moss, straw, peat) and their composites during the sorption of crude oil and of diesel overspread on the water surface. The work presents the research results of the maximum sorption capacity of the sorbents/their composites using crude oil/diesel; the sorption capacity of the sorbents/their composites when crude oil/diesel is spilled on the water surface; and the research results of the unrealized part of the crude oil/diesel in the sorbents. The results of the analysis showed that all the sorbents and their composites have their selectivity to crude oil less than 50%. Also the results showed that the distribution of diesel and water in the sorbents and their composites is very different compared with the distribution of crude oil during the sorption analyses. In total, the diesel in the liquid mass absorbed by the straw and the peat amounted to 17 and 20%, respectively. This shows that these sorbents are much more selective for water but not for diesel. A larger part of the diesel was in the liquid amount absorbed by the composites-up to 33%. Accordingly, the use of these composites in watery environments is much more effective than the use of individual sorbents. The composition of sorbents in the composite enhanced both the hydrophobic and the oleophilic properties; as a result, a more effective removal of the diesel and oil from the water surface was achieved.

  18. Vaporization order and burning efficiency of crude oils during in-situ burning on water

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Gelderen, Laurens; Malmquist, Linus M.V.; Jomaas, Grunde

    2017-01-01

    furthermore showed that the vaporization was diffusion-limited. Analysis of the heat transfer balance for the crude oils indicated that the energy available for evaporation decreased over time due to increasing heat losses, which were caused by the volatility controlled vaporization order. Presumably, larger......In order to improve the understanding of the burning efficiency and its observed size dependency of in-situ burning of crude oil on water, the vaporization order of the components in crude oils was studied. The vaporization order of such multicomponent fuels was assessed by studying the surface...... these results. The crude oils did not show any steady state behavior, but instead had an increasing surface temperature and decreasing burning rate and flame height, indicating a volatility controlled vaporization order. An increasing concentration gradient from the medium to heavy fraction in the burn residues...

  19. Dynamic Jump Intensities and Risk Premiums in Crude Oil Futures and Options Markets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christoffersen, Peter; Jacobs, Kris; Li, Bingxin

    2016-01-01

    Options on crude oil futures are the most actively traded commodity options. We develop a class of computationally efficient discrete-time jump models that allow for closed-form option valuation, and we use crude oil futures and options data to investigate the economic importance of jumps...... and dynamic jump intensities in these markets. Allowing for jumps is crucial for modeling crude oil futures and futures options, and we find evidence in favor of time-varying jump intensities. During crisis periods, jumps occur more frequently. The properties of the jump processes implied by the option data...... differ from those implied by the futures data, which may be due to improved parameter identification....

  20. Comparative toxicity of four crude oils to the early life stages of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clarke, L.M.J.; Khan, C.W.; Akhtar, P.; Hodson, P.V.; Short, J.W.

    2004-01-01

    Crude oil is a source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in aquatic ecosystems. Fish that are chronically exposed to alkyl PAHs show dioxin-like toxicity characterized by the presence of blue sac disease (BSD) and the induction of cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A). This study compared the relative toxicity of four crude oils (Scotian Light Crude, MESA, the synthetic Federated Crude, and Alaska North Slope Crude) to early life stages of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The study examined the influence of the four crudes in causing the disease in rainbow trout embryos living in simulated spawning beds with hydrocarbon-contaminated gravel. Each oil had different chemical characteristics and PAH concentrations. Mortality in the direct exposure experiment increased as the oil concentration increased. The same trend was observed for the BSD prevalence. The study showed that Scotian Light Crude was the least toxic, with BSD increasing only at the highest concentration. 7 refs., 2 tabs., 1 fig

  1. Three essays in corporate finance: Examining the influence of government ownership and evaluating crude oil arbitrage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holland, Kateryna

    The aim of this dissertation is twofold: first, to evaluate how governments influence firms in which they invest (chapters one and two), and second, to examine arbitrage in the crude oil market by investigating the relationship between crude oil inventories, physical prices, and financial prices (chapter three). In the first chapter (The Wealth Effects of Government Investment in Publicly Traded Firms), I study how government share ownership affects shareholder wealth. I find that government investments with higher likelihood of political interference have a negative influence on shareholder wealth, while the opposite is true for government investments with economic objectives. In the second chapter (Government Ownership and the Cost of Debt: Evidence form Government Investment in Publicly Traded Firms), I investigate how government share ownership affects the cost of debt of publicly traded firms. I find that government ownership generally leads to a higher cost of debt, except for times of economic and firm distress, when the value of the implicit government guarantee is associated with a reduction in the cost of debt. In the third chapter (Financial Trading, Spot Oil Prices, and Inventory: Evidence from the U.S. Crude Oil Market), I confirm the existence of an active cash and carry market in crude oil in Cushing, OK, the main U.S. crude oil futures settlement location. In other words, crude oil inventories in Cushing, but not in any other U.S. crude oil storage locations, are explained by the spread between the financial and the physical price of oil in addition to operational factors.

  2. 75 FR 11841 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Short Supply Regulations, Petroleum (Crude Oil)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-12

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Bureau of Industry and Security Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Short Supply Regulations, Petroleum (Crude Oil) AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and Security. ACTION... supporting documentation for license applications to export petroleum (crude oil) and is used by licensing...

  3. Extractive oxidative desulfurization of model oil/crude oil using KSF montmorillonite-supported 12-tungstophosphoric acid

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ezzat Rafiee

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract 12-Tungstophosphoric acid (PW supported on KSF montmorillonite, PW/KSF, was used as catalyst for deep oxidative desulfurization (ODS of mixed thiophenic compounds in model oil and crude oil under mild conditions using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 as an oxidizing agent. A one-factor-at-a-time method was applied for optimizing the parameters such as temperature, reaction time, amount of catalyst, type of extractant and oxidant-to-sulfur compounds (S-compounds molar ratio. The corresponding products can be easily removed from the model oil by using ethanol as the best extractant. The results showed high catalytic activity of PW/KSF in the oxidative removal of dibenzothiophene (DBT and mixed thiophenic model oil under atmospheric pressure at 75 °C in a biphasic system. To investigate the oxidation and adsorption effects of crude oil composition on ODS, the effects of cyclohexene, 1,7-octadiene and o-xylene with different concentrations were studied.

  4. Transient leak detection in crude oil pipelines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beushausen, R.; Tornow, S.; Borchers, H. [Nord-West Oelleitung, Wilhelmshaven (Germany); Murphy, K.; Zhang, J. [Atmos International Ltd., Manchester (United Kingdom)

    2004-07-01

    Nord-West Oelleitung (NWO) operates 2 crude oil pipelines from Wilhemshaven to Koln and Hamburg respectively. German regulations for transporting flammable substances stipulate that 2 independent continuously working procedures be used to detect leaks. Leak detection pigs are used routinely to complement the surveillance system. This paper described the specific issues of transient leak detection in crude oil pipelines. It was noted that traditional methods have failed to detect leaks that occur immediately after pumps are turned on or off because the pressure wave generated by the transient dominates the pressure wave that results from the leak. Frequent operational changes in a pipeline are often accompanied by an increased number of false alarms and failure to detect leaks due to unsteady operations. NWO therefore decided to have the Atmos statistical pipeline leak detection (SPLD) system installed on their pipelines. The key to the SPLD system is the sequential probability ratio test. Comprehensive data validation is performed following reception of pipeline data from the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. The validated data is then used to calculate the corrected flow imbalance, which is fed into the SPRT to determine if there is an increase in the flow imbalance. Pattern recognition is then used to distinguish a leak from operational changes. The SPLD is unique because it uses 3 computational pipeline monitoring methods simultaneously, namely modified volume balance, statistical analysis, and pressure and flow monitoring. The successful installation and testing of the SPLD in 2 crude oil pipelines was described along with the main difficulties associated with transient leaks. Field results were presented for both steady-state and transient conditions. 5 refs., 2 tabs., 16 figs.

  5. Effect of biosurfactants on crude oil desorption and mobilization in a soil system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuyukina, M.S.; Ivshina, I.B. [Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Perm (Russian Federation). Institute of Ecology and Genetics of Microorganisms; Makarov, S.O.; Litvinenko, L.V. [Perm State University, Perm (Russian Federation); Cunningham, C.J. [University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom). Contaminated Land Assessment and Remediation Research Centre; Philp, J.C. [Napier University, Edinburgh (United Kingdom). School of Life Sciences

    2005-02-01

    Microbially produced biosurfactants were studied to enhance crude oil desorption and mobilization in model soil column systems. The ability of biosurfactants from Rhodococcus ruber to remove the oil from the soil core was 1.4-2.3 times greater than that of a synthetic surfactant of suitable properties, Tween 60. Biosurfactant-enhanced oil mobilization was temperature-related, and it was slower at 15{sup o}C than at 22-28{sup o}C. Mathematical modelling using a one-dimensional filtration model was applied to simulate the process of oil penetration through a soil column in the presence of (bio)surfactants. A strong positive correlation (R{sup 2} = 0.99) was found between surfactant penetration through oil-contaminated soil and oil removal activity. Biosurfactant was less adsorbed to soil components than synthetic surfactant, thus rapidly penetrating through the soil column and effectively removing 65-82% of crude oil. Chemical analysis showed that crude oil removed by biosurfactant contained a lower proportion of high-molecular-weight paraffins and asphaltenes, the most nonbiodegradable compounds, compared to initial oil composition. This result suggests that oil mobilized by biosurfactants could be easily biodegraded by soil bacteria. Rhodococcus biosurfactants can be used for in situ remediation of oil-contaminated soils. (author)

  6. Alkane and crude oil degrading bacteria from the petroliferous soil of India

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roy, I.; Mishra, A.K.; Ray, A.K.

    1991-01-01

    It has been estimated that approximately 0.5 percent of transported crude oil finds its way into seawater, largely through accidental spills and discharge of ballast and wash water from oil tankers. Some microorganisms are well known for their ability to degrade a variety of hydrocarbons present in crude oil. Oil spills at sea or on land have demonstrated the hydrocarbon-degrading potential of these organisms. Under laboratory conditions, nitrogen may be supplied in soluble form (inorganic salts of ammonia or nitrate of urea). Since most natural aquatic environments are deficient in utilizable forms of nitrogen, it is necessary to add the same exogeneously, but because of rapid dilution the added source of nitrogen does not remain effective. The need for nitrogen supplements may be overcome by appropriate choice of microbes with the genetic capacity to fix molecular nitrogen. In this paper the authors are reporting the isolation of a strain of Pseudomonas stutzeri from the petroliferous soil of India. This strain has the capacity to degrade alkane and crude oil and to fix nitrogen

  7. Influence of the type of crude oil to platforming effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kafedzhiski, Branko; Crvenkova, Suzana; Zikovski, Toni

    1999-01-01

    Platforming in one of the most subtleties processing in refinery industry and it is permanent source for research and finding out the higher optimum degree. Optimum of the last effects of platforming directly depends on many parameters. One of more important parameters is the type of crude. The purpose of this work is presenting positive and negative effect to the platforming parameters caused by different types of crude in OCTA-Crude Oil Refinery -Skopje, Macedonia. (Original)

  8. effect of crude oil extracts on early stages of african catfish

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Admin

    Nigerian Bonny light crude oil and Exxon Mobil Oso off-shore condensate during a ... of Oso condensate extract when larval integument was damaged. It is ... Spills of oil condensate from Oso Exxon Mobil Oil rig readily enter the .... compounds are extracted from oil films in natural .... Resources and Fishing Rome, 9-13 Dec.

  9. An isolated bacterial consortium for crude oil biodegradation

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    GREGORY

    2011-12-16

    Dec 16, 2011 ... African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 10(81), pp. ... The removal of crude oil by bioremediation was achieved in less time as compared to natural attenuation ... Environmental pollution, especially with hydrocarbons is a major ...

  10. A catalogue of crude oil and oil product properties, 1990

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bobra, M.A.; Callaghan, S.

    1990-09-01

    This catalogue is a compilation of available data on crude oils and petroleum products. The emphasis of the catalogue is upon oils which could potentially impact Canada's environment. Other oils which are unlikely to be of direct Canadian concern are also included because they have been well characterized and used in relevant studies. The properties listed for each oil are those which will provide an indication of a spilled oil's environmental behaviour and effects. The properties on which data is provided include API gravity, density, viscosity, interfacial tension, pour point, flash point, vapor pressure, volatility and component distribution, emulsion formation tendency and stability, weathering, dispersability, major hydrocarbon groups, aqueous solubility, toxicity, sulfur content, fire point, and wax content. Most of the chemical-physical properties listed in this catalogue were measured using standard tests. For certain properties, data are given at different temperatures and for different degrees of oil weathering. An oil's degree of weathering is expresed as the volume or weight percent evaporated from the fresh oil. Weathered oils used for testing were artificially weathered by gas stripping following the method of Mackay and Stiver. 109 refs

  11. A catalogue of crude oil and oil product properties, 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whiticar, S.; Bobra, M.; Liuzzo, P.; Callaghan, S.; Fingas, M.; Jokuty, P.; Ackerman, F.; Cao, J.

    1993-02-01

    This catalogue is a compilation of available data on crude oils and petroleum products. The emphasis of the catalogue is upon oils which could potentially impact Canada's environment. Other oils which are unlikely to be of direct Canadian concern are also included because they have been well characterized and used in relevant studies. The properties listed for each oil are those which will provide an indication of a spilled oil's environmental behaviour and effects. The properties on which data is provided include API gravity, density, viscosity, interfacial tension, pour point, flash point, vapor pressure, volatility and component distribution, emulsion formation tendency and stability, weathering, dispersability, major hydrocarbon groups, aqueous solubility, toxicity, sulfur content, fire point, and wax content. Most of the chemical-physical properties listed in this catalogue were measured using standard tests. For certain properties, data are given at different temperatures and for different degrees of oil weathering. An oil's degree of weathering is expresed as the volume or weight percent evaporated from the fresh oil. Weathered oils used for testing were artificially weathered by gas stripping following the method of Mackay and Stiver. 140 refs

  12. The empirical role of the exchange rate on the crude-oil price formation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yousefi, A.; Wirjanto, T.S.; University of Waterloo, Ont.

    2004-01-01

    This paper adopts a novel empirical approach to the crude-oil price formation for the purpose of understanding the price reactions of OPEC member countries to changes in the exchange rate of the US dollar against other major currencies and prices of other members. The results are broadly consistent with the view of the absence of a unified OPEC determined price in the international crude market literature. In addition, the results also highlight a cross regional dimension of the crude oil market. (author)

  13. Naphthenic acid characterization and distribution in crude oils; Caracterizacao e distribuicao de acidos naftenicos em petroleos

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guimaraes, Regina C.L.; Gomes, Alexandre de O. [PETROBRAS S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2008-07-01

    Naphthenic acid corrosion was observed for the first time during the distillation process of some kind of crude oils in 1920. Recent reports about naphthenic acid corrosion have been found in China, India, Venezuela, Eastern Europe, Russia and the USA. In Brazil, heavy and acid crude oil processing is rising. Some brazilian crude oils have TAN around 3,0 mg KOH/g. The presence of relatively high levels of naphthenic acids in crude oils is a bane of petroleum refiners; and more recently, of producers as well, who have reported problems during production with calcium and sodium naphthenate . Essentially, these acids which are found to greater or lesser extent in virtually all crude oils are corrosive and tend to cause equipment failures, lead to high maintenance costs and may pose environmental disposal problems. In order to give these information to PETROBRAS, The Research and Development Center of PETROBRAS (CENPES) has been working in house and with brazilian universities developing analytical technicians to know better molecular structures and distribution of these acids compounds in crude oils. This work presents the actual methods and some results from these developments. (author)

  14. CRUDE OIL TRANSPORT FROM THE CASPIAN SEA REGION TO EUROPE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam Przybyłowski

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In the contemporary world, despite the growing importance and scale of the use of renewable energy , conventional energy resources still play a huge role. The European Union countries are dependent on the oil imports and the their main supplier of crude oil and natural gas has been the Russian Federation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union , the Caspian Sea region has become an alternative to Russian energy resources. The Unit-ed States , European Union, China and many other countries have shown their interest about this region. Despite a relatively large oil and natural gas reserves, the export of the-se commodities to the West is still problematic. Based on the available data and infor-mation, the publication explores the issue of energy resources transport directions with a particular emphasis on the crude oil from the Caspian Sea region to Europe.

  15. On Boiling of Crude Oil under Elevated Pressure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pimenova, Anastasiya V.; Goldobin, Denis S.

    2016-02-01

    We construct a thermodynamic model for theoretical calculation of the boiling process of multicomponent mixtures of hydrocarbons (e.g., crude oil). The model governs kinetics of the mixture composition in the course of the distillation process along with the boiling temperature increase. The model heavily relies on the theory of dilute solutions of gases in liquids. Importantly, our results are applicable for modelling the process under elevated pressure (while the empiric models for oil cracking are not scalable to the case of extreme pressure), such as in an oil field heated by lava intrusions.

  16. Electrochemical removal of metals from crude oil samples

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Welter, K.; Salazar, E.; Balladores, Y.; Marquez, O.P.; Marquez, J.; Martinez, Y. (Laboratorio de Electroquimica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Los Andes, Merida 5101-Venezuela)

    2009-02-15

    Removal of vanadium from vanadyl (IV) meso-tetra-phenylporphyrin (VO-MTPP) and vanadyl (IV) octa-ethylporphyrin (VO-OEP) and metals removal from Ayacucho Venezuelan crude oil samples were performed using electrochemical techniques. According to cyclic voltammograms, a potential of - 2.3 V vs. Ag/AgNO{sub 3} (0.1 M), LiClO{sub 4} (0.1 M) in acetonitrile, was chosen for running electrolysis at platinum (Pt), graphite (G) and glassy carbon (GC) electrodes. Qualitative analysis was done by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) while quantification was performed by AAS and inductively coupled plasma/atomic emission spectrometry (ICP/AES). Three stages (best results) of the study are reported: (a) when using commercial porphyrins; the best conditions for electrolysis were: tetrahydrofuran (THF)/20% methanol (MeOH)/1% perchloric acid (HClO{sub 4}) on GC, producing 84% hydro-demetalation (HDM) for VO-MTPP, and 78% HDM for VO-OEP; (b) when using extracts of crude oil; demetalation percentages, after 90 min of electrolysis, on graphite, and after 120 min of electrolysis on platinum, were 66.44% and 64.10% HDM respectively, no discrimination of metals under these conditions (c) from electrolysis in whole crude oil, quantitative analysis gave: vanadium (V) 31.2 mg/kg, iron (Fe) 65, 0 mg/kg and nickel (Ni) 6, 3 mg/kg, with charge efficiencies of V (7.5%), Fe (79.6%) and Ni (8.2%). (author)

  17. Effect of crude oil contamination on the engineering behavior of clay soils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rehman, H.; Abdoljaowad, S.N.

    2005-01-01

    Humans are, unintentionally or intentionally contaminating soil from different sources. The contaminated soil are not only a challenge for the environmentalists but also for geotechnical engineers. When contaminated by crude oil, the soil is subjected to a change in its engineering properties. The soil, which is mostly affected by its environment, is clay, being active electro-chemically. So, a comprehensive laboratory-testing program was performed to compare the engineering properties of an uncontaminated and a contaminated clay. Laboratory tests included all basic and advanced geotechnical tests along with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Crude oil was chosen as the contaminant. The clay was taken from the Al-Qatif area of the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The selected soil is considered to be highly expansive in nature. The comparison between uncontaminated and crude oil contaminated clay showed that there would be a significant change in the engineering behavior of the clay if it were contaminated by crude oil. The contaminated clay behaves more like sand, owing to the formation of agglomerates. The coarse-grained soil-like behavior was observed in the strength of the oil-contaminated clay. The contamination has affected the plasticity and the cation exchange capacity of the investigated clay. The swelling pressure of the contaminated clay is 1/3 of that of the uncontaminated clay while the swelling is almost the same. (author)

  18. The dynamic linkages between crude oil and natural gas markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Batten, Jonathan A.; Ciner, Cetin; Lucey, Brian M.

    2017-01-01

    The time varying price spillovers between natural gas and crude oil markets for the period 1994 to 2014 are investigated. Contrary to earlier research, we show that in a large part of our sample the natural gas price leads the price of crude oil with price spillover effects lasting up to two weeks. This result is robust to a battery of tests including out-of-sample forecasting exercises. However, after 2006, we detect little price dependencies between these two energy commodities. These findings arise due to a conjunction of both demand and supply-side shocks arising from both natural and economic events, including Hurricane Katrina, the Tohoku earthquake and the Global Financial Crisis, as well as infrastructure and technological improvements. The increased use of new technologies such as hydraulic fracking for the extraction of gas and oil in particular affected supply in the latter part of the study. We conclude that the long term relation present in the early part of the sample has decoupled, such that price determination of these two energy sources is now independent. - Highlights: • Contrary to earlier research we find natural gas may lead crude oil prices over a long sample. • This finding holds in forecasting out of sample. • There may be a break in the relationship between oil and gas in 2006. • We suggest that new technologies and financial conditions have led to a decoupling of these markets. • Oil and natural gas prices may now be determined independently.

  19. Pipeline investigation report : crude oil pipeline-third party damage : Trans Mountain Pipeline LP 610 millimetre-diameter crude oil pipeline : kilometre post 3.10, Westridge dock transfer line, Burnaby, British Columbia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-03-01

    This report discussed an oil spill which occurred in July 2007 when a contractor's excavator bucket punctured a pipeline during the excavation of a trench for a new storm sewer line at a location in Burnaby, British Columbia (BC). The puncture caused the release of approximately 234 cubic meters of crude oil, which flowed into Burrard Inlet Bay via a storm sewer system. Eleven houses were sprayed with crude oil, and many other properties required restoration. Approximately 250 residents left their homes. While emergency workers and firefighters responding to the incident were sprayed with crude oil, no explosions, fires, or injuries occurred. The report provided details of studies conducted to determine the placement of the sewer line, as well as attempts made by the contractors to determine the lateral connection of the crude oil pipeline. Discrepancies between the location of the pipeline design drawing and its actual location on other construction drawings were also noted by the contractor. Twenty-four minutes after the rupture, the terminal was fully isolated and the drain-down of the pipeline was completed within an hour. The cause of the accident was attributed to inaccurate construction drawings and inadequate communications between contractors and consulting companies. 3 figs

  20. Flow behavior of Daqing waxy crude oil under simulated pipelining conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ding, Jianlin [China University of Petroleum, Beijing (China); PetroChina Company Ltd. (China); Zhang, Jinjun; Li, Hongying; Zhang, Fan; Yang, Xiaojing [China University of Petroleum, Beijing (China)

    2005-07-01

    Daqing oil field is the largest oil field in China. This crude oil is a typical waxy crude oil, with a wax content of 26% and a gel point of 32 deg C. Flow behaviors of waxy crude oils at temperatures near the gel point/pour point are vital for both pipeline hydraulic calculation and evaluation on restartability of a shutdown pipeline. In this study, experimental simulation was conducted by using a stirred vessel with the energy dissipation of viscous flow as the shear simulation parameter. The viscosity, gel point, yield stress and thixotropy were measured by sampling from the simulation vessel. The viscosity under simulated pipelining condition was found less than that measured under quiescent cooling condition. The gel point decreased with decreasing temperature of sampling, i.e. the end temperature of the dynamic cooling process. At sampling temperatures above 35 deg C, that is 3 deg C above the gel point measured under quiescent cooling condition, both the yield stresses and the thixotropic parameters showed little dependence on the shear history. However, at lower sampling temperatures, remarkable shear history dependence was found. Empirical correlations were developed between the yield stress and the sampling temperature as well as the measurement temperature, and between the thixotropic parameters and the sampling temperature. (author)

  1. Acute toxicities of crude oils and oil-dispersant mixtures to Red sea fishes and invertebrates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eisler, R.

    1975-11-01

    Crude oil from fields in the Persian Gulf and in the Sinai plus a chemical oil dispersant were tested, using static bioassay procedures, for toxicity to adults or juveniles of ten marine species: Heteroxenia fuscescens, a soft coral; Nerita forskali and Drupa granulata, gastropod molluscs; Mytilus variabilis, a mussel; Acanthopleura haddoni, a chiton (mollusc); Echinometra mathaei, sea urchin; Calcinus latens, a hermit crab; Palaemon pacificus, a shrimp; Parupeneus barberinus, goatfish; and Siganus rivulatus, rabbitfish. Concentrations fatal to 50 percent of individual test species in 168 hours, LC-50 (168 h), ranged from 0.74 to more than 30.0 ml/liter for Persian Gulf crude, from 14.5 to more than 30.0 ml/liter for Sinai crude, and from 0.006 to 0.064 ml/liter for the dispersant. In general, fishes and crustaceans were the most sensitive groups assayed and molluscs the most resistant. LC-50 (168 h) values for oil-dispersant mixtures of 10 parts oil to 1 part dispersant (v/v) for selected species ranged from 0.047 to 0.152 ml/liter which appears to reflect the biocidal properties of the dispersant. Some individuals that survived immersion in high concentrations of the test compounds for 168 h were adversely affected during treatment and afterwards.

  2. The Parameters Controlling the Burning Efficiency of In-Situ Burning of Crude Oil on Water

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Gelderen, Laurens; Jomaas, Grunde

    2017-01-01

    Parameters that control the burning efficiency of in-situ burning of crude oil on water were identified by studying the influence of the initial slick thickness, vaporization order, oil slick diameter, weathering state of the oil, heat losses to the water layer and heat flux to the fuel surface...... on the burning efficiency for light and heavy crude oils. These parameters were studied in several small scale and intermediate scale experimental setups. The results showed that the heat losses to the water layer increase with increasing burning time because the components in a crude oil evaporate from volatile...... to non-volatile. Due to the relatively low heat feedback (reradiation and convection, in kW/m2) to the fuel surface of small scale pool fires, as compared to large scale pool fires, these heat losses were shown to limit the burning efficiency in small scale experiments. By subjecting small scale crude...

  3. Release of Crude Oil from Silica and Calcium Carbonate Surfaces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Xiaoyan; Yan, Wei; Stenby, Erling Halfdan

    2016-01-01

    Adsorption and desorption of a North Sea crude oil to silica and calcium carbonate surfaces were studied by a quartz crystal microbalance, while the bare surfaces and adsorbed oil layers were characterized by atomic force microscopy and contact angle measurements. Water contact angles were measured...

  4. Influence of chemical surfactants on the biodegradation of crude oil by a mixed bacterial culture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Hamme, J.D.; Ward, O.P.

    1999-01-01

    A study was conducted in which the effects of surfactant physicochemical properties on crude oil biodegradation by a mixed-bacterial culture were examined. The effects of hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) and molecular structure on the biodegradation of Bow River crude oil were determined. It was shown that chemical surfactants have the potential to improve crude oil biodegradation in complex microbial systems. Surfactant selection should consider factors such as molecular structure, HLB and surfactant concentration. 26 refs., 4 tabs., 3 figs

  5. Successful phytoremediation of crude-oil contaminated soil at an oil exploration and production company by plants-bacterial synergism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fatima, Kaneez; Imran, Asma; Amin, Imran; Khan, Qaiser M; Afzal, Muhammad

    2018-06-07

    Phytoremediation is a promising approach for the cleanup of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. This study aimed to develop plant-bacterial synergism for the successful remediation of crude oil-contaminated soil. A consortia of three endophytic bacteria was augmented to two grasses, Leptochloa fusca and Brachiaria mutica, grown in oil-contaminated soil (46.8 g oil kg -1 soil) in the vicinity of an oil exploration and production company. Endophytes augmentation improved plant growth, crude oil degradation, and soil health. Maximum oil degradation (80%) was achieved with B. mutica plants augmented with the endophytes and it was significantly (P oil reduction indicates that catabolic gene expression is important for hydrocarbon mineralization. This investigation showed that the use of endophytes with appropriate plant is an effective strategy for the cleanup of oil-contaminated soil under field conditions.

  6. Economic Analysis of Diesel-Fuel Replacement by Crude Palm Oil in Indonesian Power Plants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petr Procházka

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Indonesia needs to find an alternative fuel to substitute diesel in their power plants in order to reduce the use of nonrenewable energy sources. The Indonesian government has a target to reduce oil fuel consumption while improving the efficiency of energy utilization. Crude palm oil is proposed to be used for this substitution. In this paper, the authors conduct an economic analysis of the replacement of diesel by crude palm oil. To predict future prices, a time series analysis is conducted using AutoRegressive Integrated Moving-Average method. A financial analysis of a specific project (0.75-MW power plant is conducted using static financial indicators (payback period, return on investment. Results show that replacing diesel with crude palm oil may be profitable. This is especially true for the proposed prospects of diesel price evolution. Analysis shows that the price of crude oil, which is the main factor in the pricing of diesel, may go up. Also, recently Indonesian currency depreciated against the US dollar, which also implies a higher cost of diesel.

  7. Short-run and long-run elasticities of import demand for crude oil in Turkey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Altinay, Galip

    2007-01-01

    The aim of this study is to attempt to estimate the short-run and the long-run elasticities of demand for crude oil in Turkey by the recent autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration. As a developing country, Turkey meets its growing demand for oil principally by foreign suppliers. Thus, the study focuses on modelling the demand for imported crude oil using annual data covering the period 1980-2005. The bounds test results reveal that a long-run cointegration relationship exists between the crude oil import and the explanatory variables: nominal price and income, but not in the model that includes real price in domestic currency. The long-run parameters are estimated through a long-run static solution of the estimated ARDL model, and then the short-run dynamics are estimated by the error correction model. The estimated models pass the diagnostic tests successfully. The findings reveal that the income and price elasticities of import demand for crude oil are inelastic both in the short run and in the long run

  8. A Study on the Determination of the World Crude Oil Price and Methods for Its Forecast

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, J.K. [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea)

    2001-11-01

    The primary purpose of this report is to provide the groundwork to develop the methods to forecast the world crude oil price. The methodology is used by both literature survey and empirical study. For this purpose, first of all, this report reviewed the present situation and the outlook of the world oil market based on oil demand, supply and prices. This analysis attempted to provide a deeper understanding to support the development of oil forecasting methods. The result of this review, in general, showed that the oil demand will be maintained annually at an average rate of around 2.4% under assumption that oil supply has no problem until 2020. The review showed that crude oil price will be a 3% increasing rate annually in the 1999 real term. This report used the contents of the summary review as reference data in order to link the KEEIOF model. In an effort to further investigate the contents of oil political economy, this report reviewed the articles of political economy about oil industry. It pointed out that the world oil industry is experiencing the change of restructuring oil industry after the Gulf War in 1990. The contents of restructuring oil industry are characterized by the 'open access' to resources not only in the Persian Gulf, but elsewhere in the world as well - especially the Caspian Sea Basin. In addition, the contents showed that the oil industries are shifted from government control to government and industry cooperation after the Gulf War. In order to examine the characters and the problems surrounding oil producing countries, this report described the model of OPEC behavior and strategy of oil management with political and military factors. Among examining the models of OPEC behavior, this report focused on hybrid model to explain OPEC behavior. In reviewing political and religious power structure in the Middle East, the report revealed that US emphasizes the importance of the Middle East for guaranteeing oil security. However, three

  9. Causes for an asymmetric relation between the price of crude oil and refined petroleum products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaufmann, R.K.; Laskowski, C.

    2005-01-01

    We revisit the issue of asymmetries in the relation between the price of crude oil and refined petroleum products in the United States. An econometric analysis of monthly data indicates that the asymmetric relationship between the price of crude oil and motor gasoline is generated by refinery utilization rates and inventory behavior. The asymmetric relation between the price of crude oil and home heating oil probably is generated by contractual arrangements between retailers and consumers. Together, these results imply that price asymmetries may be generated by efficient markets. Under these conditions, there is little justification for policy interventions to reduce or eliminate price asymmetries in motor gasoline and home heating oil markets. (author)

  10. US crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves, 1992 annual report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1993-10-18

    This report presents estimates of proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids as of December 31, 1992, as well as production volumes for the United States, and selected States and State subdivisions for the year 1992. Estimates are presented for the following four categories of natural gas: total gas (wet after lease separation), its two major components (nonassociated and associated-dissolved gas), and total dry gas (wet gas adjusted for the removal of liquids at natural gas processing plants). In addition, two components of natural gas liquids, lease condensate and natural gas plant liquids, have their reserves and production data presented. Also included is information on indicated additional crude oil reserves and crude oil, natural gas, and lease condensate reserves in nonproducing reservoirs. A discussion of notable oil and gas exploration and development activities during 1992 is provided.

  11. US crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves, 1992 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-01-01

    This report presents estimates of proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids as of December 31, 1992, as well as production volumes for the United States, and selected States and State subdivisions for the year 1992. Estimates are presented for the following four categories of natural gas: total gas (wet after lease separation), its two major components (nonassociated and associated-dissolved gas), and total dry gas (wet gas adjusted for the removal of liquids at natural gas processing plants). In addition, two components of natural gas liquids, lease condensate and natural gas plant liquids, have their reserves and production data presented. Also included is information on indicated additional crude oil reserves and crude oil, natural gas, and lease condensate reserves in nonproducing reservoirs. A discussion of notable oil and gas exploration and development activities during 1992 is provided

  12. (maize) to a crude oil polluted agricultural soil

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    SERVER

    2007-06-04

    Jun 4, 2007 ... aiding the activities of the large numbers of microbes ... math of crude oil pollution of agricultural soils to forestall the adverse effects induced .... International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (I.I.T.A) manual series. No. 1, Ibadan ...

  13. Molecular Dynamics Simulation: The Behavior of Asphaltene in Crude Oil and at the Oil/Water Interface

    KAUST Repository

    Gao, Fengfeng; Xu, Zhen; Liu, Guokui; Yuan, Shiling

    2014-01-01

    of the repulsion of the anionic headgroups. Anionic C5 Pe has a distinct affinity to the oil/water interface during the simulation, while the C5 Pe molecules persist in the crude oil domain. A three-stage model of anionic C5 Pe molecules adsorbed at the oil

  14. Investigating the influence of pressure and temperature on malaysian crude oil density and viscosity for improved recovery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zahoor, M.K.; Derahman, M.N.

    2012-01-01

    Malaysia has great potential as a crude oil or fossil fuel producing country. To increase oil production, behavior of Malaysian Crude Oil has been analyzed with reference to temperature and pressure variations. The effect of these parameters on crude oil density and viscosity has been observed, to select the methodology to be adopted for increases recovery by implementing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project. Based on this study it has been decided to further explore the feasibility of increasing reservoir pressure. (author)

  15. First crude oil from Chukotka

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arenbrister, L.P.; Demidenko, K.A.; Zhmykhova, N.M.

    1986-01-01

    The physicochemical properties of the crude taken from Neogene deposits at a depth of 1486-1443 m are analyzed. The oil is distinguished by low contents of sulfur and resinous-asphaltenic substances, a high content of wax, and a high yield of light cuts distilling below 350 degrees C. The naptha cuts have high contents of naphthenes, and the diesel fuel cuts have high cetane numbers, low sulfur contents, and high contents of straight chain paraffins. The vacuum gasoil has a low density, a low viscosity, a low carbon residue and low contents of sulfur and nitrogen. This gasoil is a good feedstock for catalytic cracking and hydrocracking. The Verkhne-Echin crude is classified as light, low-sulfur, lowresin and high-wax. It can be used to produce jet fuels and summer-grade diesel fuels with low sulfur contents, as well as high-V.I. lube base stocks and liquid and solid paraffins.

  16. Multi-objective model of waste transportation management for crude palm oil industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silalahi, Meslin; Mawengkang, Herman; Irsa Syahputri, Nenna

    2018-02-01

    The crude palm oil industry is an agro-industrial commodity. The global market of this industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years, such that it has a strategic value to be developed for Indonesian economy. Despite these economic benefits there are a number of environmental problems at the factories, such as high water consumption, the generation of a large amount of wastewater with a high organic content, and the generation of a large quantity of solid wastes and air pollution. In terms of waste transportation, we propose a multiobjective programming model for managing business environmental risk in a crude palm oil manufacture which gives the best possible configuration of waste management facilities and allocates wastes to these facilities. Then we develop an interactive approach for tackling logistics and environmental risk production planning problem for the crude palm oil industry.

  17. The effect of several crude oils and some petroleum distillation fractions on intestinal absorption in ducklings (Anas platyhynchos).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crocker, A D; Cronshaw, J; Holmes, W N

    1975-01-01

    Ducklings given hypertonic saline drinking water show significant increases in the rates of Na+ and water transfer across the intestinal mucosa. These increased rates of transfer are maintained as long as the birds are fed dypertonic saline. Oral administration of a single small dose of crude oil had no effect on the basal rate of mucosal transfer in freshwater-maintained ducklings but the adaptive response of the mucosa is suppressed in birds given hypertonic saline. When crude oils from eight different geographical locations were tested, the degree of inhibition varied between them; the greatest and smallest degrees of inhibition being observed following administration of Kuwait and North Slope, Alaska, crude oils respectively. The effects of distallation fractions derived from two chemically different crude oils were also examined. The volume of each distallation fraction administered corresponded to its relative abundance in the crude oil from which it was derived. The inhibitory effect was not associated exclusively with the same distallation fractions from each oil. A highly naphthenic crude oil from the San Joaquin Valley, California, showed the greatest inhibitory activity in the least abundant (2%), low boiling point (smaller than 245 degrees C) fraction and the least inhibitory activity in the highest boiling point (greater than 482 degrees C) most abundant (47%) fraction. In contrast, a highly paraffinic crude oil from Paradox Basin, Utah, showed the greatest inhibitory effect with the highest boiling point fraction and a minimal effect with the lowest boiling point fraction; the relative abundances of these two fractions in the crude oil represented 27 and 28% respectively. Water-soluble extracts of both crude oils also had inhibitory effects on mucosal transfer rates and these roughly proportionate to the inhibitory potency of the low boiling point fraction of each oil. Weathered samples of San Joaquin Valley, California, and the Paradox Basin, Utah

  18. Corrosion of API 5L B and X52 in crude oil/water/gas mixtures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perdomo, J J; Gonzalez, J J; Viloria, A; De Veer, H; De Abreu, Y

    2000-02-01

    Laboratory and field tests were conducted to evaluate the corrosion behavior of API 5L grade B and X52 steels using Furrial's crude oil in the presence of water and gas containing carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) and hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S). The results suggest that the corrosiveness of this crude oil/water/gas mixture is not detrimental to either steel. However, pitting corrosion was observed. The low general corrosion rates measured were attributed to the natural inhibiting properties of the crude oil.

  19. Can reserve additions in mature crude oil provinces attenuate peak oil?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Okullo, S.J.; Reynes, F.G.D.

    2011-01-01

    Following the peak in US crude oil production 30 years ago, more and more non-OPEC producers have seen their production decline as a result of resource depletion. OPEC, on the other hand has extracted a comparatively smaller proportion of its reserve base. Given that new non-OPEC discoveries are

  20. Emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the combustion of crude oil on water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benner, B.A. Jr.; Bryner, N. P.; Wise, S.A.; Mulholland, G.W.; Evans, D.D.; Fingas, M.F.; Li, K.

    1991-01-01

    A study was conducted to examine some of the factors necessary to assess the environmental impact of an in-situ burn of an oil spill on water. These factors include the fraction of an oil layer which can be burned, the quantity of smoke emitted, and the concentrations of 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the smoke, crude oil, and burn residue. Alberta sweet mixed blend crude in 1, 3, 5, 10, and 30 mm layers on water was burned in the laboratory and smoke samples were collected at elevated and ambient temperatures and analyzed by two independent laboratories. While burning the crude oil produced less total PAHs than was in the original crude, the concentrations of PAHs with 5 or more rings were 10-20 times greater in the smoke than in the oil. The organic carbon fraction of the smoke was in the 14-21% range. As the fuel layer thickness was increased from 2 to 10 mm, the smoke yield increased from 0.035 g smoke/g fuel and the percentage of oil residue decreased from 46% to 17%. By consuming much of the oil spill and reducing the amount of PAHs in the water, and by dispersing the combustion products over a larger area, in-situ burning can mitigate the local environmental impact of an oil spill. There appears to be a range of situations, such as in Arctic ice fields, where in-situ burning might be the most viable cleanup method. 25 refs., 6 figs., 6 tabs

  1. The impact of environmental regulations on United States crude oil supplies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Godec, M.L.; Biglarbigi, K.

    1991-01-01

    A number of legislative and regulatory initiatives being considered to protect the environment could affect the economics of oil and gas exploration and production (E and P) in the Unites States. This paper summarizes the results of a comprehensive assessment of the potential cumulative energy and economic impacts of environmental regulatory initiatives on United States crude oil supplies. The results of the analysis clearly will determine the level of impact, but the results show that significant impacts are felt over a wide range of regulations, over a wide range of crude oil prices, and at two levels of development for extraction technologies. The regulations evaluated all have an impact on all resource categories analyzed in the study

  2. Improving the Forecasting Accuracy of Crude Oil Prices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuluo Yin

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Currently, oil is the key element of energy sustainability, and its prices and economy have a strong mutual influence. Modeling a good method to accurately predict oil prices over long future horizons is challenging and of great interest to investors and policymakers. This paper forecasts oil prices using many predictor variables with a new time-varying weight combination approach. In doing so, we first use five single-variable time-varying parameter models to predict crude oil prices separately. Second, every special model is assigned a time-varying weight by the new combination approach. Finally, the forecasting results of oil prices are calculated. The results show that the paper’s method is robust and performs well compared to random walk.

  3. Interdependence between crude oil and world food prices: A detrended cross correlation analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pal, Debdatta; Mitra, Subrata K.

    2018-02-01

    This article explores the changing interdependence between crude oil and world food prices at varying time scales using detrended cross correlation analysis that would answer whether the interdependence (if any) differed significantly between pre and post-crisis period. Unlike the previous studies that exogenously imposed break dates for dividing the time series into sub-samples, we tested whether the mean of the crude oil price changed over time to find evidence for structural changes in the crude oil price series and endogenously determine three break dates with minimum Bayesian information criterion scores. Accordingly, we divided the entire study period in four sample periods - January 1990 to October 1999, November 1999 to February 2005, March 2005 to September 2010, and October 2010 to July 2016, where the third sample period coincided with the period of food crisis and enabled us to compare the fuel-food interdependence across pre-crisis, during the crisis, and post-crisis periods. The results of the detrended cross correlation analysis extended corroborative evidence for increasing positive interdependence between the crude oil price and world food price index along with its sub-categories, namely dairy, cereals, vegetable oil, and sugar. The article ends with the implications of these results in the domain of food policy and the financial sector.

  4. Characterization of microbial communities in heavy crude oil from Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albokari, Majed; Mashhour, Ibrahim; Alshehri, Mohammed; Boothman, Chris; Al-Enezi, Mousa

    The complete mineralization of crude oil into carbon dioxide, water, inorganic compounds and cellular constituents can be carried out as part of a bioremediation strategy. This involves the transformation of complex organic contaminants into simpler organic compounds by microbial communities, mainly bacteria. A crude oil sample and an oil sludge sample were obtained from Saudi ARAMCO Oil Company and investigated to identify the microbial communities present using PCR-based culture-independent techniques. In total, analysis of 177 clones yielded 30 distinct bacterial sequences. Clone library analysis of the oil sample was found to contain Bacillus , Clostridia and Gammaproteobacteria species while the sludge sample revealed the presence of members of the Alphaproteobacteria , Betaproteobacteria , Gammaproteobacteria , Clostridia , Spingobacteria and Flavobacteria . The dominant bacterial class identified in oil and sludge samples was found to be Bacilli and Flavobacteria , respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the dominant bacterium in the oil sample has the closest sequence identity to Enterococcus aquimarinus and the dominant bacterium in the sludge sample is most closely related to the uncultured Bacteroidetes bacterium designated AH.KK.

  5. Crude oil treatment leads to shift of bacterial communities in soils from the deep active layer and upper permafrost along the China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline route.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Sizhong; Wen, Xi; Zhao, Liang; Shi, Yulan; Jin, Huijun

    2014-01-01

    The buried China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline (CRCOP) across the permafrost-associated cold ecosystem in northeastern China carries a risk of contamination to the deep active layers and upper permafrost in case of accidental rupture of the embedded pipeline or migration of oil spills. As many soil microbes are capable of degrading petroleum, knowledge about the intrinsic degraders and the microbial dynamics in the deep subsurface could extend our understanding of the application of in-situ bioremediation. In this study, an experiment was conducted to investigate the bacterial communities in response to simulated contamination to deep soil samples by using 454 pyrosequencing amplicons. The result showed that bacterial diversity was reduced after 8-weeks contamination. A shift in bacterial community composition was apparent in crude oil-amended soils with Proteobacteria (esp. α-subdivision) being the dominant phylum, together with Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. The contamination led to enrichment of indigenous bacterial taxa like Novosphingobium, Sphingobium, Caulobacter, Phenylobacterium, Alicylobacillus and Arthrobacter, which are generally capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The community shift highlighted the resilience of PAH degraders and their potential for in-situ degradation of crude oil under favorable conditions in the deep soils.

  6. Crude oil treatment leads to shift of bacterial communities in soils from the deep active layer and upper permafrost along the China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline route.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sizhong Yang

    Full Text Available The buried China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline (CRCOP across the permafrost-associated cold ecosystem in northeastern China carries a risk of contamination to the deep active layers and upper permafrost in case of accidental rupture of the embedded pipeline or migration of oil spills. As many soil microbes are capable of degrading petroleum, knowledge about the intrinsic degraders and the microbial dynamics in the deep subsurface could extend our understanding of the application of in-situ bioremediation. In this study, an experiment was conducted to investigate the bacterial communities in response to simulated contamination to deep soil samples by using 454 pyrosequencing amplicons. The result showed that bacterial diversity was reduced after 8-weeks contamination. A shift in bacterial community composition was apparent in crude oil-amended soils with Proteobacteria (esp. α-subdivision being the dominant phylum, together with Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. The contamination led to enrichment of indigenous bacterial taxa like Novosphingobium, Sphingobium, Caulobacter, Phenylobacterium, Alicylobacillus and Arthrobacter, which are generally capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs. The community shift highlighted the resilience of PAH degraders and their potential for in-situ degradation of crude oil under favorable conditions in the deep soils.

  7. Crude Oil Treatment Leads to Shift of Bacterial Communities in Soils from the Deep Active Layer and Upper Permafrost along the China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline Route

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Sizhong; Wen, Xi; Zhao, Liang; Shi, Yulan; Jin, Huijun

    2014-01-01

    The buried China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline (CRCOP) across the permafrost-associated cold ecosystem in northeastern China carries a risk of contamination to the deep active layers and upper permafrost in case of accidental rupture of the embedded pipeline or migration of oil spills. As many soil microbes are capable of degrading petroleum, knowledge about the intrinsic degraders and the microbial dynamics in the deep subsurface could extend our understanding of the application of in-situ bioremediation. In this study, an experiment was conducted to investigate the bacterial communities in response to simulated contamination to deep soil samples by using 454 pyrosequencing amplicons. The result showed that bacterial diversity was reduced after 8-weeks contamination. A shift in bacterial community composition was apparent in crude oil-amended soils with Proteobacteria (esp. α-subdivision) being the dominant phylum, together with Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. The contamination led to enrichment of indigenous bacterial taxa like Novosphingobium, Sphingobium, Caulobacter, Phenylobacterium, Alicylobacillus and Arthrobacter, which are generally capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The community shift highlighted the resilience of PAH degraders and their potential for in-situ degradation of crude oil under favorable conditions in the deep soils. PMID:24794099

  8. Rheology and FTIR studies of model waxy crude oils with relevance to gelled pipeline restart

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Magda, J.J.; Guimeraes, K.; Deo, M.D. [Utah Univ., Salt Lake City, UT (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering; Venkatesan, R.; Montesi, A. [Chevron Energy Technology Co., Houston, TX (United States)

    2008-07-01

    Gels composed of wax crystals may sometimes form when crude oils are transported in pipelines when ambient temperatures are low. The gels may stop the pipe flow, making it difficult or even impossible to restart the flow without breaking the pipe. Rheology and FTIR techniques were used to study the problem and to characterize transparent model waxy crude oils in pipeline flow experiments. These model oils were formulated without any highly volatile components to enhance the reproducibility of the rheology tests. Results were presented for the time- and temperature-dependent rheology of the model waxy crude oils as obtained in linear oscillatory shear and in creep-recovery experiments. The model oils were shown to exhibit many of the rheological features reported for real crude oils, such as 3 distinct apparent yield stresses, notably static yield stress, dynamic yield stress, and elastic-limit yield stress. It was concluded that of the 3, the static yield stress value, particularly its time dependence, can best be used to predict the restart behaviour observed for the same gel in model pipelines.

  9. Process technology for refining crude soybean oil – a product from ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Process technology for refining crude soybean oil – a product from soycake meal production in Ghana. ... yield of 83.3 per cent was recorded. Results of quality assessment of the final laboratory refined oil compared favourably with Ghana Standards Board's specification for edible soybean oil. Ghana Journal of Science Vol.

  10. Rockets and Feathers: The Asymmetric Effect between China’s Refined Oil Prices and International Crude Oil Prices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yufeng Chen

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper employs an asymmetric error-correction model (AECM, and uses monthly data on wholesale prices of gasoline and diesel products in China and international crude oil prices from February 2006 to October 2013 to examine whether China’s gasoline and diesel prices adjust asymmetrically to international crude oil price changes. Our empirical results suggest that increases and decreases in international oil prices have asymmetric effects on both wholesale prices of gasoline and diesel fuel in China, and that both increases and decreases in international oil prices have a greater effect on diesel prices than on gasoline prices in China. If there is no change in the maximum retail price, the asymmetry results from the transmission of wholesale prices in China with international oil prices. However, if there is a change in maximum retail prices, both international oil prices and maximum retail prices cause the asymmetry.

  11. Electrolysis-driven bioremediation of crude oil-contaminated marine sediments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellagamba, Marco; Cruz Viggi, Carolina; Ademollo, Nicoletta; Rossetti, Simona; Aulenta, Federico

    2017-09-25

    Bioremediation is an effective technology to tackle crude oil spill disasters, which takes advantage of the capacity of naturally occurring microorganisms to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons under a range of environmental conditions. The enzymatic process of breaking down oil is usually more rapid in the presence of oxygen. However, in contaminated sediments, oxygen levels are typically too low to sustain the rapid and complete biodegradation of buried hydrocarbons. Here, we explored the possibility to electrochemically manipulate the redox potential of a crude oil-contaminated marine sediment in order to establish, in situ, conditions that are conducive to contaminants biodegradation by autochthonous microbial communities. The proposed approach is based on the exploitation of low-voltage (2V) seawater electrolysis to drive oxygen generation (while minimizing chlorine evolution) on Dimensionally Stable Anodes (DSA) placed within the contaminated sediment. Results, based on a laboratory scale setup with chronically polluted sediments spiked with crude oil, showed an increased redox potential and a decreased pH in the vicinity of the anode of 'electrified' treatments, consistent with the occurrence of oxygen generation. Accordingly, hydrocarbons biodegradation was substantially accelerated (up to 3-times) compared to 'non-electrified' controls, while sulfate reduction was severely inhibited. Intermittent application of electrolysis proved to be an effective strategy to minimize the energy requirements of the process, without adversely affecting degradation performance. Taken as a whole, this study suggests that electrolysis-driven bioremediation could be a sustainable technology for the management of contaminated sediments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. An organic geochemical correlation study of some Drmno depresssion crude oils (southern part of the Pannonian Basin, Yugoslavia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. VITOROVIC

    2001-05-01

    Full Text Available The results of an investigation of crude oils originating from the Sirakovo and Bradarac-Maljurevac localities (southern part of the Pannonian Basin are reported in this paper. The aim was to estimate the organic geochemical similarity of the crude oils from the Drmno (Kostolac depression oil fields. The nine selected samples originated from reservoir rocks of various depths. Reliable source and organic geochemical maturation parameters served as the basis for the correlation studies. The similar origin of the investigated Drmno depression crude oils was corroborated, characterized by a significant participation of terrestrial precursor biomass. They were shown to be of relatively low maturity and to have been formed during the earlier stages of the diagenet- ic-catagenetic sequence of processes leading to the formation of crude oils, most probably in source rocks ofTertiary age, corresponding to vitrinite reflectances between Ro = 0.70 % and Ro = 0.80 %. The crude oils from Bradarac-Maljurevac seemed to be somewhat less homogeneous with respect to organic geochemical parameters compared to Sirakovo crude oils.

  13. Wavelet regression model in forecasting crude oil price

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamid, Mohd Helmie; Shabri, Ani

    2017-05-01

    This study presents the performance of wavelet multiple linear regression (WMLR) technique in daily crude oil forecasting. WMLR model was developed by integrating the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and multiple linear regression (MLR) model. The original time series was decomposed to sub-time series with different scales by wavelet theory. Correlation analysis was conducted to assist in the selection of optimal decomposed components as inputs for the WMLR model. The daily WTI crude oil price series has been used in this study to test the prediction capability of the proposed model. The forecasting performance of WMLR model were also compared with regular multiple linear regression (MLR), Autoregressive Moving Average (ARIMA) and Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) using root mean square errors (RMSE) and mean absolute errors (MAE). Based on the experimental results, it appears that the WMLR model performs better than the other forecasting technique tested in this study.

  14. Comparative study on adsorption of crude oil and spent engine oil from seawater and freshwater using algal biomass.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boleydei, Hamid; Mirghaffari, Nourollah; Farhadian, Omidvar

    2018-05-15

    Efficiency of a biosorbent prepared from the green macroalga Enteromorpha intestinalis biomass for decontamination of seawater and freshwater polluted by crude oil and engine spent oil was compared. The effect of different experimental conditions including contact time, pH, particle size, initial oil concentration, and biosorbent dose on the oil biosorption was studied in the batch method. The biosorbent was characterized by CHNOS, FTIR, and SEM analysis. The experimental data were well fitted to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. Based on the obtained results, the adsorption of spent oil with higher viscosity was better than crude oil. The biosorption of oil hydrocarbons from seawater was more efficient than freshwater. The algal biomasses which are abundantly available could be effectively used as a low-cost and environmentally friendly adsorbent for remediation of oil spill in the marine environments or in the water and wastewater treatment.

  15. Experiment on the Effects of Storage Duration of Biodiesel produced from Crude Palm Oil, Waste Cooking oil and Jatropha

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nanihar, Nadiarulah; Khalid, Amir; Mustaffa, Norrizal; Jaat, Norrizam; Sapit, Azwan; Razali, Azahari; Sunar, Norshuhaila Mohamed

    2017-10-01

    Biodiesel based on vegetable oil is an alternative that had various advantage in term of sustainability and environmental attractive compare to others conventional diesel. Biodiesel is product of any fat or oil that derived from any organic sources through a refinery process called transesterification process. This research investigates the effects of storage duration and variant ambient condition on the biodiesel properties and characteristics. In this study, there are three types of blending which is 5vol% blends ( 5vol% plant oil 95vol% diesel), 10vol% blending (10vol% plant oil and 90vol% diesel) and 15vol% blending (15vol% plant oil and 85vol% diesel) each called CPO5 (crude palm oil 5vol%), CPO10 (crude palm oil 10vol%),CPO15 (crude palm oil 15vol%), JO5 (jatropha oil 5vol%), JO10 (jatropha oil 10vol%),and JO15 (jatropha oil 15vol%) respectively. Biodiesel samples were stored at indoor condition and outdoor condition for a 3 months period. The fuel properties such as acid value, viscosity, density, water content and flash point are observed with the laboratory instrument. Flash point value and water content increased under both of indoor and outdoor condition and a steady data for viscosity and density. However, acid value at indoor condition nearly constant but increased dramatically for outdoor condition over the time.

  16. Neutron scattering studies of crude oil viscosity reduction with electric field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Enpeng

    data that contains information on the properties of a sample. We can analyze the data acquisition from the detectors and get the information on size, shape, etc. This is why we choose SANS as our research tool. The world's top energy problems are security concerns, climate concerns and environmental concerns. So far, oil (37%) is still the No.1 fuel in world energy consumption (Oil 37%, Coal 25%, Bio-fuels 0.2%, Gas 23%, Nuclear 6%, Biomass 4%, Hydro 3%, Solar heat 0.5%, Wind 0.3%, Geothermal 0.2% and Solar photovoltaic 0.04%). Even more and more alternative energy: bio-fuels, nuclear and solar energy will be used in the future, but nuclear energy has a major safety issue after the Japanese Fukushima I nuclear accidents, and other energies contribute only a small percent. Thus, it is very important to improve the efficiency and reduce the population of petroleum products. There is probably one thing that we can all agree on: the world's energy reserves are not unlimited. Even though it is limited, only 30% of the oil reserves is conventional oil, so in order to produce, transport, and refine of heavy crude oil without wasting huge amounts of energy, we need to reduce the viscosity without using high temperature stream heating or diluent; As more and more off-shore oil is exploited at that we need reduce the viscosity without increasing temperature. The whole petroleum consumed in U.S. in 2009 was 18.7 million barrels per day and 35% of all the energy we consumed. Diesel is one of the very important fossil fuel which is about 20% of petroleum consumed. Most of the world's oils are non-conventional, 15 % of heavy oil, 25 % of extra heavy oil, 30 % of the oil sands and bitumen, and the conventional oil reserves is only 30%. The oil sand is closely related to the heavy crude oil, the main difference being that oil sands generally do not flow at all. For efficient energy production and conservation, how to lower the liquated fuel and crude oil viscosity is a very important

  17. Corrosion of API 5L B and X52 in crude oil/water/gas mixtures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perdomo, J.J.; Gonzalez, J.J.; Viloria, A.; De Veer, H.; De Abreu, Y.

    2000-02-01

    Laboratory and field tests were conducted to evaluate the corrosion behavior of API 5L grade B and X52 steels using Furrial's crude oil in the presence of water and gas containing carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) and hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S). The results suggest that the corrosiveness of this crude oil/water/gas mixture is not detrimental to either steel. However, pitting corrosion was observed. The low general corrosion rates measured were attributed to the natural inhibiting properties of the crude oil.

  18. Isolation and Identification of Crude Oil Degrading and Biosurfactant Producing Bacteria from the Oil-Contaminated Soils of Gachsaran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seyyedeh Zahra Hashemi

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Background and Objectives: Petroleum hydrocarbons are harmful to the environment, human health, and all other living creatures. Oil and its byproducts in contact with water block sunshine to phytoplanktons and thus break the food chain and damage the marine food source. This study aims to isolate the crude oil degrading and biosurfactant producing bacteria from the oil contaminated soils of Gachsaran, Iran. Materials and Methods: Isolation was performed in peptone-water medium with yeast extract. Oil displacement area, emulsification index and bacterial phylogeny using 16S rRNA analysis were studied. Results and Conclusion: Three isolates were able to degrade the crude oil. In the first day, there were two phases in the medium; after a few days, these three bacteria degraded the crude oil until there was only one phase left in the medium. One strain was selected as a superior strain by homogenizing until the medium became clear and transparent. This method confirmed that the strain produces biosurfactant. According to the morphological and biochemical tests, the strain isolated from the oil contaminated soils is a member of Bacillus subtilis, so to study the bacterial phylogeny and taxonomy of the strain, an analysis of 16S rRNA was carried out, and the phylogenic tree confirmed them. The results verified that oil contaminated soils are good source for isolation of the biosurfactant producing bacteria.

  19. Forecasting and evaluations of crude oil processing and oil derivatives consumption in Republic of Macedonia up to 2000 year

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janevski, Risto

    1998-01-01

    Elaboration of various analysis in an energetic field is a quite usual, but inevitable action, procedure and investigation. Also, in a field of crude oil processing and oil derivatives consumption these analyses are a base for making a various range of forecasting and evaluations. How many of these forecasting and evaluations will be credible it depends mostly of diligent, precise and accurate data and experiences in the previous years. This part refers to forecasting and evaluations of crude oil processing and oil derivatives consumption in a short period up to 2000 year in Republic of Macedonia. (Author)

  20. Finding the multipath propagation of multivariable crude oil prices using a wavelet-based network approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Xiaoliang; An, Haizhong; Sun, Xiaoqi; Huang, Xuan; Gao, Xiangyun

    2016-04-01

    The globalization and regionalization of crude oil trade inevitably give rise to the difference of crude oil prices. The understanding of the pattern of the crude oil prices' mutual propagation is essential for analyzing the development of global oil trade. Previous research has focused mainly on the fuzzy long- or short-term one-to-one propagation of bivariate oil prices, generally ignoring various patterns of periodical multivariate propagation. This study presents a wavelet-based network approach to help uncover the multipath propagation of multivariable crude oil prices in a joint time-frequency period. The weekly oil spot prices of the OPEC member states from June 1999 to March 2011 are adopted as the sample data. First, we used wavelet analysis to find different subseries based on an optimal decomposing scale to describe the periodical feature of the original oil price time series. Second, a complex network model was constructed based on an optimal threshold selection to describe the structural feature of multivariable oil prices. Third, Bayesian network analysis (BNA) was conducted to find the probability causal relationship based on periodical structural features to describe the various patterns of periodical multivariable propagation. Finally, the significance of the leading and intermediary oil prices is discussed. These findings are beneficial for the implementation of periodical target-oriented pricing policies and investment strategies.

  1. The Effect Of Additional Detergent In Crude Palm Oil In The Process Of Separation Stearin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezekyah Hasibuan, Vina; aini, Nur; Febriyanti; Ayubi Pane, Salahudin Al

    2018-03-01

    This study aims to find out how much stearin is formed from the addition of detergent and to understand the process of separation of crude olein with crude stearin from raw material of crude palm oil (CPO). Using a detergent fractionation system, detergent fractionation is a continuous crystallization of oil with controlled cooling and the separation of fractions by weight or centrifuge after supplementing surfactant.

  2. Changes in cardiac activity, oxygen uptake and perfusion indices in Carcinus maenas (L. ) exposed to crude oil and dispersant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Depledge, M.H.

    1984-01-01

    Cardiac activity and oxygen consumption increased when C. maenas were exposed to a 20% solution of the water-soluble fraction of Fortes crude oil, a 10% solution of the dispersant BP1100WD or a combination of both. Normal feeding behaviour was disrupted. Perfusion indices (Q/VO2) decreased as locomotor activity increased following exposure to crude oil. However, exposure to dispersant or dispersant + crude oil resulted in elevation of perfusion index despite crabs becoming active. All test animals survived for at least 6 weeks following exposure to the pollutants. The acute, sublethal effects of dispersant and dispersant + crude oil were more severe than the effects of crude oil alone.

  3. Strategic policy and the logistics of crude oil transit in Lithuania

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pasukeviciute, Irma; Roe, Michael

    2005-01-01

    This paper examines the crude oil transit market in Lithuania and the significant economic and political role played by Russia. Beginning with an analysis of the strategic and political role played by crude oil in Lithuania there follows a discussion of the policies followed by the Lithuanian authorities following independence in 1992 from the Former Soviet Union. A content analysis approach is taken to establishing the main policy issues that dominate the sector. This technique combines both quantitative and qualitative approaches to a review of published material on oil transit in Lithuania and acts as a means of assessing expert opinion on the issues involved. The results from this analysis will be used in developing policy initiatives for the sector. The paper ends with some suggestions for further applications of the techniques used to oil transit policy issues in the region

  4. Demulsification of crude oil-in-water emulsions by means of fungal spores.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alba Adriana Vallejo-Cardona

    Full Text Available The present feature describes for the first time the application of spores from Aspergillus sp. IMPMS7 to break out crude oil-in-water emulsions (O/W. The fungal spores were isolated from marine sediments polluted with petroleum hydrocarbons. The spores exhibited the ability to destabilize different O/W emulsions prepared with medium, heavy or extra-heavy Mexican crude oils with specific gravities between 10.1 and 21.2°API. The isolated fungal spores showed a high hydrophobic power of 89.3 ± 1.9% and with 2 g of spores per liter of emulsion, the half-life for emulsion destabilization was roughly 3.5 and 0.7 h for extra-heavy and medium crude oil, respectively. Then, the kinetics of water separation and the breaking of the O/W emulsion prepared with heavy oil through a spectrofluorometric technique were studied. A decrease in the fluorescence ratio at 339 and 326 nm (I339/I326 was observed in emulsions treated with spores, which is similar to previously reported results using chemical demulsifiers.

  5. Bioremediation of a Crude Oil Polluted Tropical Mangrove ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A combination of bioaugumentation with hydrocarbon utilizing indigenous bacteria, biostimulation with agricultural fertilizer (NPK 15:15:15) and tilling were employed as remedial options for 20 weeks in a crude oil polluted tidal plain dominated by mangrove (Rhizophora, Laguncularia and Avicenia) vegetation. Soil ...

  6. Feasibility to apply the steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technique in the country's heavy crude-oil fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodriguez, Edwin; Orjuela, Jaime

    2004-01-01

    The steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) processes are one of the most efficient and profitable technologies for the production of heavy crude oils and oil sands. These processes involve the drilling of a couple of parallel horizontal wells, separated by a vertical distance and located near the oil field base. The upper well is used to continuously inject steam into the zone of interest, while the lower well collects all resulting fluids (oil, condensate and formation water) and takes them to the surface (Butler, 1994). This technology has been successfully implemented in countries such as Canada, Venezuela and United States, reaching recovery factors in excess of 50%. This article provides an overview of the technique's operation mechanism and the process most relevant characteristics, as well as the various categories this technology is divided into, including all its advantages and limitations. Furthermore, the article sets the oil field's minimal conditions under which the SAGD process is efficient, which conditions, as integrated to a series of mathematical models, allow to make forecasts on production, thermal efficiency (ODR) and oil to be recovered, as long as it is feasible (from a technical point of view) to apply this technique to a defined oil field. The information and concepts compiled during this research prompted the development of software, which may be used as an information, analysis and interpretation tool to predict and quantify this technology's performance. Based on the article, preliminary studies were started for the country's heavy crude-oil fields, identifying which provide the minimum conditions for the successful development of a pilot project

  7. Biodegradation of crude oil by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the presence of rhamnolipids*

    OpenAIRE

    Zhang, Guo-liang; Wu, Yue-ting; Qian, Xin-ping; Meng, Qin

    2005-01-01

    The potential biodegradation of crude oil was assessed based on the development of a fermentative process with a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa which produced 15.4 g/L rhamnolipids when cultured in a basal mineral medium using glycerol as a sole carbon source. However, neither cell growth nor rhamnolipid production was observed in the comparative culture system using crude oil as the sole carbon source instead. As rhamnolipid, an effective biosurfactant, has been reported to stimulate the b...

  8. The numerical simulation on swelling factor and extraction rate of a tight crude oil and SC-CO2 system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Hongjun; Gong, Houjian; Li, Yajun; Dong, Mingzhe

    2018-03-01

    A method was established to study swelling and extraction between CO2 and crude oil, and the influences of pressure, temperature and molecular weight were investigated. Firstly, laboratory analysis was conducted to determine the pseudo-component and other parameters of the crude oil. Then swelling and extraction of the crude oil and SC-CO2 system were calculated by computer simulation. The results show that the pressure and temperature have little influence on the swelling and extraction between CO2 and crude oil when the mole fraction of CO2 is lower. A higher pressure and temperature is more beneficial to the interaction of CO2 and crude oil, while the swelling and extraction will not be obvious when the system is miscible. And the smaller the molecular weight of the oil is, the larger the maximum value of the swelling factor of CO2 and crude oil changes. The study of swelling and extraction plays an important role in the oilfield stimulation.

  9. Ultrasound aided in situ transesterification of crude palm oil adsorbed on spent bleaching clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boey, Peng-Lim; Ganesan, Shangeetha; Maniam, Gaanty Pragas; Ali, Dafaalla Mohamed Hag

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → Crude palm oil adsorbed on spent bleaching clay converted to biodiesel. → Ultrasound dislodges adsorbed oil from spent bleaching clay into reaction mixture. → Co-solvents promotes miscibility of the reactants. -- Abstract: Adsorbed crude palm oil on spent bleaching clay (SBC) was in situ transesterified to methyl esters (biodiesel) by the aid of ultrasound and organic co-solvents (petroleum ether (PE) or ethyl methyl ketone (EMK)). The SBC under study was found to contain 24.2-27.0% of crude oil with free fatty acids (FFA) of 3.01% and moisture content of 0.29%. The optimized reaction conditions were as follows: methanol to oil molar ratio of 150:1; catalyst (KOH), 20%; reaction temperature, 60 ± 2 o C; reaction time, 2 h. Using PE as a co-solvent, highest conversion of 75.2% was achieved while 60% was recorded with EMK.

  10. Biotechnological potential of Bacillus salmalaya 139SI: a novel strain for remediating water polluted with crude oil waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ismail, Salmah; Dadrasnia, Arezoo

    2015-01-01

    Environmental contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons, mainly crude oil waste from refineries, is becoming prevalent worldwide. This study investigates the bioremediation of water contaminated with crude oil waste. Bacillus salamalaya 139SI, a bacterium isolated from a private farm soil in the Kuala Selangor in Malaysia, was found to be a potential degrader of crude oil waste. When a microbial population of 108 CFU ml-1 was used, the 139SI strain degraded 79% and 88% of the total petroleum hydrocarbons after 42 days of incubation in mineral salt media containing 2% and 1% of crude oil waste, respectively, under optimum conditions. In the uninoculated medium containing 1% crude oil waste, 6% was degraded. Relative to the control, the degradation was significantly greater when a bacteria count of 99 × 108 CFU ml-1 was added to the treatments polluted with 1% oil. Thus, this isolated strain is useful for enhancing the biotreatment of oil in wastewater.

  11. Biotechnological potential of Bacillus salmalaya 139SI: a novel strain for remediating water polluted with crude oil waste.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salmah Ismail

    Full Text Available Environmental contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons, mainly crude oil waste from refineries, is becoming prevalent worldwide. This study investigates the bioremediation of water contaminated with crude oil waste. Bacillus salamalaya 139SI, a bacterium isolated from a private farm soil in the Kuala Selangor in Malaysia, was found to be a potential degrader of crude oil waste. When a microbial population of 108 CFU ml-1 was used, the 139SI strain degraded 79% and 88% of the total petroleum hydrocarbons after 42 days of incubation in mineral salt media containing 2% and 1% of crude oil waste, respectively, under optimum conditions. In the uninoculated medium containing 1% crude oil waste, 6% was degraded. Relative to the control, the degradation was significantly greater when a bacteria count of 99 × 108 CFU ml-1 was added to the treatments polluted with 1% oil. Thus, this isolated strain is useful for enhancing the biotreatment of oil in wastewater.

  12. Fuzzy logic controller for crude oil levels at Escravos Tank Farm ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Fuzzy logic controller (FLC) for crude oil flow rates and tank levels was designed for monitoring flow and tank level management at Escravos Tank Farm in Nigeria. The fuzzy control system incorporated essence of expert knowledge required to handle the tasks. Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control of crude flow ...

  13. Effect of Water Content, Temperature and NaCl on CO2 Corrosion of Carbon Steel (A106B in Iraqi Crude Oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saad Ahmed Jafar

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available An investigation was carried out to determine the corrosion rate of carbon steel (A 106 GradeB as flow line in crude oil production with CO2 content employing three Iraqi crude oil (Kirkuk crude oil, Halfaya crude oil, and Rumalia crude oil with identical produced water (brine [1%NaCl,2%NaCl, and 3%NaCl]. Experiments were performed in an autoclave test apparatus, crude oilproduced water mixtures, water cuts were (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 100%, and temperature (20, 40, 60°C. For all experiments, CO2 partial pressure was maintained at 4bar and rotational speed 500 rpm. The corrosion rates were determined by the weight loss method. The results revealed that the corrosion rate of carbon steel increased by increasing water cut and temperature, but decreased with increasing salt concentration for all types of crude oil. Rumaila crude oil exhibited the highest corrosion rate and Kirkuk crude oil exhibits the lowest corrosion rate while Halfaya crude oil exhibits a moderate corrosion rate.

  14. Production of jet fuel using heavy crude oil; Producao de combustiveis de aviacao a partir de petroleos pesados

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Om, Neyda [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Escola de Quimica; Cavado, Alberto; Reyes, Yordanka [Centro de Pesquisas do Petroleo, Cidade de Havana (Cuba); Dominguez, Zulema [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao de Engenharia (COPPE)

    2004-07-01

    The production of heavy crude oils increased in the last years in the world. Crude oils with high density, viscosity, acidity and sulfur, nitrogen, metals and asphaltenes contents, by the others hand, low stability and low product quality. The challenger of many refiners is find solutions to refine the heavy crude oils, and produce fuels with certify quality, such as Jet Fuel. The principal aviation technique on the world work with gas turbines engines feted for jet fuel (JET A1). The quality specifications of this fuel are establish by International Norms: ASTM-1655, DEF STAN 91-91-3 (DERD 2494) and joint Fuelling System Check List. The world technologies to obtain jet fuel from mixtures of heavy crude oil with middle crude oils are: Atmospheric distillation, with a posterior hydrogenation and finally the additivation. Studies carried out have demonstrates that the Cubans heavy crude oils is characterized for having API less than 10, raised viscosity, high sulfur content (>6%) and asphaltenes content (more than 15%). These properties provide to its derivatives of low quality. This paper define the characteristic of Cuban heavy crude oil, the technology and operational conditions to produce jet fuel (Jet A1) and the quality of fuel produced. (author)

  15. Detection by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in microcosms of crude oil-contaminated mangrove sediments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    dos Santos, A C F; Marques, E L S; Gross, E; Souza, S S; Dias, J C T; Brendel, M; Rezende, R P

    2012-01-27

    Currently, the effect of crude oil on ammonia-oxidizing bacterium communities from mangrove sediments is little understood. We studied the diversity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in mangrove microcosm experiments using mangrove sediments contaminated with 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5% crude oil as well as non-contaminated control and landfarm soil from near an oil refinery in Camamu Bay in Bahia, Brazil. The evolution of CO(2) production in all crude oil-contaminated microcosms showed potential for mineralization. Cluster analysis of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis-derived samples generated with primers for gene amoA, which encodes the functional enzyme ammonia monooxygenase, showed differences in the sample contaminated with 5% compared to the other samples. Principal component analysis showed divergence of the non-contaminated samples from the 5% crude oil-contaminated sediment. A Venn diagram generated from the banding pattern of PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to look for operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in common. Eight OTUs were found in non-contaminated sediments and in samples contaminated with 0.5, 1, or 2% crude oil. A Jaccard similarity index of 50% was found for samples contaminated with 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 2% crude oil. This is the first study that focuses on the impact of crude oil on the ammonia-oxidizing bacterium community in mangrove sediments from Camamu Bay.

  16. A new approach for crude oil price prediction based on stream learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuang Gao

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Crude oil is the world's leading fuel, and its prices have a big impact on the global environment, economy as well as oil exploration and exploitation activities. Oil price forecasts are very useful to industries, governments and individuals. Although many methods have been developed for predicting oil prices, it remains one of the most challenging forecasting problems due to the high volatility of oil prices. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for crude oil price prediction based on a new machine learning paradigm called stream learning. The main advantage of our stream learning approach is that the prediction model can capture the changing pattern of oil prices since the model is continuously updated whenever new oil price data are available, with very small constant overhead. To evaluate the forecasting ability of our stream learning model, we compare it with three other popular oil price prediction models. The experiment results show that our stream learning model achieves the highest accuracy in terms of both mean squared prediction error and directional accuracy ratio over a variety of forecast time horizons.

  17. Crude Oil Remote Sensing, Characterization and Cleaning with CW and Pulsed Lasers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kukhtareva, Tatiana; Chirita, Arc; Gallegos, Sonia C.

    2014-01-01

    For detection, identification and characterization of crude oil we combine several optical methods of remote sensing of crude oil films and emulsions (coherent fringe projection illumination (CFP), holographic in-line interferometry (HILI), and laser induced fluorescence). These methods allow the three-dimensional characterization of oil spills, important for practical applications. Combined methods of CFP and HILI are described in the frame of coherent superposition of partial interference patterns. It is shown, that in addition to detection/identification laser illumination in the green-blue region can also degrade oil slicks. Different types of surfaces contaminated by oil spills are tested: oil on the water, oil on the flat solid surfaces and oil on the curved surfaces of pipes. For the detection and monitoring of the laser-induced oil degradation in pipes, coherent fiber bundles were used. Both continuous-wave (CW) and pulsed lasers are tested using pump-probe schemes. This finding suggests that properly structured laser clean-up can be an alternative environmentally-friendly method of decontamination, as compared to the currently used chemical methods that are dangerous to environment.

  18. Characterization of Biosurfactant Produced during Degradation of Hydrocarbons Using Crude Oil As Sole Source of Carbon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patowary, Kaustuvmani; Patowary, Rupshikha; Kalita, Mohan C; Deka, Suresh

    2017-01-01

    Production and spillage of petroleum hydrocarbons which is the most versatile energy resource causes disastrous environmental pollution. Elevated oil degrading performance from microorganisms is demanded for successful microbial remediation of those toxic pollutants. The employment of biosurfactant-producing and hydrocarbon-utilizing microbes enhances the effectiveness of bioremediation as biosurfactant plays a key role by making hydrocarbons bio-available for degradation. The present study aimed the isolation of a potent biosurfactant producing indigenous bacteria which can be employed for crude oil remediation, along with the characterization of the biosurfactant produced during crude oil biodegradation. A potent bacterial strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa PG1 (identified by 16s rDNA sequencing) was isolated from hydrocarbon contaminated soil that could efficiently produce biosurfactant by utilizing crude oil components as the carbon source, thereby leading to the enhanced degradation of the petroleum hydrocarbons. Strain PG1 could degrade 81.8% of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) after 5 weeks of culture when grown in mineral salt media (MSM) supplemented with 2% (v/v) crude oil as the sole carbon source. GCMS analysis of the treated crude oil samples revealed that P. aeruginosa PG1 could potentially degrade various hydrocarbon contents including various PAHs present in the crude oil. Biosurfactant produced by strain PG1 in the course of crude oil degradation, promotes the reduction of surface tension (ST) of the culture medium from 51.8 to 29.6 mN m -1 , with the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 56 mg L -1 . FTIR, LC-MS, and SEM-EDS studies revealed that the biosurfactant is a rhamnolipid comprising of both mono and di rhamnolipid congeners. The biosurfactant did not exhibit any cytotoxic effect to mouse L292 fibroblastic cell line, however, strong antibiotic activity against some pathogenic bacteria and fungus was observed.

  19. Characterization of Biosurfactant Produced during Degradation of Hydrocarbons Using Crude Oil As Sole Source of Carbon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patowary, Kaustuvmani; Patowary, Rupshikha; Kalita, Mohan C.; Deka, Suresh

    2017-01-01

    Production and spillage of petroleum hydrocarbons which is the most versatile energy resource causes disastrous environmental pollution. Elevated oil degrading performance from microorganisms is demanded for successful microbial remediation of those toxic pollutants. The employment of biosurfactant-producing and hydrocarbon-utilizing microbes enhances the effectiveness of bioremediation as biosurfactant plays a key role by making hydrocarbons bio-available for degradation. The present study aimed the isolation of a potent biosurfactant producing indigenous bacteria which can be employed for crude oil remediation, along with the characterization of the biosurfactant produced during crude oil biodegradation. A potent bacterial strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa PG1 (identified by 16s rDNA sequencing) was isolated from hydrocarbon contaminated soil that could efficiently produce biosurfactant by utilizing crude oil components as the carbon source, thereby leading to the enhanced degradation of the petroleum hydrocarbons. Strain PG1 could degrade 81.8% of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) after 5 weeks of culture when grown in mineral salt media (MSM) supplemented with 2% (v/v) crude oil as the sole carbon source. GCMS analysis of the treated crude oil samples revealed that P. aeruginosa PG1 could potentially degrade various hydrocarbon contents including various PAHs present in the crude oil. Biosurfactant produced by strain PG1 in the course of crude oil degradation, promotes the reduction of surface tension (ST) of the culture medium from 51.8 to 29.6 mN m−1, with the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 56 mg L−1. FTIR, LC-MS, and SEM-EDS studies revealed that the biosurfactant is a rhamnolipid comprising of both mono and di rhamnolipid congeners. The biosurfactant did not exhibit any cytotoxic effect to mouse L292 fibroblastic cell line, however, strong antibiotic activity against some pathogenic bacteria and fungus was observed. PMID:28275373

  20. Maglev crude oil pipeline

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knolle, Ernst G.

    1994-01-01

    This maglev crude oil pipeline consists of two conduits guiding an endless stream of long containers. One conduit carries loaded containers and the other empty returns. The containers are levitated by permanent magnets in repulsion and propelled by stationary linear induction motors. The containers are linked to each other in a manner that allows them, while in continuous motion, to be folded into side by side position at loading and unloading points. This folding causes a speed reduction in proportion to the ratio of container diameter to container length. While in side by side position, containers are opened at their ends to be filled or emptied. Container size and speed are elected to produce a desired carrying capacity.

  1. In situ oil burning in the marshland environment : soil temperatures resulting from crude oil and diesel fuel burns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bryner, N.P.; Walton, W.D.; Twilley, W.H.; Roadarmel, G.; Mendelssohn, I.A.; Lin, Q.; Mullin, J.V.

    2001-01-01

    The unique challenge associated with oil spill cleanups in sensitive marsh environments was discussed. Mechanical recovery of crude or refined hydrocarbons in wetlands may cause more damage to the marsh than the oil itself. This study evaluated whether in situ burning of oiled marshlands would provide a less damaging alternative than mechanical recovery. This was done through a series of 6 crude oil and 5 diesel fuel burns conducted in a test tank to examine the impact of intentional burning of oil spilled in a wetlands environment. There are several factors which may influence how well such an environment would recover from an in situ oil burn, such as plant species, fuel type and load, water level, soil type, and burn duration. This paper focused on soil, air and water temperatures, as well as total heat fluxes that resulted when 3 plant species were exposed to full-scale in situ burns that were created by burning diesel fuel and crude oil. The soil temperatures were monitored during the test burn at three different soil/water elevations for 700 second burn exposures. A total of 184 plant sods were harvested from marshlands in southern Louisiana and were subjected to the burning fuel. They were instrumental in characterizing the thermal and chemical stress that occur during an in-situ burn. The plants were inserted into the test tanks at various water and soil depths. The results indicated that diesel fuel and crude oil burns produced similar soil temperature profiles at each of three plant sod elevations. Although in-situ burning did not appear to remediate oil that had penetrated into the soil, it did effectively remove floating oil from the water surface, thereby preventing it from potentially contaminating adjacent habitats and penetrating the soil when the water recedes. The regrowth and recovery of the plants will be described in a separate report. 25 refs., 7 tabs., 15 figs

  2. Dynamic Relationship between Crude Oil Price, Exchange Rate and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    DrNneka

    Second, since Hamilton (1983) documented the impact of crude oil price volatility .... Hariri,2013) sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). .... is explained by identifying the relative importance of a variable in generating.

  3. Forecasting Value-at-Risk for Crude-Oil Exposures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Høg, Esben; Tsiaras, Leonidas

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to forecast and evaluate Value-At-Risk for crude-oil exposures. We examine the performance of a GARCH-type based model with lagged implied volatility entering the variance equation as explanatory variable for the predicted variance. The forecasted Values-at...

  4. The Impact of United States Monetary Policy in the Crude Oil futures market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padilla-Padilla, Fernando M.

    This research examines the empirical impact the United States monetary policy, through the federal fund interest rate, has on the volatility in the crude oil price in the futures market. Prior research has shown how macroeconomic events and variables have impacted different financial markets within short and long--term movements. After testing and decomposing the variables, the two stationary time series were analyzed using a Vector Autoregressive Model (VAR). The empirical evidence shows, with statistical significance, a direct relationship when explaining crude oil prices as function of fed fund rates (t-1) and an indirect relationship when explained as a function of fed fund rates (t-2). These results partially address the literature review lacunas within the topic of the existing implication monetary policy has within the crude oil futures market.

  5. Cracking of crude oil in the molten metals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marat A. Glikin

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper is investigated the process of crude oil and its individual fractions cracking in the molten metals medium to produce light petroleum products. Thermodynamic calculations demonstrate the possibility of using lead and tin including alloys thereof as the melt. The cracking of West Siberian crude oil is studied at temperatures 400-600 °C. It is detected that as the temperature increases there is increase of aromatic hydrocarbons and olefins content in gasoline while naphthenes, n- and i-paraffins content reduces. Optimal temperature for cracking in molten metals is ~500 °C. The use of a submerged nozzle increases the yield of light petroleum products by ~2%. The research octane number of gasoline produced is 82-87 points. It is determined that the yield of light petroleum products depending on the experimental conditions is increased from 46.9 to 55.1-61.3% wt.   

  6. Evaluation of some chemical and physical parameters of Sudanese crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamed, Elsamoual Hamdn Alla

    2001-05-01

    In this study crude oil samples were collected from four fields, Higlieg, Alnar, Toma south, and Unity at Elmuglad basin. A total of 20 samples were analyzed for Na, Ca, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Cd, and Pb, using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Aas). For these samples some physical parameters were determined using standard techniques employed by the American Society for Testing and Materials (Astm). The range of concentration for Na, Mg, Ca, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb are 0.33-22.20, 0.0-3.29, 0.56-7.70, 0.13-0.74, 1.70-6.33, 0.43-1.21, 1.02-9.80, 0.16-7.05, 0.12-4.88, 0.09-0.58, 0.15-0.82. μg/g, respectively. The results were subjected to statistical analysis such multivariate regression and principal component analysis. These statistical techniques revealed that the element found in the crude oil can be considered as contributed by two sources the biological precursor of oil and surrounding rocks. Comparison of the data obtained in this work with the data reported in the literature showed that the trace elements contents of Sudanese crude oil in most cases has the lowest concentration of harmful element especially Ni, and Fe.(Author)

  7. US crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves 1996 annual report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-12-01

    The EIA annual reserves report series is the only source of comprehensive domestic proved reserves estimates. This publication is used by the Congress, Federal and State agencies, industry, and other interested parties to obtain accurate estimates of the Nation`s proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. These data are essential to the development, implementation, and evaluation of energy policy and legislation. This report presents estimates of proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids as of December 31, 1996, as well as production volumes for the US and selected States and State subdivisions for the year 1996. Estimates are presented for the following four categories of natural gas: total gas (wet after lease separation), nonassociated gas and associated-dissolved gas (which are the two major types of wet natural gas), and total dry gas (wet gas adjusted for the removal of liquids at natural gas processing plants). In addition, reserve estimates for two types of natural gas liquids, lease condensate and natural gas plant liquids, are presented. Also included is information on indicated additional crude oil reserves and crude oil, natural gas, and lease condensate reserves in nonproducing reservoirs. A discussion of notable oil and gas exploration and development activities during 1996 is provided. 21 figs., 16 tabs.

  8. Alaska North Slope crude oil price and the behavior of diesel prices in California

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adrangi, B.; Chatrath, A.; Raffiee, K.; Ripple, R.

    2001-01-01

    In this paper we analyze the price dynamics of Alaska North Slope crude oil and L.A. diesel fuel prices. We employ VAR methodology and bivariate GARCH model to show that there is a strong evidence of a uni-directional causal relationship between the two prices. The L.A. diesel market is found to bear the majority of the burden of convergence when there is a price spread. This finding may be seen as being consistent with the general consensus that price discovery emanates from the larger, more liquid market where trading volume is concentrated. The contestability of the West Coast crude oil market tends to cause it to react relatively competitively, while the lack of contestability for the West Coast diesel market tends to limit its competitiveness, causing price adjustment to be slow but to follow the price signals of crude oil. Our findings also suggest that the derived demand theory of input pricing may not hold in this case. The Alaska North Slope crude oil price is the driving force in changes of L.A. diesel price

  9. LOWERING UNCERTAINTY IN CRUDE OIL MEASUREMENT BY SELECTING OPTIMIZED ENVELOPE COLOR OF A PIPELINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morteza Saadat

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Lowering uncertainty in crude oil volume measurement has been widely considered as one of main purposes in an oil export terminal. It is found that crude oil temperature at metering station has big effects on measured volume and may cause big uncertainty at the metering point. As crude oil flows through an aboveground pipeline, pick up the solar radiation and heat up. This causes the oil temperature at the metering point to rise and higher uncertainty to be created. The amount of temperature rise is depended on exterior surface paint color. In the Kharg Island, there is about 3 km distance between the oil storage tanks and the metering point. The oil flows through the pipeline due to gravity effects as storage tanks are located 60m higher than the metering point. In this study, an analytical model has been conducted for predicting oil temperature at the pipeline exit (the metering point based on climate and geographical conditions of the Kharg Island. The temperature at the metering point has been calculated and the effects of envelope color have been investigated. Further, the uncertainty in the measurement system due to temperature rise has been studied.

  10. Unbiasedness and time varying risk premia in the crude oil futures market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moosa, I.A.; Al-Loughani, N.E.

    1994-01-01

    This paper presents some empirical evidence on market efficiency and unbiasedness in the crude oil futures market and some related issues. On the basis of monthly observations on spot and futures prices of the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, several tests are carried out on the relevant hypotheses. The evidence suggests that futures prices are neither unbiased nor efficient forecasters of spot prices. Furthermore, a GARCH-M(1,1) model reveals the existence of a time varying risk premium. (author)

  11. Bioavailability of chemically-dispersed crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harris, B.C.; Bonner, J.S.; McDonald, T.J.; Fuller, C.B.; Page, C.A.; Dimitriou-Christidis, P.; Sterling, M.C.; Autenrieth, R.L.

    2002-01-01

    Oil spills can be treated with surfactant compounds to disperse them. This method enables the hydrophobic compounds to overcome their repulsion for water, enter the water phase and be diluted. Once in the water, the biodegradation fraction of the oil biodegrades over time and the residual fraction is deposited over a large area. One major issue which is not fully understood is whether oil compounds pass through the water phase to free floating cells or directly enter oil-attached microbial cells from the oil particle. In this study, crude oil was placed in a swirling flask with Corpus Christi Bay water and was then chemically dispersed with Corexit 9500. The biodegradation was then monitored and assessed. First order rate coefficients were determined based on the disappearance of specific compounds. The rate coefficients for total target PAHs were consistent for all tests. Napthalene, phenanthrene, dibenzothiophene and their alkylated homologs were among the target compounds. The trend was also observed for total target analytes and for total target saturates. The results indicate that the biodegradation rate coefficient was not dependent on the bulk concentration of oil in the water column. It was concluded that biodegradation rates was controlled by partitioning of the compounds between the two phases, and other factors such as particle size distribution and the capability of the microbial culture, temperature and nutrients. 13 refs., 1 tab., 6 figs

  12. Price Relationships in the Petroleum Market: An Analysis of Crude Oil and Refined Product Prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asche, Frank; Gjoelberg, Ole; Voelker, Teresa

    2001-08-01

    In this paper the relationships between crude oil and refined product prices are investigated in a multivariate framework. This allows us to test several (partly competing) assumptions of earlier studies. In particular, we find that the crude oil price is weakly exogenous and that the spread is constant in some but not all relationships. Moreover, the multivariate analysis shows that the link between crude oil prices and several refined product prices implies market integration for these refined products. This is an example of supply driven market integration and producers will change the output mix in response to price changes. (author)

  13. Price relationships in the petroleum market. An analysis of crude oil and refined product prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asche, Frank; Gjoelberg, Ole; Volker, Teresa

    2003-01-01

    In this paper the relationships between crude oil and refined product prices are investigated in a multivariate framework. This allows us to test several (partly competing) assumptions of earlier studies. In particular, we find that the crude oil price is weakly exogenous and that the spread is constant in some but not all relationships. Moreover, the multivariate analysis shows that the link between crude oil prices and several refined product prices implies market integration for these refined products. This is an example of supply driven market integration and producers will change the output mix in response to price changes

  14. Price relationships in the petroleum market: an analysis of crude oil and refined product prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asche, F.; Gjoelberg, O.; Voelker, T.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper the relationships between crude oil and refined product prices are investigated in a multivariate framework. This allows us to test several (partly competing) assumptions of earlier studies. In particular, we find that the crude oil price is weakly exogenous and that the spread is constant in some but not all relationships. Moreover, the multivariate analysis shows that the link between crude oil prices and several refined product prices implies market integration for these refined products. This is an example of supply driven market integration and producers will change the output mix in response to price changes. (author)

  15. Measurement of the Rheology of Crude Oil in Equilibrium with CO2 at Reservoir Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Ruien; Crawshaw, John

    2017-06-06

    A rheometer system to measure the rheology of crude oil in equilibrium with carbon dioxide (CO2) at high temperatures and pressures is described. The system comprises a high-pressure rheometer which is connected to a circulation loop. The rheometer has a rotational flow-through measurement cell with two alternative geometries: coaxial cylinder and double gap. The circulation loop contains a mixer, to bring the crude oil sample into equilibrium with CO2, and a gear pump that transports the mixture from the mixer to the rheometer and recycles it back to the mixer. The CO2 and crude oil are brought to equilibrium by stirring and circulation and the rheology of the saturated mixture is measured by the rheometer. The system is used to measure the rheological properties of Zuata crude oil (and its toluene dilution) in equilibrium with CO2 at elevated pressures up to 220 bar and a temperature of 50 °C. The results show that CO2 addition changes the oil rheology significantly, initially reducing the viscosity as the CO2 pressure is increased and then increasing the viscosity above a threshold pressure. The non-Newtonian response of the crude is also seen to change with the addition of CO2.

  16. Superoleophillic electrospun polystrene/exofoliated graphite fibre for selective removal of crude oil from water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alayande, S. Oluwagbemiga; Dare, Enock O.; Olorundare, F. O. Grace; Nkosi, D.; Msagati, Titus A. M.; Mamba, B. B.

    2016-04-01

    During oil spills, the aquatic environment is greatly endangered because oil floats on water making the penetration of sunlight difficult therefore primary productivity is compromised, birds and aquatic organisms are totally eliminated within a short period. It is therefore essential to remove the oil from the water bodies after the spillage. This work reports on the fabrication of oil loving electrospun polystyrene-exofoliated graphite fibre with hydrophobic and oleophillic surface properties. The fibre was applied for the selective adsorption of crude oil from simulated crude oil spillage on water. The maximum oil adsorption capacity of the EPS/EG was 1.15 kg/g in 20 min while the lowest oil adsorption capacity was 0.81 kg/g in 10 min. Cheap oil adsorbent was developed with superoleophillic and superhydrophobic properties.

  17. An analysis of price and volatility transmission in butter, palm oil and crude oil markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis Bergmann

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Recent changes to the common agricultural policy (CAP saw a shift to greater market orientation for the EU dairy industry. Given this reorientation, the volatility of EU dairy commodity prices has sharply increased, creating the need to develop proper risk management tools to protect farmers’ income and to ensure stable prices for processors and consumers. In addition, there is a perceived threat that these commodities may be replaced by cheaper substitutes, such as palm oil, as dairy commodity prices become more volatile. Global production of palm oil almost doubled over the last decade while butter production remained relatively flat. Palm oil also serves as a feedstock for biodiesel production, thus establishing a new link between agricultural commodities and crude oil. Price and volatility transmission effects between EU and World butter prices, as well as between butter, palm oil and crude oil prices, before and after the Luxembourg agreement, are analysed. Vector autoregression (VAR models are applied to capture price transmission effects between these markets. These are combined with a multivariate GARCH model to account for potential volatility transmission. Results indicate strong price and volatility transmission effects between EU and World butter prices. EU butter shocks further spillover to palm oil volatility. In addition, there is evidence that oil prices spillover to World butter prices and World butter volatility.

  18. OPEC announcements and their effects on crude oil prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Sharon Xiaowen; Tamvakis, Michael

    2010-01-01

    We investigate evidence on the effects of OPEC announcements on world oil prices by examining announcements from both official conferences and ministerial meetings on major international crudes, including the key benchmarks and several other heavy and light grades. With data from 1982 to 2008, we use event study methodology and find differentiation in the magnitude and significance of market responses to OPEC quota decisions under different price bands. We also find some (weak) evidence of differentiation between light and heavy crude grades. (author)

  19. Rhamnolipid produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa USM-AR2 facilitates crude oil distillation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asshifa Md Noh, Nur; Al-Ashraf Abdullah, Amirul; Nasir Mohamad Ibrahim, Mohamad; Ramli Mohd Yahya, Ahmad

    2012-01-01

    A biosurfactant-producing and hydrocarbon-utilizing bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa USM-AR2, was used to assist conventional distillation. Batch cultivation in a bioreactor gave a biomass of 9.4 g L(-1) and rhamnolipid concentration of 2.4 g L(-1) achieved after 72 h. Biosurfactant activity (rhamnolipid) was detected by the orcinol assay, emulsification index and drop collapse test. Pretreatment of crude oil TK-1 and AG-2 with a culture of P. aeruginosa USM-AR2 that contains rhamnolipid was proven to facilitate the distillation process by reducing the duration without reducing the quality of petroleum distillate. It showed a potential in reducing the duration of the distillation process, with at least 2- to 3-fold decreases in distillation time. This is supported by GC-MS analysis of the distillate where there was no difference between compounds detected in distillate obtained from treated or untreated crude oil. Calorimetric tests showed the calorie value of the distillate remained the same with or without treatment. These two factors confirmed that the quality of the distillate was not compromised and the incubation process by the microbial culture did not over-degrade the oil. The rhamnolipid produced by this culture was the main factor that enhanced the distillation performance, which is related to the emulsification of hydrocarbon chains in the crude oil. This biotreatment may play an important role to improve the existing conventional refinery and distillation process. Reducing the distillation times by pretreating the crude oil with a natural biosynthetic product translates to energy and cost savings in producing petroleum products.

  20. Microbial enhanced heavy crude oil recovery through biodegradation using bacterial isolates from an Omani oil field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Sayegh, Abdullah; Al-Wahaibi, Yahya; Al-Bahry, Saif; Elshafie, Abdulkadir; Al-Bemani, Ali; Joshi, Sanket

    2015-09-16

    Biodegradation is a cheap and environmentally friendly process that could breakdown and utilizes heavy crude oil (HCO) resources. Numerous bacteria are able to grow using hydrocarbons as a carbon source; however, bacteria that are able to grow using HCO hydrocarbons are limited. In this study, HCO degrading bacteria were isolated from an Omani heavy crude oil field. They were then identified and assessed for their biodegradation and biotransformation abilities under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Bacteria were grown in five different minimum salts media. The isolates were identified by MALDI biotyper and 16S rRNA sequencing. The nucleotide sequences were submitted to GenBank (NCBI) database. The bacteria were identified as Bacillus subtilis and B. licheniformis. To assess microbial growth and biodegradation of HCO by well-assay on agar plates, samples were collected at different intervals. The HCO biodegradation and biotransformation were determined using GC-FID, which showed direct correlation of microbial growth with an increased biotransformation of light hydrocarbons (C12 and C14). Among the isolates, B. licheniformis AS5 was the most efficient isolate in biodegradation and biotransformation of the HCO. Therefore, isolate AS5 was used for heavy crude oil recovery experiments, in core flooding experiments using Berea core plugs, where an additional 16 % of oil initially in place was recovered. This is the first report from Oman for bacteria isolated from an oil field that were able to degrade and transform HCO to lighter components, illustrating the potential use in HCO recovery. The data suggested that biodegradation and biotransformation processes may lead to additional oil recovery from heavy oil fields, if bacteria are grown in suitable medium under optimum growth conditions.

  1. Coals to Newcastle: Will Alberta become a crude oil importer?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haessel, W.; Foley, D.J.

    1991-01-01

    The security of markets for Canadian heavy crude oil (HCO) under different conditions is examined. The emphasis of the study is on the conditions under which bitumen blend from Alberta could penetrate certain markets that have generally been identified as potential prospects. A secondary question concerns the cost reductions in bitumen production and upgrading that would be needed for bitumen blend and synthetic crude oil (SCO) to penetrate these same markets if long-term oil prices settle at US$18/bbl for Saudi light delivered to the USA Gulf Coast in 2010. A brief overview is first presented of some of the world and US factors that will affect the demand for Canadian HCO, with specific reference to the demand in the northern USA in 2010. The determination of the volume of HCO that can or will be processed at a refinery or a combination of refineries in a given market is then discussed. The cost and volume numbers for 2010 as provided in the National Energy Board's latest Canadian energy supply and demand forecast are used in the analysis. It is concluded that all traditional markets outside of the Canadian prairies could be lost if world oil prices stay below US$18/bbl for extended periods. At prices below US$17/bbl, bitumen producers would have trouble competing with imported crude oils in Edmonton unless bitumen production costs decline from current levels. The potential for bitumen production costs to decline enough for diluted bitumen to compete with US$18/bbl oil is better than the prospect for SCO costs to decrease enough to compete in eastern Canada or the northern USA at those price levels. 9 figs., 8 tabs

  2. The importance of subsample preparation practices in the analysis of crude oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pereira, K.S.; Iorio, S.M.B.M. [Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (CENPES/PETROBRAS), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Centro de Pesquisas], e-mail: katiapereira@petrobras.com.br; Marques, M.L.S.P. [Fundacao Gorceix, Ouro Preto, MG (Brazil)

    2011-01-15

    There have been many subsample preparation practices proposed to reduce sources of error in analyses of crude oils. Optimal subsample preparation allows keeping the degree of representativity of the final aliquot going into the laboratory analyzer. The objective of this work was to discuss some experiences in order to understand the importance of sampling practices to obtain representative subsamples of crude oils and petroleum products, and measurements with minimized uncertainty whenever possible. Specific practices, whose effectiveness was tested by experiments, are discussed in this work. The analysis of variance showed that the subsamples should not be used in vapor pressure tests unless in case of interlaboratory cross check, and have to be considered as the first test from the bottle subsample. Sometimes long periods of crude oils samples storage are necessary for a complete evaluation, but because of the effect of this storage time it was observed a trend in the reducing of acidity and sulfur content. (author)

  3. Radiation processing studies on residual fractions of Olowi petroleum crude oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarfo, A.K.

    2011-01-01

    Residual fuel oil is an inexpensive boiler fuel that can replace diesel in some industrial boilers. The viscous waxy nature of residual fuel oil makes it very difficult to use in industries where fuel storage tanks have no heating elements to keep the fuel at temperatures at which it would easily flow. Irradiation is currently being studied as a cost effective means of cracking heavy petroleum crude oil into lighter and more valuable products. Research has shown that irradiation can replace the conventional methods of cracking petroleum with economical benefits. Gamma radiation from a cobalt-60 source was applied to the residue obtained after refining crude oil in this research study, with the intention of causing a similar cracking phenomenon. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the possibility of using gamma radiation to reduce the viscosity of residual fractions of crude oil used as residual fuel oil. This was done by exposing samples of residual fuel oil in glass jars to 9 different doses of gamma radiation, at room temperature and an elevated temperature of 60 degrees Celsius to determine and quantify the effect of radiation on residual fuel oil obtained from the Tema Oil Refinery. The pour points of the irradiated samples were not affected by radiation doses up to 200 kGy while the changes in viscosity for irradiation at room temperature were not significant. Irradiation at 60 degrees Celsius induced a small but significant increase in viscosity at 1 kGy and 200 kGy absorbed doses of irradiation. Irradiation fuels were stable in relation to viscosity, density and pour point over a period of 20 days after exposure. The flash point of irradiated samples, however, decreased by 5.26, 10.53 and 11.34% for 30, 50 and 80 kGy absorbed doses of radiation respectively. Cumulative and continuous doses gave similar results for pour point, density, viscosity and flash point measurements up to 50 kGy. Comparative cost analysis of methods used in maintaining low

  4. Effect of paraffin saturation in a crude oil on operation of a field

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Trebin, G F; Kapyrin, Yu V

    1968-11-01

    Both theoretical and practical studies in recent years have shown that in planning operational procedures for an oil field, the paraffin saturation of the crude oil must be considered. If the crude oil is essentially saturated with paraffin at reservoir condition, then paraffin deposition can occur around the well and in the well. Temperature in the reservoir can be lowered by 2 mechanisms: (1) by injection of water below reservoir temperature, and (2) by expansion of produced gas and consequent cooling of the produced oil. Possible application of these principles to several Soviet oil fields is discussed. In the Uzen field, a preliminary investigation is under way to test the feasibility of heating the injection water to prevent paraffin deposition in the reservoir.

  5. Exporting Alaskan North Slope crude oil: Benefits and costs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1994-06-01

    The Department of Energy study examines the effects of lifting the current prohibitions against the export of Alaskan North Slope (ANS) crude. The study concludes that permitting exports would benefit the US economy. First, lifting the ban would expand the markets in which ANS oil can be sold, thereby increasing its value. ANS oil producers, the States of California and Alaska, and some of their local governments all would benefit from increased revenues. Permitting exports also would generate new economic activity and employment in California and Alaska. The study concludes that these economic benefits would be achieved without increasing gasoline prices (either in California or in the nation as a whole). Lifting the export ban could have important implications for US maritime interests. The Merchant Marine Act of 1970 (known as the Jones Act) requires all inter-coastal shipments to be carried on vessels that are US-owned, US-crewed, and US-built. By limiting the shipment of ANS crude to US ports only, the export ban creates jobs for the seafarers and the builders of Jones Act vessels. Because the Jones Act does not apply to exports, however, lifting the ban without also changing US maritime law would jeopardize the jobs associated with the current fleet of Jones Act tankers. Therefore the report analyzes selected economic impacts of several maritime policy alternatives, including: Maintaining current law, which allows foreign tankers to carry oil where export is allowed; requiring exports of ANS crude to be carried on Jones Act vessels; and requiring exports of ANS crude to be carried on vessels that are US-owned and US-crewed, but not necessarily US-built. Under each of these options, lifting the export ban would generate economic benefits.

  6. Exporting Alaskan North Slope crude oil: Benefits and costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-06-01

    The Department of Energy study examines the effects of lifting the current prohibitions against the export of Alaskan North Slope (ANS) crude. The study concludes that permitting exports would benefit the US economy. First, lifting the ban would expand the markets in which ANS oil can be sold, thereby increasing its value. ANS oil producers, the States of California and Alaska, and some of their local governments all would benefit from increased revenues. Permitting exports also would generate new economic activity and employment in California and Alaska. The study concludes that these economic benefits would be achieved without increasing gasoline prices (either in California or in the nation as a whole). Lifting the export ban could have important implications for US maritime interests. The Merchant Marine Act of 1970 (known as the Jones Act) requires all inter-coastal shipments to be carried on vessels that are US-owned, US-crewed, and US-built. By limiting the shipment of ANS crude to US ports only, the export ban creates jobs for the seafarers and the builders of Jones Act vessels. Because the Jones Act does not apply to exports, however, lifting the ban without also changing US maritime law would jeopardize the jobs associated with the current fleet of Jones Act tankers. Therefore the report analyzes selected economic impacts of several maritime policy alternatives, including: Maintaining current law, which allows foreign tankers to carry oil where export is allowed; requiring exports of ANS crude to be carried on Jones Act vessels; and requiring exports of ANS crude to be carried on vessels that are US-owned and US-crewed, but not necessarily US-built. Under each of these options, lifting the export ban would generate economic benefits

  7. Detection of simulated pitting corrosion and noises in crude oil storage tank by acoustic emission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shukri Mohd; Latif, N.A.; Azhar Mohd Sinin; Mohamad Daud; Abd Nasir Ibrahim

    2008-01-01

    The damage mechanisms associated with crude oil storage tanks can be complex and varied and include pitting corrosion due to presence of species such as sulphate reducing bacteria. Acoustic Emission (AE) could be used to characterise the pitting corrosion signal in crude oil storage tanks but it is extremely difficult to simulate the pitting corrosion in the laboratory using crude oil as electrolyte because crude oil is considered as non corrosive medium. In this study, induced current have been introduced onto a surface ASTM 516 steel as an electrical source to simulate the electrical noise produced during pitting corrosion process and AE sensor have been used to detect this current. It is found that AE system could detect AE signal release during current induction this current and is expected that if the exact simulation of the current magnitude produced during pitting corrosion process is made available, AE characterisation of pitting corrosion in such tank could be made possible. (Author)

  8. Dynamic Correlation between Stock Market Returns and Crude Oil Prices: Evidence from a Developing Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emenike O. Kalu

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Modeling the correlation of assets returns volatilities across different markets or segments of a market has practical value for portfolio selection and diversification, market regulation, and risk management. This paper therefore evaluates the nature of time-varying correlation between volatilities of stock market and crude oil returns in Nigeria using Dynamic Conditional Correlation-Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (DCC-GARCH model. Results from DCC-GARCH (1,1 model show evidence of volatility clustering and persistence in Nigeria stock market and crude oil returns. The results also show that there is no dynamic conditional correlation in ARCH effects between stock market returns and crude oil prices in Nigeria. The results further show that there is strong evidence of time-varying volatility correlation between stock market and crude oil returns volatility. The findings will help shape policy-making in risk management and market regulation in Nigeria.

  9. Fortum Oil and Gas 2000: Exceptionally high price of crude oil and strong refining margins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ropponen, V.-M.

    2001-01-01

    Fortum intends to be an active player in the structural reorganization of the oil business by utilizing its niche position in oil refining. Fortum produces sophisticated motor fuel components, which it uses in its reformulated gasolines and sells and exports to other oil companies, even to highly demanding markets in California. The increase in the price of crude oil considerably improved the results of Oil and Gas Upstream. Similarly, an improvement in the refining margin, as well as profitable shipping operations and a strong demand for gasoline components, boosted the results of Oil Refining and Marketing. (orig.)

  10. Pore-Scale Investigation of Crude Oil/CO2 Compositional Effects on Oil Recovery by Carbonated Water Injection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Seyyedi, Mojtaba; Sohrabi, Mehran

    2017-01-01

    where the oil has significant dissolved gases. In such studies, oil swelling and oil viscosity reduction had been introduced as the main mechanisms of additional oil recovery by CWI. However, in our direct flow visualization (micro model) studies reported here, we have used live crude oil, and we have...

  11. Design and development of a high efficiency tank for crude oil dehydration (i)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forero, Jorge Enrique; Ortiz Olga Patricia; Narino, Fredy Abelardo

    2008-01-01

    This paper introduces a new tank design for dehydrating and desalting large volumes of crude oils previously degasified, crude oil dehydration efficiency is reduced by gas presence in the emulsion interphase. The design presented in this paper is versatile (it is adaptable to any classical dehydration process), highly efficient in terms of separation (values usually greater than 90% and/or treated crude oil BSW less than 0,5% are ensured), low installation and operation costs, less consumption of additives. These are some of the advantages found in pilot tests plants and proven in industrial systems at the ECOPETROL S.A. production fields with treatment capacities from 14 to 50 KBD. Although this process also can be applied to other ranks of flow, maintaining the design critical conditions of each case in particular. This system does not exhibit the typical limitations shown by treatment traditional systems (FWKO, Gun Barrel, thermal and electrostatic separators, etc.) (Al-Ghamdi, 2007) since it can be easily adapted to system treatments for light, intermediate, and heavy crude oils and to treatments with BSW content ranging from a very low levels of ≤ 1% to very high levels ≥ 95%, values that are not unusual in production fields nowadays, especially where accelerated production methods are used

  12. Evaluation of methods for wax determination in crude oil; Avaliacao de metodos de determinacao de parafinas em petroleo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dias, Julio Cesar M.; Silva, Maria do Socorro A.J. da; Vasconcellos, Rosa C.U. [PETROBRAS S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Centro de Pesquisas; Tamanqueira, Juliana B. [Fundacao Gorceix, Ouro Preto, MG (Brazil)

    2008-07-01

    Determining the wax content of crude oil is of great importance for petroleum industry, especially for production, storage and transportation of crude oils. Many different methodologies of wax determining are available in the technical literature. However, the selection of the most suitable method must be in accordance with the aim of the analysis and observing the specificities of each technique. The purpose of this work was to determine the performance of different techniques of wax determining applied to characterization of precipitation properties of waxy compounds in crude oils. Twelve samples of crude oils proceeding from the main Brazilian oil producing sedimentary basins were selected for this study. These samples were analyzed by three important analytical techniques of wax determining: precipitation by cooled solvent; liquid chromatography with precipitation by cooled solvent; and liquid chromatography followed by gas chromatography. Differential scanning calorimetry data related to the wax crystallization in these oils were used as parameters of validation. The results obtained in this study indicate that the liquid chromatography followed by gas chromatography method has the best performance for wax determining in crude oils. (author)

  13. NMR and Chemometric Characterization of Vacuum Residues and Vacuum Gas Oils from Crude Oils of Different Origin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jelena Parlov Vuković

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available NMR spectroscopy in combination with statistical methods was used to study vacuum residues and vacuum gas oils from 32 crude oils of different origin. Two chemometric metodes were applied. Firstly, principal component analysis on complete spectra was used to perform classification of samples and clear distinction between vacuum residues and vacuum light and heavy gas oils were obtained. To quantitatively predict the composition of asphaltenes, principal component regression models using areas of resonance signals spaned by 11 frequency bins of the 1H NMR spectra were build. The first 5 principal components accounted for more than 94 % of variations in the input data set and coefficient of determination for correlation between measured and predicted values was R2 = 0.7421. Although this value is not significant, it shows the underlying linear dependence in the data. Pseudo two-dimensional DOSY NMR experiments were used to assess the composition and structural properties of asphaltenes in a selected crude oil and its vacuum residue on the basis of their different hydrodynamic behavior and translational diffusion coefficients. DOSY spectra showed the presence of several asphaltene aggregates differing in size and interactions they formed. The obtained results have shown that NMR techniques in combination with chemometrics are very useful to analyze vacuum residues and vacuum gas oils. Furthermore, we expect that our ongoing investigation of asphaltenes from crude oils of different origin will elucidate in more details composition, structure and properties of these complex molecular systems.

  14. A Microfluidic Method to Assess Emulsion Stability in Crude-Oil/Water Separators

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Krebs, T.; Schroën, C.G.P.H.; Boom, R.M.

    2011-01-01

    The control of emulsion stability and droplet size is of crucial importance for oil production, especially for the processes of crude/oil water separation and cleanup of produced water. To recover pure oil and water, coalescence between droplets needs to take place, the extent of which will depend

  15. Estimation of evaporative losses during storage of crude oil and petroleum products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihajlović Marina A.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Storage of crude oil and petroleum products inevitably leads to evaporative losses. Those losses are important for the industrial plants mass balances, as well as for the environmental protection. In this paper, estimation of evaporative losses was performed using software program TANKS 409d which was developed by the Agency for Environmental Protection of the United States - US EPA. Emissions were estimated for the following types of storage tanks: fixed conical roof tank, fixed dome roof tank, external floating roof tank, internal floating roof tank and domed external floating roof tank. Obtained results show quantities of evaporated losses per tone of stored liquid. Crude oil fixed roof storage tank losses are cca 0.5 kg per tone of crude oil. For floating roof, crude oil losses are 0.001 kg/t. Fuel oil (diesel fuel and heating oil have the smallest evaporation losses, which are in order of magnitude 10-3 kg/tone. Liquids with higher Reid Vapour Pressure have very high evaporative losses for tanks with fixed roof, up to 2.07 kg/tone. In case of external floating roof tank, losses are 0.32 kg/tone. The smallest losses are for internal floating roof tank and domed external floating roof tank: 0.072 and 0.044, respectively. Finally, it can be concluded that the liquid with low volatility of low BTEX amount can be stored in tanks with fixed roof. In this case, the prevailing economic aspect, because the total amount of evaporative loss does not significantly affect the environment. On the other hand, storage of volatile derivatives with high levels of BTEX is not justified from the economic point of view or from the standpoint of the environment protection.

  16. The Application of Neural Networks in Balancing Production of Crude Sunflower Oil and Meal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bojan Ivetic

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the research is to predict specific output characteristics of half finished goods (crude sunflower oil and meal on the basis of specific input variables (quality and composition of sunflower seeds, with the help of artificial neural networks. This is an attempt to predict the amount much more precisely than is the case with technological calculations commonly used in the oil industry. All input variables are representing the data received by the laboratory, and the output variables except category % of oil which is obtained by measuring the physical quantity of produced crude sunflower oil and sunflower consumed quantity of the processing quality. The correct prediction of the output variables contributes to better sales planning, production of sunflower oil, and better use of storage. Also, the correct prediction of technological results of the quality of crude oil and meal provides timely response and also preventing getting rancid and poor-quality oil, timely categorizing meal, which leads to proper planning and sales to the rational utilization of storage space, allows timely response technologists and prevents the growth of microorganisms in the meal.

  17. Importance of the slick thickness for effective in-situ burning of crude oil

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Gelderen, Laurens; Brogaard, Nicholas L.; Sørensen, Martin X.

    2015-01-01

    height. The experiments were performed in a new experimental apparatus, the Crude Oil Flammability Apparatus (COFA), which has been developed to study ISB of oil on water in a controlled laboratory environment with large water-to-oil ratios. The regression rate, average mass loss rate and burning...... efficiency reached a constant maximum value for all oils at slick thicknesses exceeding 10–20 mm. For thinner initial slick thicknesses, these values were greatly reduced, most likely due to heat losses to the water. A further increase in the initial slick thickness could not improve the burning efficiency......In order to improve the potential of in-situ burning (ISB), the importance of the oil slick thickness on two pure oils (n-octane and dodecane) and two fresh crude oils (Grane and REBCO) was studied in relation to the regression rate, boilover tendency, mass loss rate, burning efficiency and flame...

  18. Plasma corticosterone and thyroxine concentrations during chronic ingestion of crude oil in mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rattner, B.A.; Eastin, W.C.

    1981-01-01

    1. Blood samples were collected from mallard ducks after 6, 12, and 18 weeks of dietary exposure to mash containing 0.015%, 0.150%, and 1.500% crude oil.2. Plasma corticosterone concentrations in ducks fed mash containing 0.150% or 1.500% Alaskan Prudhoe Bay crude oil were uniformly depressed when compared to values in untreated control birds.3. Plasma thyroxine concentration was not altered in ducks chronically exposed to crude oil.4. The observed alteration in corticosterone concentration could reduce tolerance to temperature and dietary fluctuations in the environment.

  19. Chemically emulsified crude oil as substrate for bacterial oxidation : differences in species response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruheim, P.; Eimhjellen, K.

    1998-01-01

    The ability of bacterial species to oxidize alkanes in crude oil in water emulsions was studied. Alkanes in crude oil need specific physiological adaptations to the microorganisms. Synthesis of biosurfactants has been considered as a prerequisite for either specific adhesion mechanisms to large oil drops or emulsification of oil followed by uptake of submicron oil droplets. In this study four bacterial species were tested. Emulsions were prepared by nonionic sorbitan ester and polyoxyethylene ether surfactants. The oxidation rates were measured. Both positive and negative effects of surfactant amendments were observed. The same surfactant affected different bacteria in different ways. The response to the surfactant amendment depended on the physiological state of the bacteria. The results showed that surfactants resulted in decreased cell adhesion to the oil phase for all the bacteria. 19 refs., 3 tabs., 4 figs

  20. Determination of cadmium, zinc, copper chromium and arsenic in crude oils

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stigter, J.B.; Haan, H.P.M. de; Guicherit, R.

    1998-01-01

    One of the sources of trace heavy metal elements in air are emissions by the oil industry, either directly through stack emissions from refineries or indirectly from emissions of combustion of hydrocarbons. Emission estimates are based mainly on the trace metal content of the crude oil processed.

  1. Environmental considerations in a high desert, crude oil pipeline spill

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lowe, M.A.; Mancini, E.R.; Chamberlain, D.W.; Albright, G.R.

    1993-01-01

    A road grader punctured a high-pressure crude oil pipeline in the California high desert resulting in the release of approximately 4,200 barrels of Alaska North Slope crude oil. Oil sprayed over a steeply sloped hillside and flowed into an adjacent, densely vegetated ephemeral stream channel which carried secondary treatment sewage discharge. Three underflow dams were constructed in the channel within 2.8 km of the site. To ensure containment at the first dam, the sewage discharge was diverted from the channel, eventually to an upland impulse sprinkler irrigation system. Channel water and phase-separated ANS crude oil, impounded behind the first dam, percolated through alluvial sands/gravels to a depth of about five meters. The oil percolated through the soils on the receding surface of the water, affecting soils to an equivalent depth and saturating a horizontally narrow band of stream-bank soils as much as two to four meters into the bank. Stream channel undergrowth and a small number of mature trees were cleared to provide access for cleanup and/or to remove oiled plants. A large number of trees experienced partial leaf-drop within 25 days of the spill while two heavily oiled trees died. New vegetative growth was evident within five weeks of the spill. Site restoration included planting cuttings of five riparian tree species and hydroseeding exposed banks. Total petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations ranged from not detectable to 203,000 parts per million and averaged approximately 25,000 ppm in affected soils as sampled in place and in stockpiles. Approximately 30,000 tons of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil was excavated from the length of the stream channel (3,600 tons) as well as the area behind the first dam and spill site (26,400 tons). All soils were staged on site for waste profiling and final disposition. After treatment, the contaminated soil was beneficially reused as daily cover at a southern California landfill at a turnkey cost of approximately $57/ton

  2. In-situ burning of crude oil and emulsions in broken ice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guenette, C.C.; Wighus, R.

    1996-01-01

    Large scale burns were conducted in a fjord in Norway, with fresh and emulsified crude oil to determine the feasibility of in-situ burning operations in an ice zone. The objective was to study the flame spreading characteristics of burning oil and emulsions in broken ice. The effect of wind on the flame spreading from one slick area to another was studied. The thermal environment produced by a crude oil fire on the sea surface and the response of a steel construction to the heat exposure from the fire was determined. The studies showed that high burning efficiencies (95 to 99%) could be obtained when burning fresh oil and emulsions contained in broken ice. Flame spreading was observed mostly in the downwind direction, and was dependent on the wind speed and direction. The temperatures and heat fluxes measured in the flames were higher than previously measured in pool fires. 9 refs., 7 figs

  3. The impacts of the export ban on Alaskan crude oil trade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farah, P.G.; Bausell, C.W.; Vogelsang, A.

    1990-01-01

    The authors investigated the petroleum markets impacts of lifting the ban on Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude oil exports. This paper reports on some aspects of this investigation. The economic analysis relied heavily on the modeling of the ANS crude trade conducted on behalf of GAO by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) using the Transportation and Refining of International Petroleum model (TRIP). In contrast to previous studies, this one suggests that transportation costs may not be the only major factor in the realignment of ANS crude trade in response to lifting the ban. The differences in the yields of ANS crude and various crudes used by refiners in Pacific Rim countries on the one hand, and the product demand slates of the US West Coast and the potential buyers of ANS crude in Pacific Rim may also figure prominently in determining the reallocation of ANS crude if exports are permitted

  4. U.S. crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves 1997 annual report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wood, John H.; Grape, Steven G.; Green, Rhonda S.

    1998-12-01

    This report presents estimates of proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids as of December 31, 1997, as well as production volumes for the US and selected States and State subdivisions for the year 1997. Estimates are presented for the following four categories of natural gas: total gas (wet after lease separation), nonassociated gas and associated-dissolved gas (which are the two major types of wet natural gas), and total dry gas (wet gas adjusted for the removal of liquids at natural gas processing plants). In addition, reserve estimates for two types of natural gas liquids, lease condensate and natural gas plant liquids, are presented. Also included is information on indicated additional crude oil reserves and crude oil, natural gas, and lease condensate reserves in nonproducing reservoirs. A discussion of notable oil and gas exploration and development activities during 1997 is provided. 21 figs., 16 tabs.

  5. A new approach for crude oil price analysis based on empirical mode decomposition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Xun; Wang, Shou-Yang; Lai, K.K.

    2008-01-01

    The importance of understanding the underlying characteristics of international crude oil price movements attracts much attention from academic researchers and business practitioners. Due to the intrinsic complexity of the oil market, however, most of them fail to produce consistently good results. Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD), recently proposed by Huang et al., appears to be a novel data analysis method for nonlinear and non-stationary time series. By decomposing a time series into a small number of independent and concretely implicational intrinsic modes based on scale separation, EMD explains the generation of time series data from a novel perspective. Ensemble EMD (EEMD) is a substantial improvement of EMD which can better separate the scales naturally by adding white noise series to the original time series and then treating the ensemble averages as the true intrinsic modes. In this paper, we extend EEMD to crude oil price analysis. First, three crude oil price series with different time ranges and frequencies are decomposed into several independent intrinsic modes, from high to low frequency. Second, the intrinsic modes are composed into a fluctuating process, a slowly varying part and a trend based on fine-to-coarse reconstruction. The economic meanings of the three components are identified as short term fluctuations caused by normal supply-demand disequilibrium or some other market activities, the effect of a shock of a significant event, and a long term trend. Finally, the EEMD is shown to be a vital technique for crude oil price analysis. (author)

  6. Prediction of compatibility of crude oils with condensate (C5+); Previsao de compatibilidade de petroleos e condensado (C5+)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zilio, Evaldo Lopez; Santos, Maria de Fatima Pereira dos [PETROBRAS S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Ramos, Antonio Carlos da Silva; Rolemberg, Marlus Pinheiro [Universidade Federal do Maranhao (UFMA), Sao Luis, MA (Brazil)

    2008-07-01

    Due to the recent raise of the national natural gas demand and to the need of flowing the condensates (C5+) produced from the NGPP (Natural Gas Processing Plant) by adding them to the streams of the crude oil, there was the need to carry out the compatibility prediction of one condensate with two onshore crude oils from Espirito Santo. The model to predict the compatibility among crude oils and among crude oils and oil products is based on the use of the solubility parameter of the oils. To apply it, the solubility parameter of each crude oil or oil product is measured and the parameter of their blend is calculated. If this value is beneath the asphaltenes flocculation parameter, the blend is incompatible; if it is above, the blend is compatible. In this article, the compatibility predictions were done according to the Solubility Parameter Model to two blends: the condensate C with the crude oil X and with the crude oil Y. The model predictions are that both blends are incompatible at given proportions. To check the predictions, the same two blends were experimentally carried out. It must be emphasized that the compatibility tests were done at atmospheric pressure and at the temperature of 15 deg C. These tests consist in adding the condensate to the crude oil with a titrater and visualizing the asphaltenes precipitation at an optical microscope. The experimental results were equivalent to the values predicted by the model. It is worth mentioning that there were several practical difficulties, as the high volatility of the condensate and the fact that the temperatures to determine the parameters and to carry out the tests were very lower than the operation temperature. Therefore, a security factor was applied on the predictions (less 20%). (author)

  7. Analysis of crude oil markets with improved multiscale weighted permutation entropy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niu, Hongli; Wang, Jun; Liu, Cheng

    2018-03-01

    Entropy measures are recently extensively used to study the complexity property in nonlinear systems. Weighted permutation entropy (WPE) can overcome the ignorance of the amplitude information of time series compared with PE and shows a distinctive ability to extract complexity information from data having abrupt changes in magnitude. Improved (or sometimes called composite) multi-scale (MS) method possesses the advantage of reducing errors and improving the accuracy when applied to evaluate multiscale entropy values of not enough long time series. In this paper, we combine the merits of WPE and improved MS to propose the improved multiscale weighted permutation entropy (IMWPE) method for complexity investigation of a time series. Then it is validated effective through artificial data: white noise and 1 / f noise, and real market data of Brent and Daqing crude oil. Meanwhile, the complexity properties of crude oil markets are explored respectively of return series, volatility series with multiple exponents and EEMD-produced intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) which represent different frequency components of return series. Moreover, the instantaneous amplitude and frequency of Brent and Daqing crude oil are analyzed by the Hilbert transform utilized to each IMF.

  8. Forecasting ability of the investor sentiment endurance index: The case of oil service stock returns and crude oil prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Ling T.; Casey, K.M.

    2015-01-01

    Using a binomial probability distribution model this paper creates an endurance index of oil service investor sentiment. The index reflects the probability of the high or low stock price being the close price for the PHLX Oil Service Sector Index. Results of this study reveal the substantial forecasting ability of the sentiment endurance index. Monthly and quarterly rolling forecasts of returns of oil service stocks have an overall accuracy as high as 52% to 57%. In addition, the index shows decent forecasting ability on changes in crude oil prices, especially, WTI prices. The accuracy of 6-quarter rolling forecasts is 55%. The sentiment endurance index, along with the procedure of true forecasting and accuracy ratio, applied in this study provides investors and analysts of oil service sector stocks and crude oil prices as well as energy policy-makers with effective analytical tools

  9. Method for estimating boiling temperatures of crude oils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jones, R.K.

    1996-01-01

    Evaporation is often the dominant mechanism for mass loss during the first few days following an oil spill. The initial boiling point of the oil and the rate at which the boiling point changes as the oil evaporates are needed to initialize some computer models used in spill response. The lack of available boiling point data often limits the usefulness of these models in actual emergency situations. A new computational method was developed to estimate the temperature at which a crude oil boils as a function of the fraction evaporated using only standard distillation data, which are commonly available. This method employs established thermodynamic rules and approximations, and was designed to be used with automated spill-response models. Comparisons with measurements show a strong correlation between results obtained with this method and measured values

  10. Isolation and identification of an ester from a crude oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, H.F.; Breger, I.A.

    1958-01-01

    A dioctylphthalate has been isolated from a crude oil by means of adsorption column chromatography. The ester was identified by means of elemental analysis, refractive index, and its infra-red absorption spectrum. Saponification of the isolate and examination of the resultant alcohol by means of infrared absorption spectra led to the conclusion that the ester is a branched chain dioctylphthalate. This is the first reported occurrence of an ester in crude petroleum. ?? 1958.

  11. Gamma radiation effects on crude oil yield of some soybean seeds ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Abstract. Purpose: To investigate the crude oil yield of eight different varieties of soybean (Glycine max L.) seeds ... the health advantages of soybeans in both in vivo and in vitro experiments [2]. Therefore, plant breeding has gained importance especially soybean plants. ..... Ionizing radiation might affect the quality of oils.

  12. Combustion of crude oil sludge containing naturally occurring radioactive material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamad Puad Abu; Muhd Noor Muhd Yunus; Shamsuddin, A.H.; Sopian, K.

    2000-01-01

    The characteristics of crude oil sludge fi-om the crude oil terminal are very unique because it contains both heavy metals and also Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). As a result, the Department of Environmental (DOE) and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) considered it as Scheduled Wastes and Low Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) respectively. As a Scheduled Wastes, there is no problem in dealing with the disposal of it since there already exist a National Center in Bukit Nanas to deal with this type of waste. However, the Center could not manage this waste due to the presence of NORM by which the policy regarding the disposal of this kind of waste has not been well established. This situation is unclear to certain parties, especially with respect to the relevant authorities having final jurisdiction over the issue as well as the best practical method of disposal of this kind of waste. Existing methods of treatment viewed both from literature and current practice include that of land farming, storing in plastic drum, re-injection into abandoned oil well, recovery, etc., found some problems. Due to its organic nature, very low level in radioactivity and the existence of a Scheduled Waste incineration facility in Bukit Nanas, there is a potential to treat this sludge by using thermal treatment technology. However, prior to having this suggestion to be put into practice, there are issues that need to be addressed. This paper attempts to discuss the potentials and the related issues of combusting crude oil sludge based on existing experimental data as well as mathematical modeling

  13. Stochastic analysis of uncertain thermal characteristic of foundation soils surrounding the crude oil pipeline in permafrost regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Tao; Zhou, Guoqing; Wang, Jianzhou; Zhao, Xiaodong

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • The influence of stochastic properties and conditions on permafrost foundation was investigated. • A stochastic analysis for the uncertain thermal characteristic of crude oil pipe is presented. • The mean temperature and standard deviation of foundation soils are obtained and analyzed. • Average standard deviation and maximum standard deviation of foundation soils increase with time. - Abstract: For foundation soils surrounding the crude oil pipeline in permafrost regions, the soil properties and the upper boundary conditions are stochastic because of complex geological processes and changeable atmospheric environment. The conventional finite element analysis of thermal characteristics for crude oil pipeline is always deterministic, rather than taking stochastic parameters and conditions into account. This study investigated the stochastic influence of an underground crude oil pipeline on the thermal stability of the permafrost foundation on the basis of a stochastic analysis model and the stochastic finite element method. A stochastic finite element program is compiled by Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB) software, and the random temperature fields of foundation soils surrounding a crude oil pipeline in a permafrost region are obtained and analyzed by Neumann stochastic finite element method (NSFEM). The results provide a new way to predict the thermal effects of the crude oil pipeline in permafrost regions, and it shows that the standard deviations in temperature increase with time when considering the stochastic effect of soil properties and boundary conditions, which imply that the results of conventional deterministic analysis may be far from the true value, even if in different seasons. It can improve our understanding of the random temperature field of foundation soils surrounding the crude oil pipeline and provide a theoretical basis for actual engineering design in permafrost regions.

  14. North or East. Germany's crude oil and natural gas supply from Norway and Russia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spies, M.

    2004-01-01

    This work examines the crude oil and natural gas trade from Norway and Russia to Germany. There is a considerable need for energy import in Germany because only a small part of the national consumption can be met with domestic productions. This applies especially to crude oil and natural gas. Norway and Russia are among the leading crude oil and natural gas producers and exporters in the world. The geographical vicinity of these significant demand and supply potentials leads to extensive energy based relations between Germany and Norway respectively Russia. The focus of this work is on the perception of and attitudes towards Norway and Russia as crude oil and natural gas suppliers for the domestic markets in Germany. Reporting from two leading German newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Sueddeutsche Zeitung, are regarded to be a valid source for detecting these attitudes and perceptions. Relevant articles are analysed with content analysis and further multi- methodological approaches. For this reasons the work provides at the beginning full description of the Norwegian and Russian crude oil and natural gas sector as well as detailed information on the German energy markets and policy. It can be shown that differences in dealing with Norway and Russia in the articles exit. Accordingly, different perceptions and attitudes are detectable as well. This work shows where these differences can be found and examines their quality. It is argued that the reporting and the attitudes are not only based on economical facts but also on 'imagined space'. The need for impartial relations with both supplying countries is stressed. (orig.)

  15. Biodegradation of Alaska North Slope crude oil enhanced by commercial bioremediation agents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aldrett, S.; Bonner, J.S.; Mills, M.A.; McDonald, T.J.; Autenrieth, R.L.

    1996-01-01

    The biodegradation of crude oil was studied. Tests were conducted in which natural unpolluted seawater was collected and then contaminated with Alaska North Slope crude oil. The oil was weathered by heating it to 521 degrees F to remove the light-end hydrocarbons. A total of 13 different bioremediation agents were tested, each one separately. Three samples per treatment were destructively analysed for petroleum chemistry. The thirteen treatments were analyzed for oil and grease. It was found that microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons was enhanced by the addition of bioremediation agents, but it was not possible to identify the intermediate products responsible for the increase of resolved petroleum hydrocarbons through time. It was suggested that caution be used when interpreting results since the protocols used to test the products were prone to uncontrollable variations. 11 refs., 5 tabs., 6 figs

  16. Impact of Crude-Oil Spillage Pollution and Chemical Remediation ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Michael Horsfall

    significantly (p≤0.01) higher than the level of degradation, except in infiltration rate. Soil pH increased by 26% .... volumes of water were added into the containers on day six. As the days ... crude oil spillage reduced soil moisture availability or.

  17. (A. Chev.) Stevels) Exposed to Crude Oil Contaminated Soil

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Six accessions of cultivated Okra (Abelmoschuscaillei (A. Chev.) Stevels) and Abelmoschusesculentus (L.) Moench) were evaluated using growth parameters in crude oil contaminated soil. Seeds were collected from collected from Nigerian Institute of Horticulture (NIHORT), Ibadan and from home gardens in Benin City.

  18. Detecting method for crude oil price fluctuation mechanism under different periodic time series

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao, Xiangyun; Fang, Wei; An, Feng; Wang, Yue

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • We proposed the concept of autoregressive modes to indicate the fluctuation patterns. • We constructed transmission networks for studying the fluctuation mechanism. • There are different fluctuation mechanism under different periodic time series. • Only a few types of autoregressive modes control the fluctuations in crude oil price. • There are cluster effects during the fluctuation mechanism of autoregressive modes. - Abstract: Current existing literatures can characterize the long-term fluctuation of crude oil price time series, however, it is difficult to detect the fluctuation mechanism specifically under short term. Because each fluctuation pattern for one short period contained in a long-term crude oil price time series have dynamic characteristics of diversity; in other words, there exhibit various fluctuation patterns in different short periods and transmit to each other, which reflects the reputedly complicate and chaotic oil market. Thus, we proposed an incorporated method to detect the fluctuation mechanism, which is the evolution of the different fluctuation patterns over time from the complex network perspective. We divided crude oil price time series into segments using sliding time windows, and defined autoregressive modes based on regression models to indicate the fluctuation patterns of each segment. Hence, the transmissions between different types of autoregressive modes over time form a transmission network that contains rich dynamic information. We then capture transmission characteristics of autoregressive modes under different periodic time series through the structure features of the transmission networks. The results indicate that there are various autoregressive modes with significantly different statistical characteristics under different periodic time series. However, only a few types of autoregressive modes and transmission patterns play a major role in the fluctuation mechanism of the crude oil price, and these

  19. Corrosion of mild steel, copper and brass in crude oil / seawater mixture

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    PrabhaDevi, S.; Sawant, S.S.; Wagh, A.B.

    Mild steel, copper and brass coupons were introduced in natural seawater containing varying amount of crude oil. Mild steel showed higher rate of corrosion in seawater containing oil and lower corrosion rate in natural as well as artificial seawater...

  20. World resources of crude oil and natural gas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Masters, C.D.; Root, D.H.; Attanasi, E.D. (Geological Survey, Reston, VA (United States))

    1991-01-01

    An abstract is given of a paper presented at the World Petroleum Congress 1991 on the world estimates of identified reserves and undiscovered resources for crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Data are presented for Canada, Mexico, USA, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, USSR, Africa, Middle East, Asia/Oceania and Antartica. (UK).

  1. Heavy crude and tar sands - the long-term oil reserve

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barnea, J

    1984-10-01

    It appears that heavy crude and tar sands occur in many sedimentary areas, and estimates of known world-wide quantities exceed those known for conventional light crude resources. Although there are not precise figures available, production could be as high as three million barrels per day, with Venezuela, the US, and Canada the largest producers. There are different scales to measure the costs of production because of differences in the quality of various types of heavy crude and tar sands. Economic development of these resources should banish fears of oil scarcity in the foreseeable future. A center for information exchange through international meetings and publications is under development.

  2. Investigation of wax precipitation in crude oil: Experimental and modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taraneh Jafari Behbahani

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available In this work, a series of experiments were carried to investigation of rheological behavior of crude oil using waxy crude oil sample in the absence/presence of flow improver such as ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer. The rheological data covered the temperature range of 5–30 °C. The results indicated that the performance of flow improver was dependent on its molecular weight. Addition of small quantities of flow improver, can improve viscosity and pour point of crude oil. Also, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN model using Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP topology has been developed to account wax appearance temperature and the amount of precipitated wax and the model was verified using experimental data given in this work and reported in the literature. In order to compare the performance of the proposed model based on Artificial Neural Network, the wax precipitation experimental data at different temperatures were predicted using solid solution model and multi-solid phase model. The results showed that the developed model based on Artificial Neural Network can predict more accurately the wax precipitation experimental data in comparison to the previous models such as solid solution and multi-solid phase model with AADs less than 0.5%. Furthermore, the number of parameters required for the Artificial Neural Network (ANN model is less than the studied thermodynamic models.

  3. Density and viscosity behavior of a North Sea crude oil, natural gas liquid, and their mixtures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, KAG; Cisneros, Sergio; Kvamme, B

    2005-01-01

    to accurately model the saturation pressures, densities, and viscosities of petroleum systems ranging from natural gases to heavy crude oils. The applicability of this overall modeling technique to reproduce measured bubble points, densities, and viscosities of a North Sea crude oil, a natural gas liquid...

  4. Estimating the impact of extreme events on crude oil price. An EMD-based event analysis method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Xun; Wang, Shouyang [Institute of Systems Science, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); School of Mathematical Sciences, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Yu, Lean [Institute of Systems Science, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Lai, Kin Keung [Department of Management Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon (China)

    2009-09-15

    The impact of extreme events on crude oil markets is of great importance in crude oil price analysis due to the fact that those events generally exert strong impact on crude oil markets. For better estimation of the impact of events on crude oil price volatility, this study attempts to use an EMD-based event analysis approach for this task. In the proposed method, the time series to be analyzed is first decomposed into several intrinsic modes with different time scales from fine-to-coarse and an average trend. The decomposed modes respectively capture the fluctuations caused by the extreme event or other factors during the analyzed period. It is found that the total impact of an extreme event is included in only one or several dominant modes, but the secondary modes provide valuable information on subsequent factors. For overlapping events with influences lasting for different periods, their impacts are separated and located in different modes. For illustration and verification purposes, two extreme events, the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003, are analyzed step by step. The empirical results reveal that the EMD-based event analysis method provides a feasible solution to estimating the impact of extreme events on crude oil prices variation. (author)

  5. Estimating the impact of extreme events on crude oil price. An EMD-based event analysis method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Xun; Wang, Shouyang; Yu, Lean; Lai, Kin Keung

    2009-01-01

    The impact of extreme events on crude oil markets is of great importance in crude oil price analysis due to the fact that those events generally exert strong impact on crude oil markets. For better estimation of the impact of events on crude oil price volatility, this study attempts to use an EMD-based event analysis approach for this task. In the proposed method, the time series to be analyzed is first decomposed into several intrinsic modes with different time scales from fine-to-coarse and an average trend. The decomposed modes respectively capture the fluctuations caused by the extreme event or other factors during the analyzed period. It is found that the total impact of an extreme event is included in only one or several dominant modes, but the secondary modes provide valuable information on subsequent factors. For overlapping events with influences lasting for different periods, their impacts are separated and located in different modes. For illustration and verification purposes, two extreme events, the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003, are analyzed step by step. The empirical results reveal that the EMD-based event analysis method provides a feasible solution to estimating the impact of extreme events on crude oil prices variation. (author)

  6. US crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves: 1990 annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-09-01

    The primary focus of this report is to provide an accurate estimate of US proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. These estimates were considered essential to the development, implementation, and evaluation of natural energy policy and legislation. In the past, the government and the public relied upon industry estimates of proved reserves. These estimates were prepared jointly by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Gas Association (AGA) and published in their annual report, Reserves of Crude Oil, Natural Gas Liquids, and Natural Gas in the United States and Canada. However, API and AGA ceased publication of reserves estimates after their 1979 report. By the mid-1970's, various federal agencies had separately established programs to collect data on, verify, or independently estimate domestic proved reserves of crude oil or natural gas. Each program was narrowly defined to meet the particular needs of the sponsoring agency. In response to recognized need for unified, comprehensive proved reserves estimates, Congress in 1977 required the Department of Energy to prepare such estimates. To meet this requirement, the EIA's reserves program was undertaken to establish a unified, verifiable, comprehensive, and continuing statistical series for proved reserves of crude oil and natural gas. The program was expanded to include proved reserves of natural gas liquids in the 1979 report. 36 refs., 11 figs., 16 tabs

  7. A study of the effects of enhanced oil recovery agents on the quality of Strategic Petroleum Reserves crude oil. [Physical and chemical interactions of Enhanced Oil Recovery reagents with hydrocarbons present in petroleum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kabadi, V.N.

    1992-10-01

    The project was initiated on September 1, 1990. The objective of the project was to carry out a literature search to estimate the types and extents of long time interactions of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) agents, such as surfactants, caustics and polymers, with crude oil. This information is necessary to make recommendations about mixing EOR crude oil with crude oils from primary and secondary recovery processes in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Data were sought on both adverse and beneficial effects of EOR agents that would impact handling, transportation and refining of crude oil. An extensive literature search has been completed, and the following informations has been compiled: (1) a listing of existing EOR test and field projects; (2) a listing of currently used EOR agents; and (3) evidence of short and long term physical and chemical interactions of these EOR-agents with hydrocarbons, and their effects on the quality of crude oil at long times. This information is presented in this report. Finally some conclusions are derived and recommendations are made. Although the conclusions are based mostly on extrapolations because of lack of specific data, it is recommended that the enhancement of the rates of biodegradation of oil catalyzed by the EOR agents needs to be further studied. There is no evidence of substantial long term effects on crude oil because of other interactions. Some recommendations are also made regarding the types of studies that would be necessary to determine the effect of certain EOR agents on the rates of biodegradation of crude oil.

  8. Study on the hydrodeoxygenative upgrading of crude bio-oil produced from woody biomass by fast pyrolysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Tae-Seung; Oh, Shinyoung; Kim, Jae-Young; Choi, In-Gyu; Choi, Joon Weon

    2014-01-01

    Crude bio-oil produced from fast pyrolysis of yellow poplar wood was subjected to HDO (hydrodeoxygenation) for the purpose of reducing water content as well as increasing heating value. HDO was performed in an autoclave reactor at three different reaction factors: temperature (250–370 °C), reaction time (40–120 min), and Pd/C catalyst loading (0–6 wt%) under hydrogen atmosphere. After completion of HDO, gas, char, and two immiscible liquid products (light oil and heavy oil) were obtained. Liquid products were less acidic and contained less water than crude bio-oil. Water content of heavy oil was ranged between 0.4 wt% and 1.9 wt%. Heating values of heavy oil were estimated between 28.7 and 37.4 MJ/kg, which was about twice higher than that of crude bio-oil. Elemental analysis revealed that heavy oil had a lower O/C ratio (0.17–0.36) than crude bio-oil (0.71). H/C ratio of heavy oil decreased from 1.50 to 1.32 with an increase of temperature from 250 °C to 350 °C, respectively. - Highlights: • Bio-oil was subjected to hydrodeoxygenation with Pd/C catalyst in supercritical ethanol. • Gas, char and two immiscible liquids (light/heavy oil) were obtained as final products. • Ethanol addition reduced the char formation during hydrodeoxygenation. • The heavy oil was characteristic to less acidic and less water content than bio-oil. • Higher heating value of the heavy oil was measured to 28.7–37.4 MJ/kg

  9. U.S. crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves 1995 annual report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-11-01

    The EIA annual reserves report series is the only source of comprehensive domestic proved reserves estimates. This publication is used by the Congress, Federal and State agencies, industry, and other interested parties to obtain accurate estimates of the Nation`s proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. These data are essential to the development, implementation, and evaluation of energy policy and legislation. This report presents estimates of proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids as of December 31, 1995, as well as production volumes for the US and selected States and State subdivisions for the year 1995. Estimates are presented for the following four categories of natural gas: total gas (wet after lease separation), nonassociated gas and associated-dissolved gas (which are the two major types of wet natural gas), and total dry gas (wet gas adjusted for the removal of liquids at natural gas processing plants). In addition, reserve estimates for two types of natural gas liquids, lease condensate and natural gas plant liquids, are presented. Also included is information on indicated additional crude oil reserves and crude oil, natural gas, and lease condensate reserves in nonproducing reservoirs. A discussion of notable oil and gas exploration and development activities during 1995 is provided. 21 figs., 16 tabs.

  10. Not on behalf of the crude oil; No en nombre del petroleo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maugeri, Leonardo [Empresa Energetica, ENI (Italy)

    2003-07-15

    There are two major myths linked to the current concept of the crude oil: the lack of crude oil and the security related to energy. The government authorities should realize that it is necessary to expect some oil price volatility. They should also focus on boosting better supply habits and on having more realistic public expectations and healthier policies for Middle East. [Spanish] En el pensamiento actual sobre el petroleo se destacan dos mitos: la escasez del petroleo y la seguridad en materia de energeticos. Los gobernantes deben darse cuenta de que hay que esperar cierta volatilidad en los precios del petroleo y concentrarse en promover mejores habitos de consumo, expectativas publicas mas realistas y politicas mas sanas para Medio Oriente.

  11. Spectral signatures of fluorescence and light absorption to identify crude oils found in the marine environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baszanowska, E.; Otremba, Z.

    2014-08-01

    To protect the natural marine ecosystem, it is necessary to continuously enhance knowledge of environmental contamination, including oil pollution. Therefore, to properly track the qualitative and quantitative changes in the natural components of seawater, a description of the essential spectral features describing petroleum products is necessary. This study characterises two optically-different types of crude oils (Petrobaltic and Romashkino) - substances belonging to multi-fluorophoric systems. To obtain the spectral features of crude oils, the excitation-emission spectroscopy technique was applied. The fluorescence and light absorption properties for various concentrations of oils at a stabilised temperature are described. Both excitation-emission spectra (EEMs) and absorption spectra of crude oils are discussed. Based on the EEM spectra, both excitation end emission peaks for the wavelengthindependent fluorescence maximum (Exmax/ Emmax) - characteristic points for each type of oil - were identified and compared with the literature data concerning typical marine chemical structures.

  12. Enzymatic lipophilization of epicatechin with free fatty acids and its effect on antioxidative capacity in crude camellia seed oil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Sa-Sa; Luo, Shui-Zhong; Zheng, Zhi; Zhao, Yan-Yan; Pang, Min; Jiang, Shao-Tong

    2017-02-01

    Crude camellia seed oil is rich in free fatty acids, which must be removed to produce an oil of acceptable quality. In the present study, we reduced the free fatty acid content of crude camellia seed oil by lipophilization of epicatechin with these free fatty acids in the presence of Candida antarctica lipase B (Novozym 435), and this may enhance the oxidative stability of the oil at the same time. The acid value of crude camellia seed oil reduced from 3.7 to 2.5 mgKOH g -1 after lipophilization. Gas chomatography-mass spectrometry analysis revealed that epicatechin oleate and epicatechin palmitate were synthesized in the lipophilized oil. The peroxide, p-anisidine, and total oxidation values during heating of the lipophilized oil were much lower than that of the crude oil and commercially available camellia seed oil, suggesting that lipophilized epicatechin derivatives could help enhance the oxidative stability of edible oil. The enzymatic process to lipophilize epicatechin with the free fatty acids in crude camellia seed oil described in the present study could decrease the acid value to meet the quality standards for commercial camellia seed oil and, at the same time, obtain a new edible camellia seed oil product with good oxidative stability. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

  13. Enhanced crude oil biodegradative potential of natural phytoplankton-associated hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Haydn; Angelova, Angelina; Bowler, Bernard; Jones, Martin; Gutierrez, Tony

    2017-07-01

    Phytoplankton have been shown to harbour a diversity of hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (HCB), yet it is not understood how these phytoplankton-associated HCB would respond in the event of an oil spill at sea. Here, we assess the diversity and dynamics of the bacterial community associated with a natural population of marine phytoplankton under oil spill-simulated conditions, and compare it to that of the free-living (non phytoplankton-associated) bacterial community. While the crude oil severely impacted the phytoplankton population and was likely conducive to marine oil snow formation, analysis of the MiSeq-derived 16S rRNA data revealed dramatic and differential shifts in the oil-amended communities that included blooms of recognized HCB (e.g., Thalassospira, Cycloclasticus), including putative novel phyla, as well as other groups with previously unqualified oil-degrading potential (Olleya, Winogradskyella, and members of the inconspicuous BD7-3 phylum). Notably, the oil biodegradation potential of the phytoplankton-associated community exceeded that of the free-living community, and it showed a preference to degrade substituted and non-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Our study provides evidence of compartmentalization of hydrocarbon-degrading capacity in the marine water column, wherein HCB associated with phytoplankton are better tuned to degrading crude oil hydrocarbons than that by the community of planktonic free-living bacteria. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Characterisation of crude oil components, asphaltene aggregation and emulsion stability by means of near infrared spectroscopy and multivariate analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aske, Narve

    2002-06-01

    Effective separation of water-in-crude oil emulsions is a central challenge for the oil industry on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, especially with the future increase in subsea and even down-hole processing of well fluids. The mechanisms and properties governing emulsion stability are far from fully understood but the indigenous surface active crude oil components are believed to play a major role. In this work a thorough physico-chemical characterisation of a set of crude oils originating from a variety of production fields has been performed. Crude oil properties responsible for emulsion stability were identified by use of multivariate analysis techniques like partial least squares regression (PLS) and principal component analysis (PCA). Interfacial elasticity along with both asphaltene content and asphaltene aggregation state were found to be main contributors to emulsion stability. Information on a crude oils ability to form elastic crude oil-water interfaces was found to be especially crucial when discussing emulsion stability. However, measured values of interfacial elasticity were highly dependent on asphaltene aggregation state. Several experimental techniques was utilised and partly developed for the crude oil characterisation. A high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) scheme was developed for SARA-fractionation of crude oils and an oscillating pendant drop tensiometer was used for characterisation of interfacial rheological properties. For emulsion stability a cell for determining the stability as a function of applied electric fields was used. In addition, near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) was used throughout the work both for chemical and physical characterisation of crude oils and model systems. High pressure NIR was used to study the aggregation of asphaltenes by pressure depletion. A new technique for detection of asphaltene aggregation onset pressures based on NIR combined with PCA was developed. It was also found that asphaltene aggregation is

  15. Measurement and Prediction of Time-independent and Time-dependent Rheological Behavior of Waxy Crude Oil

    OpenAIRE

    Yavar Karimi; Ali Reza Solaimany Nazar

    2017-01-01

    Wax deposition phenomenon changes the rheological behavior of waxy crude oil completely. In the current work, the rheological time-dependent and time-independent behaviors of waxy crude oil samples are studied and flow curve and compliance function are measured for the oil samples with various wax contents at different temperatures. A decrease in temperature and an increase in wax content lead to an increase in the viscosity and yield stress but a significant drop in compliance function. A mo...

  16. Midstream streamlining: crude-oil document exchange would be faster with fewer errors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roche, P.

    2001-11-01

    WellPoint Systems, a Calgary-based oil and gas software firm has designed an Internet-based crude-oil document exchange system, dubbed CDOX, that would see battery operators filling out production forecast forms on the systems they are using now, but instead of faxing the form to pipeline and terminal operators the operator could automatically transmit data over the Internet to the intended companies' computers. Unlike e-mail, the information would be put in place at the receiving end without human intervention. At the heart of the system is a digital hub that securely routes documents from one system to another. Each participating company only has to keep its own profile information up to date, instead of managing hundreds of customer e-mail addresses. The system would run on software provided by webMethods Inc., a Fairfax, Virginia-based B2B software provider. Documents will be in extensible markup language (XML) which is more flexible than HTML, allowing groups of users to create their own tags or extensions, for integrated information flows and automated business-to-business transactions. Advantages are lower cost due to automated loading; CDOX would eliminate the need for manual retyping of faxed data and the errors made during this process; pipeline operators could start analyzing the data immediately rather than waiting to have the data keyed into their systems. A one-year pilot project is now being organized by WellPoint Systems. The pilot project will include crude oil shippers and pipeline operators. WellPoint hopes that the monthly Form A battery operators' forecast will be moving on the system within three months. During the rest of the year pilot project seven other documents are planned to be added, including notice of shipment and shippers balance.

  17. Assessment of antioxidant indices after incorporating crude oil ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    They were divided into six groups of five rats each as follows: group 1: control, group 2: rats fed crude petroleum oil contaminated catfish diet (CPO-CCD) only, group 3: ... Administration of MWE, MEE and MDEE to the rats fed CPO-CCD significantly (p<0.05) increased the level of blood GSH, blood GSSG, SOD, CAT and ...

  18. Testing market efficiency of crude palm oil futures to European participants

    OpenAIRE

    Liu, Xing

    2009-01-01

    Palm oil is the most consumed and traded vegetable oils in the EU and the world. Increasing non-food uses for vegetable oils in especially feedstock of biofuels in recent years have caused the price volatility to rise in both EU and global market. The most efficient pricing of crude palm oil (CPO) is to found on Bursa Malaysia (BMD), and it provides by far the world’s most liquid palm oil contract. The goal of this study is to investigate CPO futures market efficiency of BMD for the European ...

  19. Influence of the addition and storage time of crude extract of tea leaves (camellia sinensis l.) toward value of free fatty acid in crude palm oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erwin; Wahifiyah, E.; Hairani, R.; Panggabean, A. S.

    2018-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the crude extract of tea leaves (Camellia sinensis L.) and storage time on the content of free fatty acid in palm oil. The dried tea leaves were macerated and concentrated by rotary evaporator. The extract obtained was added to crude palm oil with various added mass of the extract and various storage times. Phytochemical tests indicated the presence of secondary metabolites including alkaloids, triterpenoids, steroids, phenolics and flavonoids. The ANOVA test showed a decrease in free fatty acid content in crude palm oil with the addition of tea leaves extract. The LSD (Least Significant Difference) test showed the best influence on ALB of palm oil is on the total extract mass of 2 grams and the storage time of 20 days.

  20. Measurement and Prediction of Time-independent and Time-dependent Rheological Behavior of Waxy Crude Oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yavar Karimi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Wax deposition phenomenon changes the rheological behavior of waxy crude oil completely. In the current work, the rheological time-dependent and time-independent behaviors of waxy crude oil samples are studied and flow curve and compliance function are measured for the oil samples with various wax contents at different temperatures. A decrease in temperature and an increase in wax content lead to an increase in the viscosity and yield stress but a significant drop in compliance function. A modified Burger model is developed to predict the behavior of the compliance function and a modified Casson model is used to predict the flow curve of the waxy crude oil samples within a vast range of wax contents and temperatures. The proposed Burger and Casson models match with experimental results with R2 of 99.7% and 97.33% respectively.

  1. The spatiotemporal dynamic analysis of the implied market information and characteristics of the correlation coefficient matrix of the international crude oil price returns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tian, Lixin; Ding, Zhenqi; Zhen, Zaili; Wang, Minggang

    2016-01-01

    The international crude oil market plays a crucial role in economies, and the studies of the correlation, risk and synchronization of the international crude oil market have important implications for the security and stability of the country, avoidance of business risk and people's daily lives. We investigate the information and characteristics of the international crude oil market (1999-2015) based on the random matrix theory (RMT). Firstly, we identify richer information in the largest eigenvalues deviating from RMT predictions for the international crude oil market; the international crude oil market can be roughly divided into ten different periods by the methods of eigenvectors and characteristic combination, and the implied market information of the correlation coefficient matrix is advanced. Secondly, we study the characteristics of the international crude oil market by the methods of system risk entropy, dynamic synchronous ratio, dynamic non-synchronous ratio and dynamic clustering algorithm. The results show that the international crude oil market is full of risk. The synchronization of the international crude oil market is very strong, and WTI and Brent occupy a very important position in the international crude oil market. (orig.)

  2. The spatiotemporal dynamic analysis of the implied market information and characteristics of the correlation coefficient matrix of the international crude oil price returns

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tian, Lixin [Jiangsu University, Energy Development and Environmental Protection Strategy Research Center, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu (China); Nanjing Normal University, School of Mathematical Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu (China); Ding, Zhenqi; Zhen, Zaili [Jiangsu University, Energy Development and Environmental Protection Strategy Research Center, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu (China); Wang, Minggang [Nanjing Normal University, School of Mathematical Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu (China)

    2016-08-15

    The international crude oil market plays a crucial role in economies, and the studies of the correlation, risk and synchronization of the international crude oil market have important implications for the security and stability of the country, avoidance of business risk and people's daily lives. We investigate the information and characteristics of the international crude oil market (1999-2015) based on the random matrix theory (RMT). Firstly, we identify richer information in the largest eigenvalues deviating from RMT predictions for the international crude oil market; the international crude oil market can be roughly divided into ten different periods by the methods of eigenvectors and characteristic combination, and the implied market information of the correlation coefficient matrix is advanced. Secondly, we study the characteristics of the international crude oil market by the methods of system risk entropy, dynamic synchronous ratio, dynamic non-synchronous ratio and dynamic clustering algorithm. The results show that the international crude oil market is full of risk. The synchronization of the international crude oil market is very strong, and WTI and Brent occupy a very important position in the international crude oil market. (orig.)

  3. Large Scale Behavior and Droplet Size Distributions in Crude Oil Jets and Plumes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katz, Joseph; Murphy, David; Morra, David

    2013-11-01

    The 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout introduced several million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Injected initially as a turbulent jet containing crude oil and gas, the spill caused formation of a subsurface plume stretching for tens of miles. The behavior of such buoyant multiphase plumes depends on several factors, such as the oil droplet and bubble size distributions, current speed, and ambient stratification. While large droplets quickly rise to the surface, fine ones together with entrained seawater form intrusion layers. Many elements of the physics of droplet formation by an immiscible turbulent jet and their resulting size distribution have not been elucidated, but are known to be significantly influenced by the addition of dispersants, which vary the Weber Number by orders of magnitude. We present experimental high speed visualizations of turbulent jets of sweet petroleum crude oil (MC 252) premixed with Corexit 9500A dispersant at various dispersant to oil ratios. Observations were conducted in a 0.9 m × 0.9 m × 2.5 m towing tank, where large-scale behavior of the jet, both stationary and towed at various speeds to simulate cross-flow, have been recorded at high speed. Preliminary data on oil droplet size and spatial distributions were also measured using a videoscope and pulsed light sheet. Sponsored by Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI).

  4. Isolation and characterization of novel hydrocarbon-degrading euryhaline consortia from crude oil and mangrove sediments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piedad Díaz, M; Grigson, S J; Peppiatt, C J; Burgess, J G

    2000-11-01

    Two novel and versatile bacterial consortia were developed for the biodegradation of hydrocarbons. They were isolated from crude oil from the Cormorant Field in the North Sea (MPD-7) and from sediment associated with mangrove roots (MPD-M). The bacterial consortia were able to degrade both aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons in crude oils very effectively in seawater (35 g/L NaCl) and synthetic media containing 0 to 100 g/L NaCl (1.7 M). Salinities over twice that of normal seawater decreased the biodegradation rates. However, even at the highest salinity biodegradation was significant. Ratios of nC17 to pristane and nC18 to phytane were significantly lowered across the range of salinity. The lowest values were at 0 and 20 g/L (0.34 M). Phytane was degraded in preference to pristane. The degradation of these compounds was constant over the salinity range, with evidence of a slight increase for consortium MPD-M with increasing salinity. In general, the consortium isolated from mangrove root sediments was more efficient in metabolizing North Sea crude oil than the consortium isolated from Cormorant crude oil. The 5 strains that comprise MPD-M have been tentatively identified as species of the genera Marinobacter, Bacillus, and Erwinia. This is the first report of hydrocarbon-degrading consortia isolated from crude oil and mangrove sediments that are capable of treating oily wastes over such a wide range of salinity.

  5. Forecasting Long-Term Crude Oil Prices Using a Bayesian Model with Informative Priors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chul-Yong Lee

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In the long-term, crude oil prices may impact the economic stability and sustainability of many countries, especially those depending on oil imports. This study thus suggests an alternative model for accurately forecasting oil prices while reflecting structural changes in the oil market by using a Bayesian approach. The prior information is derived from the recent and expected structure of the oil market, using a subjective approach, and then updated with available market data. The model includes as independent variables factors affecting oil prices, such as world oil demand and supply, the financial situation, upstream costs, and geopolitical events. To test the model’s forecasting performance, it is compared with other models, including a linear ordinary least squares model and a neural network model. The proposed model outperforms on the forecasting performance test even though the neural network model shows the best results on a goodness-of-fit test. The results show that the crude oil price is estimated to increase to $169.3/Bbl by 2040.

  6. Research on the trend of Yen exchange rate and international crude oil price fluctuation affected by Japan’s earthquake

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoguang Li

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Whether this earthquake would become a turning point of the high oil price and whether it would have big impact on yen exchange rate are two issues to be discussed in this paper.Design/methodology/approach: To analyze deeply the internal relations between changes in yen exchange rate caused by Japan’s earthquake and price fluctuation of international crude oil, this research chooses middle rate of yen exchange rate during the 45 days around Japan’s earthquake and price data of international crude oil to do an empirical study, uses VAR model and HP trend decomposition to estimate the mutual effect of yen exchange rate change and price fluctuation of international crude oil in this period.Findings: It has been found in the empirical study with VAR model and HP filter decomposition model on the yen exchange rate and the international crude oil price fluctuation during 45 days around Japan’s earthquake that: the fluctuation of yen exchange rate around the earthquake is one of the main reasons for the drastic fluctuation of international crude oil price in that period. The fluctuation of international crude oil price directly triggered by yen exchange rate occupies 13.54% of its total variance. There is a long-term interactive relationship between yen exchange rate and international crude oil price. The upward trend of international crude oil price after the earthquake was obvious, while yen exchange rate remained relatively stable after the earthquake.Originality/value: As economic globalization goes deeper, the influence of natural disasters on international financial market and world economy will become more and more obvious. It has a great revelatory meaning to studying further each kind of natural disaster’s impacts on international financial market and world economics.

  7. Carbon-13 isotopic composition of distillation fractions of some Egyptian crude oils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aly, A.I.M.; Hamza, M.S.; Abd Elsamie, S.G.

    1991-01-01

    13 C/ 13 C ratios were determined for some crude oil fields in the Gulf of Suez and Western Desert provinces. The crude oil was subjected to distillation at atmospheric pressure and subsequently under vacuum. Distillation fractions were collected at 25 degree C intervals. Carbon-13 content of these distillation fractions showed some differences in the degree of isotopic fractionation. The results were interpreted in view of the age of the source rocks and the degree of maturation process. The carbon-13 content of distillation fractions may be helpful in revealing petroleum mechanisms which can be exploited in exploration.4 fig

  8. Pass-through of crude oil prices at different stages in Turkey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatih Akçelik

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the degree of oil price pass-through to domestic prices at different stages of supply chain in Turkey. Our results, based on vector autoregressive models, point out that the pass-through to domestic motor fuel prices is considerably fast as expected and just one third of a change in crude oil prices is reflected to the motor fuel prices due to the high share of taxes on retail prices. On the other hand, it is shown that impact of oil prices on transport services takes a longer time compared to other domestic prices. Over the 2004–2014 period, estimates suggest that a 10% permanent change in the international crude oil prices is associated with a 0.42 percentage points change in consumer inflation at the end of one year. The final accumulated pass-through to consumer inflation reaches 0.50 percentage points. Moreover, the pass-through to producer prices is nearly twice as much as that to consumer prices. Findings also provide some evidence for a strengthening in oil price pass-through to consumer inflation over time, which might reflect the growing natural gas intensity of the economy.

  9. The phytoremediation of crude oil-polluted aquatic environment by ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A phytoremediation experiment was carried out in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Management, University of Ibadan, Nigeria to examine the ability of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) to detoxify crude oil-polluted aquatic environments. There were fifteen (15) experimental units; twelve (12) had water hyacinth ...

  10. Socio–economic and environmental impact of crude oil exploration ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Socio–economic and environmental impact of crude oil exploration and production on agricultural production: a case study of Edjeba and Kokori communities in Delta State of ... The results also showed an increase in the occurrence of health hazard, air/noise pollution and heightened deforestation in these communities.

  11. Comparing ignitability for in situ burning of oil spills for an asphaltenic, a waxy and a light crude oil as a function of weathering conditions under arctic conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fritt-Rasmussen, Janne; Brandvik, Per Johan; Villumsen, Arne

    2012-01-01

    (asphalthenic), Kobbe (light oil) and Norne (waxy), for ignitability as a function of ice conditions and weathering degree. The crude oils (9 L) were weathered in a laboratory basin (4.8 m3) under simulated arctic conditions (0, 50 and 90% ice cover). The laboratory burning tests show that the ignitability...... is dependent on oil composition, ice conditions and weathering degree. In open water, oil spills rapidly become “not ignitable” due to the weathering e.g. high water content and low content of residual volatile components. The slower weathering of oil spills in ice (50 and 90% ice cover) results in longer time......-windows for the oil to be ignitable. The composition of the oils is important for the window of opportunity. The asphalthenic Grane crude oil had a limited timewindow for in situ burning (9 h or less), while the light Kobbe crude oil and the waxy Norne crude oil had the longest time-windows for in situ burning (from...

  12. Corrosion testing on crude oil tankers and other product carriers by means of acoustic emission (AE)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lackner, Gerald [TUV Austria, Deutschstrasse 10, 1230 Wien (Austria); Tscheliesnig, Peter [TUV Austria, Deutschstrasse 10, 1230 Wien (Austria)

    2004-07-01

    In the last decades a lot of maritime disasters with crude oil tankers occurred (e.g. Exxon- Valdez, Erika, Prestige). Every accident led to extreme pollution with horrible consequences not only for the environment but also for the life of the inhabitants of the affected coasts. Although most of these accidents were caused by human errors, the material degradation of the ship hull due to corrosion played an important role. Acoustic emission (AE) is already used to detect and discriminate the stage of corrosion of structures located on land. A consortium consisting of experienced partners from the fields of ship building and classification as well as from AE testing and equipment manufacturing started to investigate the feasibility of this testing technique for its application on oil tankers. The aim of the research project funded by the European Commission is to develop an on-line corrosion monitoring technique based on a permanent installation of AE sensors as well as a spot testing technique during stops in harbors or at anchorages using mobile equipment. Since the project was started, a lot of lab tests as well as background measurements were done on different types of tankers up to a size of 35.000 dead weight tons (DWT). The gathered data were evaluated with a frequency domain based pattern recognition system and it was possible to distinguish the AE signals related to corrosion from those signals, which were emitted by the structure due to the harsh environment on sea (background noise). Together with the oncoming developments of the AE equipment and the improvement of the data base, this project will lead to an important breakthrough for the safe shipping of hazardous products like crude oil. (authors)

  13. Alkyl PAH in crude oil cause chronic toxicity to early life stages of fish

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hodson, P.V.; Khan, C.W.; Saravanabhavan, G.; Clarke, L.; Brown, R.S. [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada). School of Environmental Studies; Hollebone, B.; Wang, Z. [Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). ; Short, J. [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Juneau, AK (United States). Auke Bay Lab; Lee, K.; King, T. [Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, NS (Canada). Centre for Offshore Oil and Gas Environmental Research

    2007-07-01

    In order to mitigate the risk to fisheries following an offshore oil spill, it is necessary to know the components of crude oil that are toxic. Chronic exposure of early life stages of fish to crude oil causes Blue Sac Disease, a syndrome characterized by induction of the cytochrome P450 (CYP1A) enzyme. In this study, effects-driven fractionation of Alaska North Slope Crude was used to identify the classes of compounds that cause CYP1A induction in juvenile rainbow trout and chronic toxicity to developing stages of Japanese medaka. Four fractions of compounds were created by low temperature vacuum distillation. This separated the constituents of oil according to their volatility within defined temperature ranges. The fractions were separated according to their boiling points. With a temperature range of 287-481 degrees C, fraction F3 was the only fraction as toxic as whole oil and induced CYPP1A enzymes of fish. Fractions containing specific classes of alkyl PAH were also collected. For all separations, the performance of the method was evaluated by the extent to which PAH were separated from aliphatics, resins and waxes, as well as by the quantitative recovery of mass in fractions and subfractions. The induction of CYP1A enzymes showed that PAH was present in all fractions that were highly toxic, but the toxicity tests indicated that not all fractions containing PAH were toxic. This research provided a scientific basis for comparing the risks of different crude oils based on chemical analyses that show the different proportions or amounts of PAH present. The results indicate which compounds of concern should be used to determine the extent and success of oil spill remediation, and provide a biological interpretation of chemical fingerprinting used to discriminate the sources of oil pollution. 15 refs., 1 tab.

  14. Residency of rhenium and osmium in a heavy crude oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    DiMarzio, Jenna M.; Georgiev, Svetoslav V.; Stein, Holly J.; Hannah, Judith L.

    2018-01-01

    Rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) isotope geochemistry is an emerging tool for the study of oil formation and migration processes, and a new technology for petroleum exploration. Little is known, however, about the residency of Re and Os within asphaltene and maltene sub-fractions of crude oil. This information is crucial for understanding the 187Re-187Os radiometric clock held in petroleum systems and for interpreting geochronology for key processes such as oil formation, migration, and biodegradation. In this study, a heavy crude oil was separated into soluble (maltene, MALT) and insoluble (asphaltene, ASPH) fractions using n-heptane as the asphaltene-precipitating agent. The asphaltenes were separated sequentially into sub-fractions using two different solvent pairs (heptane-dichloromethane and acetone-toluene), and the bulk maltenes were separated into saturate, aromatic, and resin (SAR) fractions using open column chromatography. Each asphaltene and maltene sub-fraction was analyzed for Re and Os. The asphaltene sub-fractions and the bulk ASPH, MALT, and crude oil were analyzed for a suite of trace metals by ICP-MS. Our results show that Re and Os concentrations co-vary between the asphaltene sub-fractions, and that both elements are found mostly in the more polar and aromatic sub-fractions. Significant Re and Os are also present in the aromatic and resin fractions of the maltenes. However, each asphaltene and maltene sub-fraction has a distinct isotopic composition, and sub-fractions are not isochronous. This suggests that asphaltene sub-fractionation separates Re-Os complexes to the point where the isotopic integrity of the geochronometer is compromised. The mobility of individual Re and Os isotopes and the decoupling possibilities between radiogenic 187Os produced from 187Re remain elusive, but their recognition in this study is a critical first step. Re and Os correlate strongly with Mo and Cd in the asphaltene sub-fractions, suggesting that these metals occupy

  15. Evaporation of Arabian light crude oil spilled on sea and on beach sands : influence of solar radiation and wind velocity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergueiro, J.R.; Marti, A.; Fuertes, A.; Moreno, S.; Guijarro, S.

    1998-01-01

    The evaporation of crude oil resulting from a spill on sea water was studied to develop a simulation model. Evaporation takes place within a complex process of mass and energy transfer. The effects of physical and chemical variables (such as wind velocity and direct and diffused solar radiation) and the environmental conditions of the spillage were also considered. Arabian crude oil was used in the simulation model for crude oil spillage on sea water. An equation for the evaporation process was used to correlate the evaporated fraction of oil as a function of time. The area of spreading was determined as a function of the dominant stage at each moment of spreading. The evaporation of spilled crude oil on beach sand consisting of three different particle sizes was also studied and used for a simulation model for crude oil spillage on a polluted beach. 7 refs., 6 tabs., 10 figs

  16. Does Climate Change Mitigation Activity Affect Crude Oil Prices? Evidence from Dynamic Panel Model

    OpenAIRE

    Dike, Jude C.

    2014-01-01

    This paper empirically investigates how climate change mitigation affects crude oil prices while using carbon intensity as the indicator for climate change mitigation. The relationship between crude oil prices and carbon intensity is estimated using an Arellano and Bond GMM dynamic panel model. This study undertakes a regional-level analysis because of the geographical similarities among the countries in a region. Regions considered for the study are Africa, Asia and Oceania, Central and Sout...

  17. The use of chromatographic indexes to study the biodegradation of crude oil in cold/icy seawater

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siron, R.; Pelletier, E.

    1993-01-01

    A group of five protected mesocosms (3.5 m 3 each) was used to study the biodegradation of dispersed crude oil in cold and icy seawater. A wide range of oil concentrations was tested over four experiments lasting two weeks to six months. Various oil treatments were studied with respect to the natural bacterial degradation: chemically dispersed and untreated crude oil; and oil adsorbed on, and released from, an immersed substrate. The study was concerned with oil accommodated in the water column, accumulated in surface (sheens and emulsions), and collected in sediment traps. The oil biodegradation was assessed by means of the following gas chromatographic indexes: C17/pristane; C18/phytane; n-alkanes/isoprenoids; pristane/phytane; naphthalene/phenanthrene; 2-methyl naphthalene/1-methyl naphthalene; and methylnaphthalenes/total substituted naphthalenes. A combined index of biodegradation defined from the most significant hydrocarbon ratios is proposed to evaluate the overall biodegradation of dissolved compounds and oil droplets, involving both aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Coupled with mesocosm facilities, this approach appears very convenient to determine the potential degradability of crude oils by natural indigenous microflora. 26 refs., 11 figs., 2 tabs

  18. Assessment and bioremediation of heavy metals from crude oil ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The assessment of the levels of heavy metals present in crude oil contaminated soil and the application of the earthworm - Hyperiodrilus africanus with interest on the bioremediation of metals from the contaminated soil was investigated within a 90-days period under laboratory conditions. Selected heavy metals such as ...

  19. Effect-directed analysis and mixture effects of AhR-active PAHs in crude oil and coastal sediments contaminated by the Hebei Spirit oil spill

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong, Seongjin; Lee, Sangwoo; Choi, Kyungho; Kim, Gi Beum; Ha, Sung Yong; Kwon, Bong-Oh; Ryu, Jongseong; Yim, Un Hyuk; Shim, Won Joon; Jung, Jinho; Giesy, John P.; Khim, Jong Seong

    2015-01-01

    The major AhR-active PAHs were identified in crude oil and oil-contaminated sediments by use of effect-directed analysis. As part of the study, an enhanced potency balance analysis was conducted by establishing the novel relative potency values of (alkyl)-PAHs from the H4IIE-luc bioassay. Silica gel column fractionation of crude oil resulted in greater AhR-mediated potencies in fractions of aromatics (F2) and resins (F3), and such trend was also observed for field collected sediment samples. AhR-mediated potencies of six F2 sub-fractions from HPLC indicated that the majority of F2 responses were attributable to 3–4 ring aromatics. Target PAHs including C4-phenanthrene, C1-chrysene, and C3-chrysene in sediments explained ∼18% of the bioassay-derived TCDD-EQs, however, the unknown AhR agonists and potential mixture effects remain in question. Overall, the AhR-potency and antagonistic potential of residual oil in sediment tended to decrease over time, thus monitoring of weathering process would be key for the post management of oil-contaminated sites. - Highlights: • AhR-active PAHs in crude oil and sediments were newly determined using EDA. • Novel relative potency values of (alkyl)-PAHs for AhR activity were established. • Three to four ring PAHs were identified to be major AhR agonists in crude oil. • Parent and alkyl-PAHs explained ∼18% of the total AhR-mediated potencies of crude oil. • AhR-mediated potencies apparently decreased by the timely weathering processes. - “Major AhR agonists were identified three to four ring PAHs in crude oil and sediments determined by use of effect-directed analysis.”

  20. Price dynamics of crude oil and the regional ethylene markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Masih, Mansur; Algahtani, Ibrahim; De Mello, Lurion

    2010-01-01

    This paper is the first attempt to investigate: (1) is the crude oil (WTI) price significantly related to the regional ethylene prices in the Naphtha intensive ethylene markets of the Far East, North West Europe, and the Mediterranean? (2) What drives the regional ethylene prices? The paper is motivated by the recent and growing debate on the lead-lag relationship between crude oil and ethylene prices. Our findings, based on the long-run structural modelling approach of Pesaran and Shin, and subject to the limitations of the study, tend to suggest: (1) crude oil (WTI) price is cointegrated with the regional ethylene prices (2) our within-sample error-correction model results tend to indicate that although the ethylene prices in North West Europe and the Mediterranean were weakly endogenous, the Far East ethylene price was weakly exogenous both in the short and long term. These results are consistent, during most of the period under review (2000.1-2006.4) with the surge in demand for ethylene throughout the Far East, particularly in China and South Korea. However, during the post-sample forecast period as evidenced in our variance decompositions analysis, the emergence of WTI as a leading player as well, is consistent with the recent surge in WTI price (fuelled mainly, among others, by the strong hedging activities in the WTI futures/options and refining tightness) reflecting the growing importance of input cost in determining the dynamic interactions of input and product prices. (author)