Petrochemicals are an essential part of modern life — from simple plastic products to advanced materials used in artificial body parts, medical devices, and high-performance technologies. With the petrochemicals industry growing rapidly, opportunities are vast, but so are the environmental risks.
For oil and gas producers and refiners, expanding into petrochemicals is increasingly important. It not only maximizes capital productivity by fully utilizing hydrocarbon by-products but also helps reduce exposure to crude oil price volatility. An integrated oil, refining, and petrochemical business can achieve greater resilience, profitability, and long-term sustainability.
This 5-day Energy Training Centre course is designed to provide participants with the technical knowledge and business acumen required to understand the petrochemical sector’s value, identify success factors, and navigate challenges. It will equip participants with the skills to help their companies survive in times of low prices and thrive when markets improve.
By attending this training course, participants will be able to:
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Identify the basic petrochemical groups, understand hydrocarbon chain rearrangements, and measure conversion and yield in a refinery
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Understand the fundamentals of refining operations and the business of petrochemicals
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Evaluate project management considerations, including technology selection, capital investment, and operating costs
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Assess the technical and economic merits of integrating refining with petrochemical production
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Differentiate between business models and strategies used by Integrated Oil Companies (IOCs), National Oil Companies (NOCs), and non-oil companies
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Explore petrochemical innovations, challenges, and future trends
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Recognize and effectively address environmental issues arising from the rapid growth in plastics use
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
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Master the petrochemical value chain — from raw oil and gas to finished plastics and advanced materials that improve quality of life
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Deepen knowledge of oil and gas production, refining, petrochemical operations, demand forecasting, pricing, contracts, distribution, and sales
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Evaluate petrochemical markets, business strategies, and industry models
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Confidently use technical terms, concepts, and industry language in professional discussions
This highly interactive course encourages active participation through:
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Group discussions
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Practical exercises
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Case studies
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Quizzes
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Short videos highlighting petrochemical operations, environmental concerns, and safety practices
Real-world scenarios and workplace challenges will be explored to help participants apply new skills and knowledge directly to their organisations.
This training course is designed to train and improve the business knowledge of a wide range of professionals as follows:
- Business Development managers
- Corporate Planning professionals
- Geoscience & Engineering professionals
- Refinery professionals
- Supply Planners & Scheduling professionals
- Government regulators
- Law professionals
- Tax & Finance advisors
- Auditing personnel
- Compliance officers
- Equity analyst and Bankers
- Joint Venture officers
- Negotiators and Contracting professionals
- Trading professionals
Day One: Crude Oil Supply and Refining
- Introduction to Course
- Essence of International Oil Supply – Global Reserves, Production & Trade
- Introduction to global oil business - Exploration, Extraction, Refining, Marketing, Transportation
- Global Oil Resources – World Oil and Gas Reserves, Production of Oil and Gas
- Industry units – for the USA, Europe and Asia, Conversion factors
- Crude Oil Classifications
- Crude Oil Quality Indictors, crude oil characterization by Assays
- Crude Oil Distillation – Refined Products
- Oil Industry Units and Conversion factors
- Fundamentals of Oil Economics
- Delivered price of crude oil – the concept GPW (Gross Product Worth)
- Value of Crude Oil and the Determining Factors in Crude Selection
- Introduction to Crude Oil Refining - Distillation
- Refinery Configurations
- Topping
- Hydroskimming
- Cracking
- Coking
Day Two: Refinery Economics and Petrochemicals
- Refinery Development
- Refinery Economics
- Net Refining Margin calculation
- Introduction to Petrochemical
- What are Petrochemicals?
- Oil & Gas Value Chain leading to Petrochemicals
- Classification of Petrochemicals
- How Petrochemicals are derived from Well Head to Products
- Petrochemicals History and Its Key Role
- The Beginning of Petrochemical Industry
- Petrochemical Applications in Daily Life
- Petrochemical Applications in Health Care
- Basic Chemistry
- Basic Organic Chemistry
- Key Properties of Organic chemicals
- Classification of Chemicals into Groups
- The Building Blocks in Petrochemicals
- Reactions/Process Technologies Of Petrochemical Industry
Day Three: Petrochemical Feedstocks, Processes and Equipment
- Feedstock for Petrochemicals
- The different raw material for petrochemicals from C1 to C50
- Different feedstock sources for petrochemicals
- World oil refining and petrochemicals output composition
- Difference between fuels and chemicals
- “Alternate Value” of hydrocarbons: Gasoline Pool vs. Petrochemicals
- World gas oil industry basic functions
- Petrochemical Processes And Equipment
- The overview of hydrocarbons groups in crude oil
- The basic refining operations and processes
- The working knowledge of basic equipment used in petrochemical industry,
- Rearrangement of Hydrocarbons chains
- The measure of conversion and yield in refinery
- Refinery-Petrochemical Integration
- Identify the seven basic chemicals.
- Learn what is meant by the integration of refining and petrochemicals
- Explore what are the benefits and challenges of integrating refinery with petrochemicals.
Day Four: Petrochemical Value Chains and Markets
- Petrochemical Value Chains I
- Understand the concept of value chain
- Understand how series of upgrades are made from the raw material to the finished products
- Learn how these value chain are optimized
- Understand the chemical linkage from hydrocarbons to end uses
- Petrochemical Value Chains II
- Exploring olefins value chain - ethylene, propylene, and polyvinyl chloride.
- Understanding how their demand is driven.
- Olefins product applications and manufacturing technology
- Petrochemical Markets-Mod9
- The global chemical business.
- Looking at the chemical industry market segments.
- Learning basic market research.
- Learn what is forecasting.
- Explore the forecasting / planning techniques
Day Five: Strategies and Project Evaluation
- Petrochemical Strategies
- Define the petrochemical participation concept
- With examples of Strategies/Business Models of
- International Oil Companies
- National Oil Companies
- Non-Oil Companies
- International oil Companies Key Strategies
- National Oil Companies - Chemicals Business Structure and Key Strategies
- Major Non-Oil Companies competitive advantage
- Major Business Incentives - Five Categories
- Know about the best in Class summary
- Understand the key success factors
- Petrochemical Project Evaluation
- What are project management, and its core activities and considerations?
- Project Management Evaluation Steps
- What are the considerations in selecting proper technology, capital, and operating costs for the project?
- Capital Cost estimates accuracy
- The different ways of conducting financial evaluation, measures for its success and adding share-holder value
- Comparative measures of performance
- Investment Appraisal Methods
- Project Selection Criteria
- Conclusions
- Petrochemical Innovations, Challenges & Future Trends
- What are the drivers for innovations in Petrochemicals
- Innovations in Petrochemicals – Hi Tech
- Innovations to Meet Market Demand – MTO
- Emergence of Bio-feedstock’s
- How the unique properties of petrochemicals cater to the different industries
- What are the refining challenges, future trends, and risks involved in petrochemicals
