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Refiners invest in digital technologies

Oil refiners have continued to increase investments in digital technologies, according to a new report from Accenture.

Based on a survey of 145 oil industry professionals at refineries globally, the
Digital Re-Definery report indicates that over the past year the number of refiners reporting that digital technologies delivered a margin improvement of more than 10% in refining operations dropped from 11% to 3%. The number reporting that the technologies delivered margin improvements of 7–10% dropped from 19% to 11%; and the number reporting that digital delivered margin improvements of 2–6% dropped from 46% to 38%. 

When asked what technologies drove the greatest margin improvements in their operations over the last three to five years, advanced data analytics was cited in their top three selections by 62% of respondents, followed by platforms (46%) and Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and edge computing (43%).  

However, only 3% of refiners – compared with 6% in 2018 – reported seeing significant value from digital, defined as over $100mn , with the largest proportion (28%) estimating that digital is driving around $5mn or more in value for their refining business.

The report suggests that the challenges of achieving scale for digital initiatives across an asset base is stopping refiners from capturing the full value that digital can offer.

Nevertheless, digital spending continues to increase at roughly the same rate as previous years, with 56% of respondents reporting that they are investing more in digital technology than they were 12 months ago. When asked what areas in their operations digital technologies are having the most positive impact, 59% cited production planning and execution in their top three selections, followed by maintenance and reliability (50%) and engineering and capital projects (30%).

The report indicates that, as with most transformation programmes, people are the cornerstone of success. However, the number of refiners seeing resistance from their people and the culture in their organisation as a barrier to wider digital deployment rose sharply this year, to 48%, from 33% last year. According to the report, addressing the last mile of digital transformation by ensuring greater adoption across the organisation, while challenging, is now fundamental to the success of digital in refining operations. 

News Item details


Journal title: Petroleum Review

Subjects: Refining, Digitalisation

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