An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum is transformed and refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum naphtha. Petrochemical feedstock like ethylene and propylene can also be produced directly by cracking crude oil without the need of using refined products of crude oil such as naphtha. The crude oil feedstock has typically been processed by an oil production plant. There is usually an oil depot at or near an oil refinery for the storage of incoming crude oil feedstock as well as bulk liquid products. In 2020, the total capacity of global refineries for crude oil was about 101.2 million barrels per day.
In petrochemistry, petroleum geology and organic chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or long-chain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking of carbon–carbon bonds in the precursors. The rate of cracking and the end products are strongly dependent on the temperature and presence of catalysts. Cracking is the breakdown of large hydrocarbons into smaller, more useful alkanes and alkenes. Simply put, hydrocarbon cracking is the process of breaking long-chain hydrocarbons into short ones. This process requires high temperatures.
Shell USA, Inc. is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation "oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 Shell employees are based in the U.S. Its U.S. headquarters are in Houston, Texas. Shell USA, including its consolidated companies and its share in equity companies, is one of America's largest oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, fuel marketers and petrochemical manufacturers.
The PJSC LukoilOil Company is a Russian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Moscow, specializing in the business of extraction, production, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, petroleum products, and electricity. It was formed in 1991 when three state-run, western Siberian companies merged. The original companies were named after their respective towns in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug that each was based in; Langepasneftegaz, Urayneftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz. Its new name is the combination of the acronym LUK and the English word "oil".
HELLENiQ ENERGY Holdings S.A., formerly known as Hellenic Petroleum S.A., is one of the largest oil companies in Southeast Europe and with its roots dating to 1958 with the establishment of the first oil refinery in Aspropyrgos, Greece.
Kochi Refinery Limited (KRL) is a crude oil refinery in the city of Kochi in Kerala, India. It is the largest public sector refinery in India with a production capacity of 15.5 million tonnes per year. Formerly known as Cochin Refineries Limited and later renamed as Kochi Refineries Limited, it was acquired by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited in the year 2006. The refinery is situated at Ambalamugal, around 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the city centre.
Naftna Industrija Srbije is a Serbian multinational oil and gas company with headquarters in NIS building, Novi Sad, Serbia. NIS is one of the most profitable companies in Serbia and one of the largest domestic exporters. It employs around 11,000 people in Serbia and the region. As of May 2022, Gazprom Neft is the largest shareholder with 50% of NIS shares, followed by 29.87% owned by the Government of Serbia, 5% owned by Gazprom and rest by minority shareholders.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is an Indian public sector undertaking in petroleum and natural gas industry, headquartered in Mumbai, and a subsidiary of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which is owned by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India.
Tatneft is a Russian vertically integrated oil and gas company with headquarters in the city of Almetyevsk, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation. It is the fifth largest oil company in Russia and the eighth largest listed company in Russia by market capitalization. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Tatneft was ranked as the 539th-largest public company in the world.
The BPRefinery (Kent) was an oil refinery on the Isle of Grain in Kent. It was commissioned in 1953 and had a maximum processing capacity of 11 million tonnes of crude oil per year. It was decommissioned in August 1982.
Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries, produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products, and also operates gas stations under the apollostation brand and until 2023, in its own Idemitsu and Shell brands; the Shell brand being used under the license of Royal Dutch Shell.
BAZAN Group,, formerly Oil Refineries Ltd., is an oil refining and petrochemicals company located in Haifa Bay, Israel. It operates the largest oil refinery in the country. ORL has a total oil refining capacity of approximately 9.8 million tons of crude oil per year with a Nelson complexity index of 9. ORL provides a variety of products used in industrial operations, agriculture and transportation. ORL is Israel's largest integrated refining and petrochemical facility. The company also provides storage and transportation services for oil fuel products, as well as electricity and steam to industrial customers in the region.
Türkmennebit, also known by the translation of the name as Turkmenoil or Turkmenneft, is the national oil company of Turkmenistan. It was established by a presidential decree reorganising parts of the former Ministry of Oil and Gas in July 1996, and has its headquarters in Ashgabat. The chairman of the company is Guychgeldi Baygeldiyev. The main oil fields operated by Türkmennebit are Goturdepe, Barsa-gelmez, Nebitdag, Körpeje, Gamyşlyja, Çeleken and Kemer, mainly in Balkan Province near the Caspian Sea.
Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat is a Russian petrochemicals company headquartered in the city of Salavat in Bashkortostan. The company specializes in the processing of hydrocarbons into approximately 150 different petrochemicals, fertilizers and petroleum products, such as gasoline and fuel oil. As of 2024, the company controls three main plants in the city of Salavat, making it the largest petrochemical production complex in Russia. This includes an oil refinery and two additional plants that produce monomers and gas-based chemicals. In recent years, the complex has received criticism for its environmental record from Rosprirodnadzor, and also for its safety record. Until February 2011, the company was known as Salavatnefteorgsintez.
OQ, formerly known as Oman Oil Company, is an energy investment company headquartered in Muscat, Oman. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Government of Oman through the Oman Investment Authority.
SIE Neftehim is a Russian joint stock company based in Krasnodar, undertaking research and development in the petrochemical industry. Its origins lie in the research laboratory attached to Krasnodar Refinery, which first developed the use of aluminium-platinum catalysts in the Soviet Union. Established in its present form in 1996, the company continues to develop catalytic techniques, isomerization processes, and other petroleum refining technologies.
PTT Global Chemical, also known as PTTGC, is a petrochemical company that specializes in synthesizing olefins and aromatics. It was founded in 2011 and is a subsidiary of PTT Public Company Limited.
Bashneft – Ufimsky refinery plant is one of the most up-to-date oil refineries in Russia which can produce a wide range of petroleum products.
Bashneft – Novoil is one of the biggest producers of high-quality petroleum products in Russia.
IRPC Public Company Limited or simply IRPC is a Thai Public SET-listed Petroleum and Petrochemical company. It is a subsidiary of PTT Group, formerly Thai Petrochemical Industry Public Company Limited or "TPI", which was founded in 1978 by the Leophairatana family.
