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Aliphatic solvents	primarily white spirit and hexane for industrial use.
API gravity	an arbitrary scale expressing the gravity or density of liquid oil products devised jointly by the American Petroleum Institute and the United States National Bureau of Standards. The measuring scale is calibrated in terms of degrees API gravity. Grude oil with the least specific gravity has the highest API gravity. The formula for determining API gravity is as follows: API gravity = (141.5/d) 131.5, where d is the specific gravity at 15.6° C
Atmospheric distillation	the distillation of crude oil under pressure, slightly higher than atmospheric. This is the basic process that takes place in oil refining.
Base oils	feedstock for lubricant production from the residual part of crude oil.
BOPP	bi axially oriented polypropylene production.
Bpd	barrels per day, normally calculated as an average figure over a longer period of time. In production terms, the number of barrels of crude oil produced from a well during a 24 hour period; in refining terms, the number of barrels of crude oil input or refined products ouput by a refinery.
Bunker fuel oil	a heavy residual fuel oil used by ships.
Catalyst	substance which speeds a desired chemical reaction and emerges almost unaltered by the process.
Catalytic reforming	the conversion of naphtha into higher octane intermediate products suitable for blending into finished gasoline or for petrochemical feedstocks via simultaneous catalytic combination of polymerisation, cracking, dehydrogeneration and isomerisation processes.
CCR (continuous catalyst regeneration)	continuous catalyst regeneration technology. This assures the continuous operation of the catalytic reforming process. It involves partially aged catalyst in the reactors being continuously replaced with freshly generated catalyst from an external regenerator to maintain a low average cost of the reactor catalyst.
CIF	CIF prices for crude oil, feedstocks and finished products include the cost of insurance and freight charges.
Combined cycle power generation	electrical power generation using the combination of gas turbogenerators and steam turbogenerators. The flue gas from the gas turbogenerator's exhaust is used to produce steam to drive the steam turbogenerators.
Complex refinery	a refinery, the configuration of which includes a cracking complex.
Configuration index	a scale providing a quantitative means of comparing the overall processing capabilities of individual refineries. Configuration (or complexity) indices are produced by various companies (e.g., Solomon Associates).
Cracking	the thermal or catalytic conversion of heavier and more complex hydrocarbons into lighter products and coke thus increasing the yield of lighter products from crude oil.
Crude slate sulphur content	the average percentage of sulphur contained in crude oil. Generally, the higher the crude slate content the lower the price of the crude oil.
Distillation	method of fractionation. Distillation is based on the difference in boiling point of the liquids in the mixture to be separated. Successive vaporisation and condensation of crude oil in a fractioning column will separate out the lighter fractions, leaving a residue.
EDC	ethyl dichloride. Used as a feedstock for VCM production.
FCC (fluid catalytic cracking)	catalytic conversion of heavier and more complex hydrocarbons into lighter products and coke in fluidised bed catalytic reactor with continuous catalyst regeneration. Thus the lighter products yield from crude oil is increased.
Feedstock	any material (raw or intermediate product) used as feed for a processing unit.
FOB	free on board. FOB prices for crude oil, feedstocks and finished products do not include the cost of insurance and freight charges.
Fractionation	the general description of the processes of separating a mixture into its constituents of fractions.
Hydrocarbons	organic compounds made up mainly of carbon and hydrogen (e.g. pentane, hexane and propane). Crude oil and natural gas are mixtures of hydrocarbons.
Hydrocracking	catalytic cracking of hydrocarbon feedstocks in the presence of hydrogen.
Hydrodesulphurisation	the process of converting any type of organic sulphur compound into hydrogen sulphide and hydrocarbons in order to reduce the sulphur content of petroleum products complying with the required fuel specifications (includes gas oil and kerosene desulphurisation).
Hydroskimming refinery	a refinery with a configuration which only includes distillation, reforming, some hydrotreating, and occasionally sulphur recovery processes.
Hydrotreating	the process whereby feedstocks are place into contact with hydrogen, under high pressure and at a high temperature, in the presence of a catalyst, to reduce the content of sulphur, nitrogen, metals, polyaromatics and olefins.
Isomerisation	the rearrangement of the molecular structure of hydrocarbons without adding or removing anything from the original material. Isomerisation is used in a refinery to manipulate physical quantities of a substance e.g., light naphtha isomerisation is a refinery process used to increase the octane number of naphtha.
Kerosene	a medium ight fraction in between gas oil and gasoline; used for lighting, heating and as fuel for jet and turbo Propulsion aircraft engines
Kerosene merox	catalytic processing of kerosene to convert mercaptan sulphur into less objectionable disulphides, which remain in the treated product.
Linear programming	sophisticated mathematical models used to simulate and optimise refining processes.
LNG (liquified natural gas)	simply occurring natural gas liquified at certain temperatures and pressures.
LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas)	LPG consists of propane and butane which may be wholly or partially liquefied under pressure in order to facilitate transport and storage. LPG can be used for cooking or heating or as an automobile fuel.
MTBE	methyl tertiary butyl ether is a high octane gasoline blending component usually associated with reformulated gasolines.
Naphtha	a range of distillates lighter that kerosene; used as feedstock for motor gasoline production and in the petrochemicals industry (e.g., ethylene and solvents manufacture).
Nominal crude distillation capacity	the number of barrels of crude oil processed in a crude oil distillation unit over a period of twenty four hours (or the number of metric tonnes per year or other flow rate unit).
PET	polyethylene terephthulate resin.
Platt's FOB MED	free on board Mediterranean prices as stipulated by Platt's.
Polymerisation	a catalytic reaction joining similar hydrocarbon molecules to form large molecular chain species.
Powerformer	the commercial name of the Esso proprietary naphtha catalytic reforming processor.
PVC	polyvinyl chloride.
Semi	regenerative catalytic reformer a unit in which the regeneration applied in the fixed bed catalytic reforming process involves periodic shut downs to burn off coke deposited on the catalyst and to recondition the catalyst.
Semi finished products	feedstocks which will be further processed and products used for blending to produce finished products.
Straight run	a description applied to a product of crude oil created solely by distillation without further treatment e.g., straight run atmospheric residue (SRAR).
Sulphur recovery	process used to recover sulphur contained in acid gas streams (e.g., hydrogen sulphide) generated in refining processes.
Topping refinery	a refinery consisting only of an atmospheric distillation unit.
Vacuum distillation	distillation under reduced pressure (less than atmospheric) which lowers the boilign points of the liquid mixture being distilled. This technique, involving a relatively lower temperature, prevents cracking or decomposition of the very heavy hydrocarbon stocks which normally boil at very high temperatures.
Vacuum gas oil (VGO)	the top product of the vacuum distillation unit.
Vacuum gas oil mild hydrocracker	a unit processing vacuum gas oil at moderate temperatures and pressures over a fixed catalyst bed in which the vacuum gas oil is partially cracked in a hydrogen atmosphere in order to produce lighter products (mainly naphtha, kerosene, distillates and oils). At the same time sulphur, nitrogen and oxygen are almost completely removed and olefins are saturated so that products are a mixture of essentially pure paraffins, naphthenes and aromatics.
VCM	vinyl chloride monomer. Feedstock used in the manufacture of PVC.
Visbreaker	a process unit whereby residue feedstock (e.g., vacuum gas oil and straight rum atmospheric residue) is heated until it reaches a temperature at which it thermally cracks with a consequent reduction in viscosity and pour point (producing gas, gasoline and gas oil).

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