Refineries, Petrochemicals and Environment & Safety Aspects.
Oil refining is the process of turning Crude oil into Gasoline and many other products which involves the work of various people including HSE Manager, Operations Technologist, Refinery Designs Engineer, Chemical Engineers, Petroleum engineer and other profiles

India is a huge source for these profiles owing to the numerous institutes of good repute producing technicians of the best caliber. Using the above mentioned manpower, Crude oil in the refineries is processed to obtain the following products of daily use :

• Petroleum gas - Petroleum gas is used for heating, cooking and making plastics.
• Naphtha -It is the intermediate that will be further processed to make gasoline.
• Gasoline - Used as fuel in most motor vehicles.
• Kerosene - Fuel for jet engines and tractors; starting material for making other products Gas oil or
• Diesel distillate - Used for diesel fuel and heating oil; starting material for making other products
• Lubricating oil - Used for motor oil, grease, other lubricants
• Heavy gas or Fuel oil - Used for industrial fuel; starting material for making other products
• Residuals (coke, asphalt, tar, waxes)- starting material for making other products.

Fractional Distillation
Petroleum Engineers and factory technicians are involved in separating crude oil into various components (called fractions), using the differences in boiling temperature. This process is called fractional distillation.

Chemical Processing
Chemical Engineers use newer techniques of Chemical processing on some of the fractions to make others, in a process called conversion. Chemical processing, for example, can break longer chains into shorter ones. This allows a refinery to turn diesel fuel into gasoline depending on the demand for gasoline.

Refineries must treat the fractions to remove impurities. Refineries combine the various fractions (processed, unprocessed) into mixtures to make desired products. For example, different mixtures of chains can create gasolines with different octane ratings

The products are stored and managed on-site by the Facilities Engineer Lead , Reservoir Engineer and other workmen until they can be delivered to various markets such as gas stations, airports and chemical plants. In addition to making the oil-based products, refineries must also treat the wastes involved in the processes to minimize air and water pollution taken care of by the Pollution control engineer, waste management professionals and health and safety engineers.

Indian colleges and institutions take these waste and environmental issues into consideration when structuring the technical courses and hence there are numerous Environmental Studies students and professionals in the country now who are looking for broader horizons to utilize their knowledge.

A birds eye view of upstream activities :

Refineries
The process of producing final petroleum products from crude oil is carried out in refineries.

Petrochemicals
Petrochemicals are a group of chemicals derived from the processing of petroleum gas. They are manufactured from the gaseous hydrocarbons produced during the cracking processes of manufacturing Gasoline.

Environment & safety aspects
The control of pollution and safeguard of lives and property from damage and losses comes under the purview of Environment and safety.