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industry

How Refiners Can Capture

the Benefits of the Energy Transition

and Digitalization

Conditions for the refining industry
become more challenging,
hence companies will have
to strive harder to achieve and to
maintain their full potential:
a “how to” guide

Francesco Cigala, José de Sa, Diego Garcia storage. Leaders will do more than simply comply
and Tiziano Rivolta, Partners, Global Energy & with environmental regulations—they will tap their
Natural Resources Bain & Company best talent and resources to guide their companies
and their customers to a low-carbon economy.

hen Bain & Company sur- The global shift to a low-
veyed the major issues facing
oil refiners two years ago, we carbon economy has significant
saw several key trends: vola- “implications for refiners, which
tility in the oil supply, a global must make long-term
W pool of crude that was get-
ting heavier and more acidic, volume and growth investments based on their
concentrating in Asia, and mounting environmental expectations of demand for
restrictions on fuel emissions. These factors clearly
benefited larger and more complex refineries, such their products
as those coming online in Asia and the Middle East.
Today, refiners continue to grapple with these Digital appears as both an opportunity and a threat,
challenges, as well as two other global trends: the with promises of optimized production, safer and
growing urgency of the energy transition and the more reliable work environments, transparent
adoption of digital technologies in all aspects of supply chains and more efficient back-office
business. functions. But so far, the track record for digital
The transition to a low-carbon economy poses initiatives in the energy sector is mixed. Only a small
challenges for all energy companies, but particularly percentage of executives say they are pleased
for refiners, which must not only reduce their own with the results of their digital initiatives, while far
carbon footprint but also serve as a catalyst to help more report settling for mediocre performance.
others reduce theirs. As refiners pursue low-carbon Many executives have tempered their enthusiasm,
solutions, they will adopt new processes and but refiners shouldn’t back away from the
capabilities, such as the direct hydrogenation of opportunities. Digital technologies—including
bio streams, and eventually waste streams, at the advanced analytics, Industry 4.0 systems, machine
refinery; the development of low-emission fuels; the learning and artificial intelligence (AI)—may be more
production of green hydrogen for use as fuel; the challenging to implement than anticipated. But their
use of residual heat for residential applications; and long-term potential is likely to reward organizations
the effective implementation of carbon capture and with the persistence to identify the most promising

Impiantistica Italiana - Luglio-Agosto 2019 49