Essentials of petroleum refinery corrosion control

Abstract

Legislative pressures emanating from the recent Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and “Carbon tax” have introduced complications to the management of refineries. This situation is exacerbated by the instability in oil prices which makes long term corporate forecasting and planning an arduous responsibility. Added to these explicit concerns are the costs associated with compliance of these environmental regulations which is causing US oil companies to look to other countries for their refining needs and/or open up subsidiaries abroad. In fact, many an African country has reported a surge in US oil activities. Recent indications are the erosion of profit margins of US oil business in contrast to foreign activities.