Expert Witness, Training and Seminars
Expert Witness / Technical Services
Expert witness
- Business interruption and loss estimates involving continuous processing plants, including fuel usage, emissions, and environmental issues
- Expertise on major cases involving technical investigations, process design reviews, hydrocarbon product contamination, process plant incidents, plant safety and operability issues
- Gas processing, gas usage and petroleum refining issues, fuel quality, logistics, supply and distribution, product terminalling and blending, and "Open Access" arrangements
- Oil refining economics, refining and petrochemical production costs, crude oil and product trading operations, marketing and distribution, use of LP models and yield accounting systems in commercial and joint-venture agreements
Technical Services
- Techno-economic assistance and technical support services to law firms, insurance companies, regulatory bodies & government agencies on wide range of matters concerning the international oil & gas industry, refining / petrochemicals, minerals processing and energy industries
- Custom services and technical assistance for discovered document review and classification, including drawings, technical documents and report reviews
- Independent industry opinion and technical investigation service
Independent reviews and due diligence for
- Commercial agreements and international trade agreements
- Hydrocarbon and minerals processing facilities, product & feedstock valuation, & operating costs
- Price formulas, product quality differentials, freight cost differentials
- Contractual agreements concerning energy supplies, fuels and quality specifications
- Product quality and quantity disputes, load port requirements, shipping costs
Independent Industry Advice / Opinion
Advice and industry opinion available on:
- International fuel quality standards & product specifications
- Manufacturing processes and costs
- Alternative fuels and renewable energy generation
- Fuel composition, emissions controls & measurement
- Downstream oil developments and global trade
- International market analysis & refining economics
- Government regulations & environmental issues
Troubleshooting / Technical Investigations
Services include:
- Plant troubleshooting and technical service
- Business interruption, product quality and contamination investigations
- Process plant incident investigations, plant upsets & reliability
- Training requirement evaluations
- Reports on risk management procedures
- Health & safety regulations and requirements
Training and Seminars
Oil refining / petrochemicals - economics:
Courses and seminars present the key economic variables affecting overall refinery profitability. Topics include:
- petroleum products and petrochemicals industry analysis
- historical background and recent world & regional issues
- supply, demand, transportation issues, new investments
- oil price behaviour and differences with petrochemicals pricing cycles
- paper barrel markets, energy futures & managing risk with futures
- different types of refining companies, their organisations & viewpoints
- key variables affecting refinery margins & factors for improving profitability
- use of LP modelling techniques for crude oil selection & operations planning
Process technology
Courses and seminars offered on process technology, new process developments for refining & petrochemicals, alternative fuels, biomass, bio-refinery and renewable energy projects, carbon capture & sequestration, and gas-to-liquids (GTL) and coal-to-liquid (CTL) technologies.
Investment analysis
Courses and seminars developed to client requirements. Topics include:
- sources of financing & establishing economic viability of projects
- NPV, IRR and discounted cash flow calculations
- key factors affecting company "capital charge" estimates
- use of LP modelling techniques for investment analysis
Environmental issues, sustainability, renewable energy
Course and seminars cover current and forthcoming environmental regulations and their impact on world trade. Topics include:
- Hydrocarbon product specifications & their importance for emissions control
- Ultra-low sulphur products and the implications for the refining industry
- Environmental impacts of Biodiesel, alcohols and other biomass derived products
- Emerging Hydrogen Energy technologies, and fuel cell developments for transportation
- Sustainable energy initiatives, viability for global transport, future carbon shock implications
