Introduction
Today’s column addresses several economic factors which are key to the oil refinery business. It continues the examination of economic challenges/concerns that are related to the economic viability of mini-oil refineries. For this purpose therefore, it is useful to recall the earlier observation that, no two oil refineries are the same. Each oil refinery, like each person, is unique.
Nevertheless, despite their individual uniqueness, all oil refineries share certain common economic characteristics. This commonality occurs because every oil refinery is engaged in processing crude oil, which (as was previously indicated) goes through four main processes; namely, 1) separation of the different types of crude oil hydrocarbons;