Back to Basics

Working with Tight Oil

Tim Olsen
Emerson Process Management

Crude oil derived from shale plays is less expensive

and more readily available than traditional crudes,
but it poses unique challenges to refiners.

ight oil, sometimes referred to as light tight oil, is

a crude oil from shales or other low-permeability
geologic formations. Permeability is a measure of a
materials ability to allow fluid, such as oil or gas, to move
through it. Obtaining tight oil from shales requires hydraulic
fracturing, often using the same horizontal well technology
that is employed in the production of shale gas.
Tight oil is found throughout the world, as shown in
Figure 1 and Table 1 (1). However, the U.S., Canada, China,
and Argentina are currently the only four countries in the
world that are producing commercial volumes of either natural gas from shale formations (shale gas) or crude oil from
tight formations (tight oil). The U.S. is by far the leading
producer of both shale gas and tight oil; Canada is the only
other country to produce both shale gas and tight oil.
Most refineries process many different crudes. For
example, coastal refineries often process 50 or more different
crudes over the course of a year. Each crude requires slightly
different processing conditions in the major process units.
Typically, a refinery is designed to process crude oil of a
particular composition and produce products with specified
properties, with some flexibility based on the capabilities of
equipment such as pumps, heat exchangers, and the particular
catalysts within the reactors. Refiners try to match the crude
oil composition to their refinerys configuration, usually by
blending two or more crude oils, if a single crude oil with the
required composition is not available or economical.
American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity is a specific
gravity scale developed by the oil industry to classify crude
oils and other petroleum liquids based on their relative
densities. It is expressed in degrees (API), and is an inverse
measure of the relative density of a petroleum product and
the density of water. The lower the API gravity, the denser

Copyright 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

the oil. Light crude oil has an API gravity higher than
31API, medium crude between 22API and 31API, and
heavy crude an API gravity below 22API. Sweet crudes
contain less than 0.5% sulfur (sour crudes contain more than
that). Tight oils are typically light and sweet. U.S. crude oil
production is significantly lighter than in the past (Figure 2);
especially noticeable is the increase in tight oils with a typical API gravity of 4045API.
Refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast area have made major
investments to enable them to process heavier sour crude oils
from sources such as Venezuela and Canada. These changes
were made before the technological advancements that
triggered the recent shale boom. Because tight oil is light and
sweet, there is now a mismatch between tight oils properties
and the properties that these upgraded refineries require.

Challenges of tight oil

Tight oil is currently more readily available for refiners
in North America. However, tight oils present numerous
challenges, which is why these crudes typically cost less
than crude oils such as Brent (global crude oil benchmark)
or West Texas Intermediate (U.S. crude oil benchmark).
Tight oils typically pose unique challenges because they:
are difficult to transport due to a lack of pipeline
infrastructure
contain entrained hydrogen sulfide (H2S)
require the addition of amine-based H2S scavengers in
the pipeline, truck, or railcar prior to transport
are contaminated with paraffin waxes that cause fouling
in piping, tank walls, and crude preheat exchangers
contain large amounts of filterable solids
can have a wide range of API gravity
require crude blending to balance the atmospheric
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Back to Basics

Figure 1. Tight oil is found throughout the

world, as shown in this map of basins with
shale oil and shale gas formations. The red
areas represent basins with shale formations for
which the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated recoverable oil and natural
gas resources; the tan areas represent basins
that were reviewed, but for which the EIA did
not provide shale resource estimates, mainly
due to the lack of data necessary to conduct the
assessment. Source: (1).

Assessed basins with

resource estimate
Assessed basins without
resource estimate

Figure 2. U.S. crude oil production is trending

toward lighter crudes. Source: (2).

Table 1. These ten countries have more than

three-quarters of the worlds
recoverable shale oil reserves. Source: (1).

Russia

75

United States

58

China

32

Argentina

27

Libya

26

Australia

18

Venezuela

13

Mexico

13

Pakistan

10

Canada

Rank

Total Global Recoverable Shale Oil Reserves = 345 billion bbl

crude fractionator cut-point yields for best downstream

utilization
may be incompatible with other types of crudes used
for blending
require energy balancing across the crude preheat
exchangers
may experience cold flow property deficiencies that
require modifications to catalysts.
In addition, the U.S. has banned the export of crude oil,
including tight oil. This exacerbates the mismatch between
the abundant tight oil available to U.S. refineries and the
equipment designed to process medium to heavy crude oils.

Transportation difficulties
In 2014, 64% of U.S. tight oil production came from
two basins (Figure 3): the Eagle Ford in South Texas
(1.21 million bbl/day, or 36% of total U.S. tight oil production), and the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana
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www.aiche.org/cep April 2015 CEP

Oil Production, million bbl/day

Country

Shale Oil Proven

Reserves, billion bbl

Forecast

10
9

API 50+

API 4550

API 4045

API 4050 sweet

API 3540 sweet

API 3540 sour

API 2735 med-sour

API 2735 sour

California

API <27 sweet

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

API <27 sour

Year

(0.94 million bbl/day, or 28% of total U.S. tight oil production) (3). The U.S. produced 91% of all North American
tight oil, with the remaining 9% coming from Canada. Both
the Eagle Ford and Bakken basins have limited traditional
pipeline infrastructure to transport the tight oil to refineries
throughout the country. As a result, rail transport (for Bakken) and truck transport (for Eagle Ford) are the norm for
shipping tight oil to refineries.
The tight oil production boom happened quickly, and
the oil industry was not accustomed to transporting crude
oil by rail. A few derailments prompted a re-evaluation of
safety protocols, and jacketed railcars will be mandatory by
2017 (4). Many cars will need to be retrofitted with thermal
protection systems, thick steel plates at the ends of tanks,
and outer steel jackets. In addition, the cars bottom outlet
valve will need to be reconfigured to prevent it from breaking off and releasing oil in the event of a derailment.
Proper testing, classification, and handling are important
when shipping any material subject to U.S. Dept. of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) regulations, and crude oil is no exception. The API recently published ANSI/API Recommended
Copyright 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

Tight Oil Production, million bbl/day

Tight oil contaminants

Although tight oil is considered sweet (i.e., low sulfur
content in the crude oil itself), hydrogen sulfide gas comes
out of the ground with the crude oil. H2S is flammable and
poisonous, and therefore must be monitored at the drilling
site and during loading, transport, and offloading of the tight
oil. Amine-based H2S scavengers are added to the crude
oil prior to transport to refineries. However, mixing in the
railcar due to movement, along with a change in temperature
that raises the oils vapor pressure, can cause the release of
entrained H2S during offloading creating a safety hazard.
For example, crude from the Bakken shale play in North
Dakota that is loaded on railcars in winter and then transported to a warmer climate becomes hazardous due to the
higher vapor pressure.
Paraffin wax fouling. Paraffin waxes contaminate tight
oils and remain on the walls of railcars, crude oil tank walls,
and piping. They are also known to foul the preheat sections
of crude heat exchangers (before they are removed in the
crude desalter). Paraffin waxes that stick to piping and vessel
walls can trap amines against the walls, which can create
localized corrosion.
The severe fouling in heat exchangers upstream of the
desalter was initially a surprise to many refiners fouling is
typically worse in the hotter exchangers that are downstream
of the desalter. Refiners now monitor the crude preheat
exchangers more closely, and are working with both automation and chemical companies to counter this fouling and
corrosion potential.
4.0
Canada

3.5
3.0

Other U.S.

2.5
2.0

Bakken

1.5
1.0

Eagle Ford

0.5
0.0

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

20

10 011 012 013 014

20
2
2
2
2
Year

p Figure 3. In 2014, the Eagle Ford and Bakken shale basins accounted
for nearly two-thirds of all North American tight oil production. Source: (3).

Copyright 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

In a refinery processing tight crude oil, each heat

exchanger bundle upstream of the crude desalter should be
equipped with online temperature monitoring at the inlet
and outlet of both the tubeside and shellside to detect any
changes in the rate of heat transfer as they occur. Typically,
the flow is measured on both the hot and cold side of the
heat exchanger, but where the flow is split between parallel
exchangers, individual flow measurements should be added
to calculate the heat transferred in each heat exchanger; fouling in heat exchangers is not equally distributed.
Filterable solid fouling. Filterable solids also contribute
to fouling in the crude preheat exchangers. A tight crude can
contain over seven times more filterable solids than a traditional crude. Refiners have reported filterable solids in excess
of 200 lb per thousand barrels of tight oil. For a refinery that
processes 100,000 bbl/day, this translates to more than 10 ton
of solids per day entering the refinery with the crude.
To mitigate filter plugging, the filters at the entrance
of the refinery require automated monitoring because they
need to capture large volumes of solids. In addition, wetting
agents are added to the desalter to help capture excess solids
in the water, rather than allowing the undesired solids to
travel further downstream into the process.

Composition variability
Tight oil tends to have a higher API gravity than traditional crude oils, as well as much different properties.
For example, Eagle Ford tight oil can have twice as much
naphtha as Light Louisiana Sweet, a typical light U.S. crude
(Figure 4). Also, Eagle Ford tight oil has an average API
gravity in the range of 4045API, whereas Light Louisiana
Sweet has an API gravity around 35API. Figure 4 (5) compares the distillation cut-points of Eagle Ford and Bakken
tight oils with those of other crudes.
To best utilize existing downstream units, tight oils must
be blended with heavier crudes, because a more-consistent

Distillation Cuts, %

Practice 3000, Classifying and Loading of Crude Oil into

Rail Tank Cars (www.api.org/rail). These guidelines are
the product of extensive work and cooperation among the
oil and natural gas industry, the freight rail industry, and
PHMSA to ensure crude shipments are packaged appropriately and emergency responders have the necessary information to deal with any incidents that occur.

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
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p Figure 4. Distillation cut-points for light tight oils and other crude oils.
Source: (5, 6).

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Back to Basics

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www.aiche.org/cep April 2015 CEP

blending is more common with tight oils than other crudes.

Problems with catalysts. Refiners processing tight oils
initially saw deficiencies in product qualities (e.g., cold flow
properties such as cloud point, pour point, and cold filter
plugging point) because of the high paraffin content in these
feedstocks. Additional processing, such as catalytic dewaxing or product blending of other valuable streams, may be
required to meet fuel property specifications. In addition,
tight oil contains higher levels of calcium and iron, which
can poison catalysts. Catalyst manufacturers have responded
by changing the functionality of catalysts to compensate for
changes in feedstock properties and desired product qualities.

Export issues
It has been illegal to export raw crude oil from the U.S.
since the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of
1975 directed the president to ban crude oil exports except in
select circumstances. However, there is no ban on exporting
oil once it has been refined into gasoline or diesel fuel. In
fact, U.S. refineries are now shipping record amounts of
gasoline and diesel abroad. In 2011, the U.S. exported more
petroleum products, on an annual basis, than it imported for
the first time since 1949 (Figure 5), but American refiners
still imported large, although declining, amounts of crude
oil (8). The increase in foreign purchases of distillate fuel
contributed the most to the U.S. becoming a net exporter of
petroleum products.
Crude oil prices
New tight oil production might not be economically
viable when prices for traditional crude oil are as low as they
are now around $50/bbl for benchmark crude oils when
this article was written. It is estimated that crude oil pricing
needs to be above $50/bbl for new tight oil exploration and
production to be profitable.
In addition, the depletion rate of hydraulically fractured
(fracked) tight oil wells is high. For instance, production for
a fracked well in the Bakken field declines 45% per year,
Annual U.S. Petroleum Products
Net Exports, million bbl/day

feed to the crude unit facilitates optimized operation. If tight

oil feeds are not blended with heavier crudes, the lighter oil
can create a bottleneck in the crude overhead and naphtha
processing units, and limit production in bottom-of-the-barrel
processing units such as the delayed coker.
Crude incompatibility. Some refiners blend two or more
crudes to achieve the right balance of feedstock qualities.
This may cause problems if the crude oils being mixed are
incompatible.
When crudes are incompatible, increased asphaltene
precipitation accelerates fouling in the heat exchanger
train downstream of the crude desalter. Accelerated fouling
increases the amount of energy that must be supplied by the
crude fired heater, which limits throughput when the fired
heater reaches its maximum duty. It may also necessitate
an earlier shutdown for cleaning. This sequence of events
increases operating costs and negatively impacts the profitability of the refinery. Manual monitoring of heat exchanger
fouling often fails to detect crude blends that are incompatible, so the same incompatible crudes might be blended in
the future.
Asphaltenes do not dissolve in crude oil, but exist as
a colloidal suspension. They are soluble in aromatic compounds, such as xylene, but precipitate in the presence of
light paraffinic compounds, such as pentane. Mixing stable
crude blends with asphaltic and paraffinic oils creates the
potential for precipitating the unstable asphaltenes. The high
naphtha content of tight oils also creates favorable conditions for asphaltenes to more readily precipitate.
It should be noted that the ratio of crudes in a blend may
have an impact on crude incompatibilities. For example,
20% tight oil in an 8020 blend might not cause accelerated
fouling, whereas a 7030 blend may be unstable and cause
more rapid fouling.
Energy imbalances. Some refiners that tried to run with
a high percentage of light tight oil found that the preheat
exchangers did not have sufficient heat-transfer capability,
which created an energy imbalance across the preheat train
and fired heater. The heavy sidecut streams from the atmospheric crude unit fractionator provide a large amount of
heat to the preheat exchangers. When the flowrates of these
sidecut streams are low (due to the lack of heavy components in tight oil), there is an energy imbalance in the preheat
exchangers.
With very little gas oil and residuum (i.e., the heaviest
materials in a crude oil, also referred to as the bottom-of-thebarrel components) in tight oil, the amount of heat available
in the crude preheat exchangers upstream of the crude fired
heater is insufficient, which increases the crude fired heaters
fuel consumption. Some refiners experienced fired heater
limitations and reduced throughput, as well.
Energy imbalances are one of the main reasons crude

4
3
2

Exports

1
0
Net Exports
p

1
2

Imports

3
4

49

19

55

19

61

19

67

19

73

19

79
19
Year

85

19

91

19

97

19

03

20

09

20

p Figure 5. In 2011, the U.S. exported more petroleum products than it

imported for the first time since 1949. Source: (7).
Copyright 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

versus 5% per year for conventional wells. Producers need

to keep drilling in order to stay in production with a steady
flow of oil.

Closing thoughts
For now, tight oil production is a great economic advantage for U.S. energy independence. The boom has created
many domestic jobs and has increased self sufficiency,
which will provide security should a global crisis occur.
However, tight oil poses many challenges in transportation and refining. Refiners must learn to process this challenging crude supply and make the required modifications
to their processing configuration to best utilize the lighter
CEP
crude oil.
Tim Olsen has been with Emerson Process Management for 17 years
(Email: tim.olsen@emerson.com). He is a refining consultant within the
global refining industry solutions group, where he supports Emersons
technical and business strategy. Previously, he was with UOP for eight
years as a technical advisor on refinery startups around the world.
He is a past chair of the AIChE Fuels and Petrochemicals Div. and was
the Meeting Program Chair for the 2014 AIChE Spring Meeting in New
Orleans, LA. He is currently a member of AIChEs Chemical Engineering
Technology Operating Council (CTOC), a member of the American Fuel
and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) Plant Automation and Decision Support Committee, and on the Board of Directors of Emersons
Global Users Exchange. He has a BS in chemical engineering from Iowa
State Univ. with emphasis in industrial engineering and process control,
and an MBA from the Univ. of Iowa.

Literature Cited
1. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Technically Recoverable Shale Oil and Shale Gas Resources: An Assessment of 137
Shale Formations in 41 Countries Outside the United States,
pp. 511 (June 2013).
2. U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. Crude Oil
Production Forecast Analysis of Crude Types, Figure 1, p. 6
(May 29, 2014).
3. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Tight Oil
Production Pushes U.S. Crude Supply to Over 10% of World
Total, Today in Energy, www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.
cfm?id=15571# (Mar. 26, 2014).
4. Eaton, J., New Oil Train Safety Rules Divide RailIndustry,
National Geographic, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/
energy/2014/10/141031-rail-industry-safety-oil-standards
(Oct. 31, 2014).
5. Bryden, K. J., et al., Processing Shale Oils in FCC: Challenges
and Opportunities, Hydrocarbon Processing, www.hydro
carbonprocessing.com/IssueArticle/3250397/Archive/Processingshale-oils-in-FCC-Challenges-and-opportunities.html
(Sept. 2013).
6. Platts Methodology and Specification Guide, The Eagle Ford
Marker: Rationale and Methodology, (Oct. 2012).
7. U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. Petroleum
Product Exports Exceeded Imports in 2011 for First Time in Over
Six Decades, Today in Energy, www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/
detail.cfm?id=5290 (Mar. 7, 2012).
8. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply
Monthly, www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/monthly (Jan. 2015).

Copyright 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

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