Inside the Refinery
Modern refining requires constant adaption to remain fit for the future and able to provide customers with high quality products.
To continuously supply our customers with high-quality products that meet all the sustainability requirements and enable you to reduce your CO2 emissions, we have been proactively adapting our refineries in Schwechat, Austria; Burghausen, Germany and Petrobrazi, Romania.
This includes investing in research and development, introducing new production pathways and partially replacing traditional fossil-based feedstocks with renewable alternatives. All these efforts ensure that we remain fit for the future and able to provide our customers with the products essential for the energy transition.
Did you know?
The OMV refinery in Schwechat (Austria) is one of Europe´s largest and most cutting-edge refineries. Up to 9.6 million tonnes of crude oil are processed every year on a space the size of Monte Carlo.
To put that into perspective: supplying this volume via trucks, would require one tank truck to be unloaded every two minutes, around the clock.
Traditional Refinery Processes
A refinery essentially functions as a massive laboratory where crude oil must undergo different methods of processing depending on the end product that is needed:
This is the initial step where the crude is heated and separated into different components or fractions based on their boiling points. The process breaks down crude oil into streams from which gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and heavier residues are created by vaporizing and condensing these fractions at different temperatures.
This involves breaking down large, heavy hydrocarbon molecules into smaller, lighter ones. There are two main ways to achieve that:
- Thermal cracking using high temperatures
- Catalytic cracking using a catalyst
This process removes sulphur compounds from petroleum fractions to reduce sulphur content in fuels, which is important for meeting environmental regulations and improving fuel quality.
The overall process to convert crude oil into finished products that meet specific quality standards. It involves multiple complex steps to improve fuel performance, stability, and environmental compliance.
Safety First: For Your Protection & Smooth Operations
Refinery environments can be complex and involve handling hazardous or flammable materials. To keep everyone on site and off site safe and to ensure our operations run without interruptions, we follow a strict set of lifesaving rules that minimize risks in every situation.
Our guiding principle is clear: everyone’s safety and the continuity of your operations are our top priorities. "If a task can’t be done safely, we don’t do it at all."