Rio de Janeiro

This paper describes the development of a short-term crude oil scheduling model. The system under consideration is composed of a terminal, a pipeline, a refinery crude storage area and its crude units, where the pipeline is a particularly challenging component. The resulting integrated model is a Mixed Integer Linear Programming problem (MILP) which determines the key decisions related to this system, such as tank allocations, sequence and size of crude parcels to be pumped through the pipeline and timing of the operations. The model’s role is to set up a feasible schedule where a minimum deviation from the planned operation of the crude units is sought, while at the same time respecting constraints on tank inventories, tanker unloading constraints and other operational rules such as tank settling times and the pipeline peak time flow regime. Results for PETROBRAS ’ REFAP refinery, located in Canoas, southern Brazil, are presented and future extensions for this model are also mentioned