CrudeSuite

competitive advantage
CrudeSuite is an industry-leading, enterprise toolset for sharing, managing and modelling crude oil
information. It is a component of the integrated supply chain management solution, Spiral Suite. Across
the petroleum industry, its advanced features enable companies to extract maximum value from their
data. Laboratories can reduce measurement burdens while improving assay accuracy, refineries can
optimise plans from real-time cargo data and traders can make full use of third-party information,
regardless of format or completeness.

The unique features of this toolset have made CrudeSuite the assay management tool of choice across
the petroleum industry. CrudeSuite has been successfully adopted by over 100 companies at more than
300 sites worldwide. It is used by major crude assay providers, including BP, Shell and Chevron, to enter,
workup and publish assay information.

With successful implementations ranging from single-site through to global corporate systems,
CrudeSuite helps organisations manage their data, make purchasing and blending decisions, and feed
refinery plans.
visualise and explore crude data
CrudeSuite provides a wide range of facilities for visualising and exploring crude oil information. These fea-
tures enable the yield and property structure of crude oils to be viewed and compared.

Integrated Recutting features allow data to be generated for user-configurable cuts throughout the system.
These can either be sharp, TBP cuts or commercial cuts calculated through a short-cut thermodynamic sep-
aration model, tuned to actual crude unit operations. Both implementations are highly optimised, allowing
thousands of cuts to be generated per second. In addition, a powerful Units-of-Measure System is used
throughout CrudeSuite, allowing selection of units at any point where numerical information is generated.

The Database View provides a tabular display of crude oil data. Columns are user-configurable to show a
wide range of textual fields as well as cut properties. Similarly, the assays displayed can be grouped or filtered
according to a wide range of criteria. All aspects of the view can be saved for future re-use, or for sharing
between users. The contents of a database view can be exported directly to spreadsheets.

Powerful graphing enables the yield and property structure of crudes to be viewed and compared. For exam-
ple, the Property Profile Graph can display property curves for any number of crudes simultaneously, drawn
against boiling point, weight yield or volume yield. Zooming and cross-hairs allow detailed information to be
read off curves, while fully-balanced click-and-drag recutting is available at all points.

Advanced visualisation tools such as

Nearness and Yield Bars help users
to make swift visual comparisons. For
example, Nearness uses the underly-
ing statistical understanding within the
CrudeSuite model to compare crude
oils across all their property profiles,
identifying even subtle similarities and
differences.

Flexible reporting facilities allow infor-

mation to be imported and exported in a
wide range of standard and configurable
file formats, including direct generation
of input files for third-party planning and
scheduling tools. These reports can be
generated immediately for user-generated
blends, new assays and updated assays as
well as for database crudes.

generate targeted blends

CrudeSuite provides facilities for blending any com-
bination of crude oils and oil products. Applying
advanced mathematical models of fluid physical
behaviour, even non-linearly blending properties
are predicted accurately. The Blend tool provides
facilities for combining any number of crude oils by
weight or by volume, making full use of blending
indices and yield information.

BlendAnalysis uses limited measurements to

determine the proportions of constituent crude
oils in a blend. In addition to applications such as
refinery tank analysis, it can be used for targeted
blending, where the blend ratios required to match
a particular quality specification are identified.
enter and update assays
CrudeSuite provides powerful tools for entering new measurement data and working this up into fully-
balanced assay profiles, and updating existing assays from new measurements. Our crude data engine
validates and fully reconciles input assay data in any format or level of completeness. The crude data engine
has been in successful commercial use for over 15 years and combines configurable correlations with
advanced statistical methods.

Measurement Grids provide

intuitive spreadsheets for entering
new information, complete with
comparison values and confidence
indicators. Full clipboard integration
allows data exchange with other
Windows applications and third-
party data files.

AssayUpdate allows users to revise

existing assays to reflect current
quality measurements, intelligently
altering profiles across all properties
to match the new characteristics.
Particular attention has been paid
to the performance of updates
on the basis of limited custody
transfer cargo data, allowing robust
prediction of yield changes and other
key qualities.

In contrast to AssayUpdate, AssaySynthesis allows users to add entirely new assays to the database,
predicting missing cut properties and fully balancing all qualities. Using a more advanced, unconstrained
model it can provide estimates of all assay properties, validating and reconciling the new measurements as an
integral part of the process. Input data can range from a single measurement through to a full, detailed assay
in any format.

ProductSynthesis enables assays to be generated for straight-run materials derived from crude oil. These
include condensates, naphthas, gasoils or residues. The detailed yield and property data for these may be
generated on the basis of limited measurement data, saved in the database, blended and the data for the
resulting blend exported in the same way as for full crude assays.

model commercial fractionation

CrudeSuite incorporates a mathematically advanced
short-cut thermodynamic distillation model based on
the Fenske equation. The model can be applied to
linked multiple-tower systems and tuned on the basis
of real-world distillation data, be it TBP, D86, D1160
or Simdis data. Commercial cuts defined through this
model are available at any point in the application
from tabular database views to report files.

Commercial fractionation is implemented using

flowsheets that allow the user to build complex
refinery topologies. Any crude in the Database can be
recut to flowsheet products, and commercial cut data
can be incorporated into reports generated for use in
third-party planning and scheduling tools.
feed refinery value chain tools
Incorporating new or updated crude assay data into a planning, scheduling or engineering tool in a timely
manner can be a daunting task without the right tools. CrudeSuite provides a wide range of facilities to help
make this process easier and more robust.

Crude assay data can be imported or exported in a variety of standard file formats. Most of these are defined
through user-editable templates, allowing unusual and proprietary file formats to be supported easily.

Assay data from CrudeSuite can be readily used in the next generation supply chain management toolset,
Spiral Suite. In addition, CrudeSuite is seamlessly integrated with the industry-leading process simulation and
optimisation software PRO/II and ROMeo, allowing users to import up-to-date assay data without leaving
their familiar user interface. This provides comprehensive feedstock information to process design and
optimisation to greatly increase the accuracy of the models.

Finally, a DLL version of CrudeSuite is optionally available, allowing programmatic access to the features and
functionality of CrudeSuite.

access industry-leading assay libraries

We market a range of assay libraries for use in conjunction with CrudeSuite. The Shell Assay Library is the
largest assay library currently on the market and is available exclusively as part of our tools. It includes over
3,000 assays, with roughly 80-120 assays added or updated each year. The Chevron Assay Library contains
over 2,000 assays, with roughly 100 assays added each year. Both libraries provide very detailed assay
information, including a wide range of component measurements. They are available under a variety of
licensing scopes, including regional packages.

Additional crude oil assays can be entered through the AssaySynthesis and AssayUpdate tools. We also offer
a service to transfer existing, proprietary crude oil information into CrudeSuite, including full data validation.
Based on the expertise gained from migrating large crude oil databases in many formats, we can help
minimise the workload while ensuring the accuracy and value of the final database.

reliable and scalable solution

CrudeSuite is now in its fifth generation, with over 50 man years of development behind the current
products. To date, CrudeSuite has been installed on client sites ranging across every part of the oil business:
from exploration, through trading and on to refining. The tools have become key components in client
business processes, proving stable and reliable over 15 years of commercial use.

We provide training through a range of seminars and courses, both on-site and at the Cambridge, UK offices.
In addition, our annual Users Meeting provides an opportunity for users to gather and share best practice as
well as learn about the upcoming features within the tools.

CrudeSuite forms part of a scalable range of solutions which can grow with your companys needs. Whether
you require desktop, web or automated access to crude oil data, there is an appropriate product to support
your needs. Specialist tools range from modules for detailed laboratory assay work-up through to rapid
netback models that can be used for commercial screening of broad crude slates. All of these modules are
designed to be highly configurable so that they can be integrated into each clients individual work processes.

Spiral Software Limited Tel: +44 (0)1223 445000

101 Science Park Fax: +44 (0)1223 445001
Milton Road email: sales@spiralsoft.com
Cambridge CB4 0FY, UK Web: www.spiralsoft.com

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