Fuel Blending Benchmarking Explained — A Strategic Compass for Modern Refineries
“Benchmarking isn’t just a tool—it’s your refinery’s roadmap to operational and economic excellence.”
Why This Question Isn’t Rhetorical—It’s Critical
Every refinery wants to operate efficiently, competitively, and profitably. However, without clear, objective insight into your blending systems, you’re making decisions based on assumptions rather than evidence.
“Do you know where you are and where you can go?” isn’t just a clever title. It’s the foundational question behind every successful operational strategy.
And if you can’t answer it with confidence, then benchmarking is the most critical step your refinery can take.
What Is Benchmarking—and Why You Need It Now
Benchmarking is the process of evaluating your refinery’s fuel blending performance against best-in-class operations.
It provides data-driven visibility into:
- How automated your blending systems are
- How efficiently and economically they operate
- What improvement opportunities exist, and what are they worth
Instead of vague KPIs and gut-feel decisions, benchmarking gives you a precise operational profile and an economic roadmap. It transforms “we think we’re doing okay” into “here’s exactly where we stand, and what we can do next.”
Warning Signs You Need Benchmarking
If any of these questions raise uncertainty, benchmarking is essential:
- Are you minimizing re-blends and quality giveaways?
- Do you have visibility into the economic performance of each blend?
- Have you quantified the payback period of automation upgrades?
- Can you compare your blending effectiveness to peer refineries?
If the answer is “not exactly” or “not yet,” your operations could be leaking millions in unrealized profit.
Two Indices That Reveal Exactly Where You Are
OMS benchmarking is built around two proven, proprietary indices:
1. Automation Effectiveness Index (AEI)
Assesses how advanced your blending infrastructure is—from tank gauging to analyzer integration and real-time control.
- A score of 0 reflects fully manual operations with minimal tech support.
- A score of 100 reflects a fully automated, integrated blending ecosystem.
2. Operational Efficiency Index (OEI)
Evaluates how well your blending is executed, factoring in:
- Stock usage economics
- Quality giveaway control
- Inventory and dispatch optimization
It compares actual outcomes with modeled best-case scenarios, providing complex numbers on what is being gained and what is being left on the table.
From Diagnosis to Direction: Why Benchmarking Leads to Better Decisions
Your AEI and OEI scores don’t just describe your current state—they shape your future. With benchmarking, you move from uncertainty to clarity. You’ll know:
- Which areas offer the fastest return on investment
- Where automation will have the most significant impact How to structure improvement projects for measurable gains
This is not theoretical. For a refinery producing 100,000 barrels per day, improving blending profitability by just $0.01 per gallon can deliver nearly $7 million in annual profit.
This is why benchmarking isn’t a “nice to have”—it’s an operational necessity.
Why OMS Benchmarking Delivers More Than Industry Surveys
Unlike generic third-party surveys that skim the surface of blending operations, OMS benchmarking is:
- Fuel blending-specific: It doesn’t treat blending as one topic among many—it’s the focus.
- Quantitative: AEI and OEI are real, calibrated metrics—not general impressions.
- Financially grounded: The process produces ROI projections, not just technical suggestions.
- Actionable: Comes with a tailored roadmap, not just a comparison table.
OMS benchmarking is purpose-built for refinery fuel blending, offering deep, quantitative, and actionable insights. In contrast, Solomon surveys provide broader, high-level automation benchmarking across various refinery areas, with a limited focus on blending.
OMS delivers a more targeted, data-rich, and economically valuable benchmarking approach specifically for blending operations, making it far more actionable than Solomon for refining teams focused on blending excellence.
Real Results Across All Refinery Types
- Small refineries (<50 KB/day): Eliminate costly quality giveaways and maximize tank utilization.
- Mid-sized refineries (50–300 KB/day): Improve inventory control and blending profitability.
- Large refineries (>300 KB/day): Capture lost value across multiple streams through integrated automation and optimization.
Regardless of size or region, benchmarking reveals untapped potential and prioritizes high-impact projects.
What You Get: More Than Just Scores
With OMS, benchmarking is not an abstract report—it’s a strategy-in-a-box.
You’ll receive:
- A complete diagnostic of your blending systems
- Your AEI and OEI scores with comparative insights
- ROI calculations for targeted improvement initiatives
- A clear, actionable roadmap tailored to your refinery’s capabilities and constraints
- Post-audit tools to track progress and validate results
The Convincing Case for Action
- If you’re unsure whether to invest in additional automation…
- If you suspect inefficiencies in your blending operations…
- If your competitors are optimizing while you’re standing still…
Then the time to act is now.
Benchmarking answers the questions leadership keeps asking. It gives engineering teams data to justify upgrades. And it gives operations staff clarity on where to focus their efforts.
The Bottom Line
If you don’t know exactly where you are, you can’t plan where to go. OMS benchmarking eliminates the guesswork and provides you with the strategy, tools, and confidence to drive measurable improvement.
Let OMS help you benchmark today—so you can lead tomorrow.
Contact OMS to begin your benchmarking journey.
OMS — Your strategic partner in refinery blending excellence.
At OMS, we remain committed to guiding you through the complexities of refinery operations. By sharing practical insights and innovative strategies, our goal is to help your refinery achieve operational excellence.
Stay tuned for more in-depth, actionable content in upcoming newsletters!
Join us, and let’s shape the future of refinery operations together.
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Disclaimer: OMS eLearning Academy and ChatGPT collaborated as Humans and AI to generate this article for you.
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