Solomon Announces New Research Report Providing Insight into New Cost of Transportation Fuels Refinery Metric

DALLAS – May 25, 2016 – HSB Solomon Associates, LLC (Solomon), the leading performance improvement company for the global energy industry, announced today the publication of a new research report, developed by Solomon’s Strategic Advisory Services group led by Michael Hileman that examines the use of CTF as a strategic tool. Whether you are a Solomon benchmarking client or not, you can now take advantage of this research and insight.

“Solomon’s CTF provides the refining industry, for the first time, a means to consistently assess refinery survivability across the globe. Every refining company, if they do not feel threatened by new capacity coming on stream, should at the very least understand if their capital expenditure program improves the competitive position of their refinery network.” said Hileman, a Solomon Vice President. “We are using the power and knowledge of our database to address the real questions of today.”

Clients find value from this report in several areas:

• Shows the wide range of threats and opportunities associated with CTF performance.
• Illustrates how CTF can be taken beyond the refinery fence to create a commercial metric to assess survivability.
• Improves understanding of how to improve survivability through carefully conceived refinery modifications.

Solomon understands that clients look to us to be a leader in helping them understand the competitive position of their refineries. “When a refinery participates in our benchmarking studies, Solomon already knows more about their performance gaps than any other outside advisor. With the application of new analysis techniques and metrics like CTF, we can provide a unique perspective on their operations,” Hileman added.

Solomon’s analysis is different, because we have the data. “We collect an average of 3,000 pieces of data from more than 350 refineries for our benchmarking study. We have established definitions and standards to help ensure the data is passed to us on the same basis. Then we thoroughly review the data for accuracy. When you have a “clean set of data” on a consistent basis, relationships emerge that you could not see before,” said Jon Stroup, Vice President, Refining Studies and member of the World’s Best analysis team.

Stroup has more than 25 years’ experience working in the refining industry in various operations, maintenance, and technical roles at numerous refinery sites. In his last 7 years with Solomon, Stroup has applied his industry knowledge to help Solomon’s refining clients maximize the use of Solomon’s Comparative Performance Analysis™ (CPA™) studies through presentations, seminars, site evaluations, consulting projects, and workshops. He is currently responsible for all activities related to Solomon’s biennial Worldwide Fuels Refinery Performance Analysis (Fuels Study) and Worldwide Paraffinic Lube Refinery Performance Analysis (Lube Study), and other related services. Stroup is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and an MBA from the University of Tulsa.

Hileman has more than 3 decades’ experience working in and analyzing the petroleum industry, and he applies that knowledge to helping Solomon clients around the world improve their performance. He is currently responsible for Solomon's Strategic Advisory Service offering along with his responsibilities for Planning & Optimization (P&O). Hileman also serves as project executive for major consulting engagements. Before joining Solomon in 1996, Hileman worked for a diverse range of organizations, including Atlantic Richfield, Charter Oil Company, Champlin, and Ultramar, Inc. He is the author of U.S. patents on methods for determining equivalency factors and has published articles on optimizing assets and utilizing best practices to optimize assets. Hileman has a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.