In recent years, there has been an increase in vacuum residue hydroprocessing due to the decrease in fuel oil demand and an increase in distillate demand. This is the bottom product from the vacuum distillation unit. Just as in the case of the atmospheric residue it has several options for its use in meeting the refinery’s product slate. Distillation of crude oil under reduced pressure produces the vacuum residue.
We source our VR from reliable sources and refineries. We load from the refineries ex works to the ports, then store the product at the port at our available storage facilities. Afterwords the product is transported internationally to various hubs such as Fujairah or Sharjah, where it is traded and sold to international buyers.
The most intractable component of residual fuel oil is vacuum residue, principally because of its high content of asphaltenic material and metallic contaminants. In this respect it resembles the more carbonaceous fossil fuels. Other fuel oil components (primarily required for meeting viscosity specifications) command a much higher price because they can otherwise be sold as middle distillate or used as conversion feedstock for gasoline and distillate production.