Petroleum Refineries NAICS 324110

Nov 27, 2025 - AI-Assisted Refining

• An ongoing pilot program at TotalEnergies’ 238,000-barrel-per-day petroleum refining complex in Port Arthur, Texas is using artificial intelligence to enhance real-time decision-making and plant efficiency and address the skilled labor shortage at the facility, Oil & Gas Journal reported in November. The company is using Honeywell’s proprietary AI-assisted Experion Operations Assistant (EOA) distributed control system (DCS) to aid real-time decision-making by combining operational analytics with predictive insights, enabling control-room operators to forecast maintenance issues up to 12 minutes before alarms would normally trigger, according to O&G Journal. Predictive maintenance reduces downtime and flaring, helping to optimize production and lower emissions. In addition, the AI system helps close TotalEnergies’ workforce gap by giving less-experienced engineers veteran-level operational insight. Overall, the deployment promises safer operations, greater efficiency, and minimized product losses.
• The latest Current Policies Scenario from the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that global demand for oil and natural gas won’t peak this decade, but instead will continue to rise through 2050 under existing policy settings, The Wall Street Journal reports. For refineries this signals a sustained flow of crude as energy producers are more likely to continue upstream investment, drilling activity, and infrastructure build-out rather than scaling back operations. Previously, under its so-called peak oil scenario, the IEA had forecast a decline in global demand for oil and gas as countries shifted away from fossil fuels and toward EVs and renewable energy sources, according to WSJ. The IEA’s revised outlook extends the demand window for refining capacity, meaning business plans premised on a rapid fossil-fuel phase-out may need to be revisited.

• The Environmental Protection Agency in September released a sweeping proposal to eliminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), the nation’s repository of annual carbon emissions data from more than 8,000 industrial facilities, the AP reports. The program requires refineries, power plants, oil wells and landfills to report their emissions. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, citing President Trump’s anti-climate executive actions, described the GHGRP as unnecessary bureaucracy and estimated that ending the program could save businesses up to $2.4 billion in compliance costs over the next decade. Critics say slashing reporting requirements risks a big increase in emissions. The EPA said that other data-gathering efforts, such as the Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey that tracks fuel use in that sector, will continue. The agency will publish the emissions proposal in the Federal Register and open a 47-day public comment period before finalizing the rule.
• Producer prices for petroleum refineries fell 9% in August compared to a year ago, after sinking 17.4% in the previous August-versus-August annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employment by the industry shrank 2.2% year over year in July as oil refineries cut back due to a weak fuel outlook. According to the Energy Information Administration, US utilization of refinery operable capacity rose to 95.5% in mid-July, the highest since June 2023.