Course overview
Refineries and petrochemical plants run on thin margins in a heavily regulated setting, where a day of unplanned downtime or a single safety incident can erase months of gains. Operational excellence is the discipline of running these assets so that safety, reliability, efficiency, and cost improve together rather than being traded off against each other. This course explains how leading operators achieve that and how the methods fit into daily practice.
Participants examine the core building blocks: optimizing process performance, keeping assets reliable, strengthening the safety and compliance system, and embedding continuous improvement. The material connects proven methods such as Lean and Six Sigma to the specific realities of hydrocarbon processing, using documented cases to show how performance is measured, sustained, and led from the top.
Why this matters in refining and petrochemicals
Global competition, tightening emissions rules, and the pressure of the energy transition have raised the bar for plant performance. Small, sustained improvements in yield, energy use, and uptime compound into a serious competitive edge, while weak reliability and safety culture do the reverse. Professionals who can connect improvement methods to real plant constraints are in demand, and the operational-excellence agenda increasingly overlaps with the shifts explored in the Energy Transition and Decarbonization in Oil & Gas course.
What you will be able to do afterwards
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Explain how operational-excellence drivers reinforce each other.
- Apply Lean and Six Sigma thinking to process and efficiency problems.
- Assess reliability and asset-integrity strategies for key equipment.
- Connect safety, risk, and regulatory compliance into one system.
- Frame a continuous-improvement roadmap aligned with business strategy.
Course outline
Unit 1: Introduction to operational excellence
- Definition and scope of operational excellence.
- Safety, reliability, efficiency, and sustainability drivers.
- Global performance benchmarks and industry trends.
- Elements of a genuine culture of excellence.
Unit 2: Process optimization and efficiency
- Lean principles in refinery and petrochemical operations.
- Six Sigma and the DMAIC approach to reducing variation.
- Energy efficiency and yield optimization.
- Using overall equipment effectiveness to expose losses.
Unit 3: Reliability and asset integrity
- Asset performance management and maintenance strategy.
- Preventive and predictive maintenance approaches.
- Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) for critical assets.
- Digital condition monitoring and equipment health data.
Unit 4: Safety, risk, and compliance
- Strengthening a refinery safety culture.
- Hazard and operability studies (HAZOP) and risk assessment.
- Process safety management and regulatory compliance.
- Learning from documented major-incident investigations.
Unit 5: Continuous improvement and innovation
- Embedding continuous-improvement cycles such as Kaizen.
- Driving innovation in processing operations.
- Measuring and holding on to performance improvements.
- Digitalization and Industry 4.0 in refining.
Unit 6: Leadership in operational excellence
- Role of leadership in driving and modeling excellence.
- Change management in refinery and plant organizations.
- Aligning operational goals with business strategy.
- Case studies of successful operational transformations.
Unit 7: Achieving sustainable operational excellence
- Integrating sustainability into everyday operations.
- Carbon-reduction and energy-transition considerations.
- Building resilience across refining and petrochemicals.
- Constructing a practical operational-excellence roadmap.
How the course is delivered
The course combines structured teaching with documented industry case studies, benchmarking examples, and guided analysis of real performance and safety data. Participants work through how methods such as Lean, RCM, and HAZOP apply to processing plants, so the ideas translate into practical judgment rather than theory. The emphasis is on discussion and worked examples drawn from operating experience.
Who should attend
The course suits refinery and petrochemical plant managers, operations, production, and process engineers, HSE and quality professionals, and continuous-improvement or performance specialists who want to raise plant performance in a structured way.
About EuroQuest International Training
EuroQuest International Training is an international training provider founded in 2015, with a catalog of more than 1,000 courses delivered to over 15,000 participants. Headquartered in Bratislava, EuroQuest runs courses across a network of European and regional training hubs and focuses on practical, current, and professionally relevant content.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an engineering background to benefit from this course?
A technical or operations background helps, since the examples are drawn from processing plants, but the methods are explained clearly enough for managers and specialists from quality, safety, and performance roles to follow.
Does the course cover both refining and petrochemicals?
Yes. The principles of operational excellence apply across both, and the course uses examples from refining and petrochemical operations to show how the same methods adapt to different processes.
Will the course make my plant compliant with safety regulations?
No. The course is educational and explains how safety and compliance systems work; formal compliance is achieved through your plant's own management system and the relevant regulators, not through attending a course.
Related courses
- Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) Management in Oil & Gas
- Predictive Maintenance and IoT in Industry 4.0
- AI Applications in Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
- Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Operations
Register for this course
To reserve a place or request an in-house session for your team, contact EuroQuest International Training and our team will help you confirm dates and details.
All Course Dates & Locations
27 dates · 14 cities · Oct 2026 – Jun 2027