PETROLEUM AND OTHER FUELS REPORTING SCHEME

Guidance Note for Refining Activities (v1.0)

Section One:Introduction

From 1 January 2018, businesses, who undertake covered activities in relation to covered products,are required to report to the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy if they meet the criteria set out in the Petroleum and Other Fuels Reporting Act 2017 (POFR Act) and the Petroleum and Other Fuels Reporting Rules 2017 (POFR Rules).

Legislation and meaning of terms

Many of the terms used in this guidance note are defined in the POFR Act and the POFR Rules, including ‘covered product’, ‘covered activity’ and ‘Australian field’.

The POFR Act can be found at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00348, and the POFR Rules at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2017L01469.

In this guidance note, ‘business’ has the same meaning as ‘regulated entity’ under the POFR Act.

Who must report?

Reporting obligations apply for the refining of covered products of any kind where the Australian refinery produced more than 3,000 tonnes of petroleum products in the previous financial year.

Under section 16 of the POFR Rules, each person who first owns any of the output stock from a refinery is required to report those stockholdings for the purposes of section 11 of the POFR Act.Where a refinery is holding input stock or output stock, the person who owns the stock at the end of the month is required to report that stock.

If you are unsure whether you need to report, please contact the Department to discuss.

When and how to submit reports.

Reports are due 15 days after the end of the calendar month being reported.Businesses must use the Department’s Refining Reporting template to report their activities and completed reports must be sent via email to .

If you require assistance.

You can find out more information about mandatory reporting at www.environment.gov.au/energy/energy-security-office/international-engagement/mandatory-reporting-petroleum-data.

You can find out more information on the petroleum statistics produced by the Department at: www.environment.gov.au/energy/petroleum-statistics.

If you require further information, please email the Department at or call 02 6274 2500.
Section Two:Completing the Template

General information

Businesses are required to report the receipt and/or production of refinery feedstocks, intermediate products and finished products.Refineries must also report stockholdings of all feedstocks, finished products and intermediates that are held in the refinery at month-end.

The quantities reported for each of the product groups should represent the flow of material through the refining process and it is expected, as a general principle, that the weight of inputs into the refinery during the reporting period should equal the weight of outputs produced during the reporting period (accounting for losses, stock changes, etc.)

When completing the template, businessesshould enter data into the white cells. Green cells in the template automatically generate totals and sub-totals, but these can be overwritten if necessary. Grey cells are locked and cannot be edited. There is a comments section for each product which allows free text entry and can be used to supply additional information.

Please enter your business’s name and the month that the report relates to at the top of the “Refining Input” section. This information is automatically copied to the other sections.

The Template.

The reporting template requests information in three specific sections.

1.Refinery Input.

2.Refinery Output of Finished Products.

3.Gases, intermediates, petrochemical feedstocks and losses.

Units of Measure

Quantities must be reported in whole metric tonnes (no decimal places) and each product’s average density should be reported in kilograms per litre.

If the density for each product is not readily available each month, the most recent density measurement should be used. If no measurement is available, a typical or average value may be entered, which should be reviewed and updated as appropriate.

Density information is required to derive volumetric information that the Department needs for various statistical reports. It must be adjusted to standard temperature and pressure conditions of 15oC and 1 atmosphere pressure.

Reporting Difficulties

Businesses with difficultly reporting should contact the Department as early as possible to discuss the issues and options to resolve them. Please email the Department at call 02 6274 2500.

Reporting concepts (columns)

Average density. / Report the weighted average density in kilograms per litre (Kg/L) for each product during the month. To convert API to Kg/L:
Density (Kg/L) = 141.5 ÷ (131.5 + API)
If the density for each product is not readily available each month, the most recent density measurement should be used. If no measurement is available, a typical or average value may be entered, which should be reviewed and updated as appropriate.
Opening stocks and closing stocks. / The actual physical amount held in storage in the refinery at the beginning and end of the month. For reporting purposes, the opening stock of the current month should be identical to the closing stock of the previous month.
Include stocks of products that will be used as refinery fuel.
Total receipts. / The total weight of each product that was delivered to the refinery during the month.
Include any finished products delivered to the refinery for blending or commingling with refinery-produced product. If the product will be blended into multiple different products (sub-categories), please apportion the amount accordingly. If you are not able to split the amount between sub-categories, please over-write the total (green) cell with the full amount received.
Include any product receipts that will be exclusively used as fuel, e.g. methane bought in as fuel (and report the amount used under ‘Consumed as fuel’).
Refinery process inputs. / The total weight of each product that entered the refining process for the first time.
Donot include in this category any amounts that were consumed as fuel.
N.B. There is no ‘Refinery process inputs’ column in the ‘Refinery output’ tab. Any finished products delivered for blending or commingling should be reported under ‘Total receipts’ with the amount accounted for in either ‘Production’ or as an increase in month-end stocks.
Production. / The total weight of each finished product that was produced by the refinery for sale, export, or fuel used to power refinery processes.
N.B. There is no ‘Production’ column in the “Refinery Input” tab. Any blendstocks that are manufactured in the refinery for blending, sale or export elsewhere should be included in the “Refinery Output” tab as production of the product into which they are most likely to be blended.
If you are unsure which category to report blendstock production under, or need to report production of any other products in the “Refinery Input” tab please contact the Department to discuss.
Consumed as fuel. / In the ‘Refinery Input’ tab: The total weight of each input product (e.g. crude) that was consumed as fuel in support of the operation of the refinery.
In the ‘Refinery Output’ tab: Any products produced at the refinery that were subsequently consumed as fuel should be included in both ‘Production’ and ‘Consumed as fuel’.
E.g. if 500 tonnes of petcoke is produced and all of it is consumed as fuel, then 500 should be entered into both ‘Production’ and ‘Consumed as fuel’. If 300 tonnes was consumed as fuel and 200 tonnes sold then 500 should be entered in ‘Production’ and 300 in ‘Consumed as fuel’.
In the ‘Gases-Unfin-Petrochem-Losses’ tab: Any products produced at the refinery that are subsequently consumed as fuel should be included in both ‘Production’ and ‘Consumed as fuel’.
E.g. if 1,000 tonnes of refinery gas is produced and all of it is consumed as fuel, then 1,000 should be entered into both ‘Production’ and ‘Consumed as fuel’ against ‘Refinery gas’. If 400 tonnes was consumed as fuel and 600 tonnes sent to a petrochemical plant then 400 should be entered in both ‘Production’ and ‘Consumed as fuel’ for ‘Refinery gas’ in the ‘Gases’ section and 600 should be entered as ‘Production’ for ‘Other’ in the ‘Petrochemical feedstocks’ section.
Exclude any product that was bought in solely for use as a refinery fuel.

Product definitions (rows)

Refining Input

Crude Oil / Crude oil is a mineral oil of natural origin comprising a mixture of hydrocarbons and associated impurities, such as sulphur. If any condensate or LPG is commingled with the crude oil stream then that should be included in this category. Include separately marketed streams of crude as well as commingled streams.
Do not include plant condensate or separately marketed field condensate.
If you are unsure about whether a product should be classified as crude, condensate or NGL, please contact the Department.
Field condensate. / Field condensate is a mixture of low molecular weight hydrocarbons that are recovered from surface separation facilities at or near the field. Include separately marketed streams of field condensate only.
Do not include plant condensate.
If you are unsure about whether a product should be classified as crude, condensate or NGL, please contact the Department.
Natural gas liquids (NGL/ Plant Condensate). / A mixture of low molecular weight hydrocarbons that are recovered from processing plants. Any naphtha that is separated from a crude oil stream and marketed as naphtha should be included in this category.
Do not include field condensate.
If you are unsure about whether a product should be classified as crude, condensate or NGL, please contact the Department.
Hydrocarbon blendstocks - Imported. / Refined products produced in overseas refineries and imported for blending, without further transformation. Report different fuel blendstocks separately as per the template.
Do not include imports of finished products that are intended to be blended. If finished products are imported for blending, they should be reported in the “Total receipts” column of the “Refinery output” tab against the appropriate product.(Data on imported blendstocks is needed in order to avoid double-counting when calculating Australia’s energy balance, as blendstocks are often declared as finished products in customs declarations.)
Hydrocarbon blendstocks - Domestic. / Refined products produced in an Australian refinery and transferred to this refinery for blending, without further transformation. Report all domestic fuel blendstocks as a single aggregate quantity.
Do not include finished products that are intended to be blended. If finished products are sourced domestically for blending, they should be reported in the “Total receipts” column of the “Refinery output” tab against the appropriate product.
(Transfers between Australian refineries are collected here to assist in mass-balancing at the individual refinery level).
Non-hydrocarbon blendstocks. / Include any non-hydrocarbon additives that will be blended with another product to modify its properties. This can include oxygenates such as alcohols (e.g. ethanol, methanol), ethers (e.g. TAME), esters (e.g. dimethyl ester), etc.
If reporting biofuels, please specify the type (e.g. ethanol, biodiesel, renewable diesel or other) in the comments section.
Do not report blendstocks that will not be blended within the refinery e.g. ethanol that will be mixed with ULP, on demand, to produce E10 at a terminal gantry.
Do not include low dose additives, such as static dissipater and lubricity improver.
(Please report domestic and imported products separately as these products are treated differently under Australia’s international reporting obligation.)
Other refinery feedstock liquids not elsewhere included. / Processed oil destined for further processing (e.g. straight run fuel oil orvacuum gas oil) excluding blending. Please report domestic and imported products separately.
Donot include liquefied gases (report under the relevant gas) or backflows from petrochemical plants (report under Backflows from Australian facilities).
Please use the comments section to advise the Department what products have been reported in this section.
Backflows from Australian facilities. / Finished or semi–finished products which are returned to refineriesfor processing, blending or sale. They can bereturns from petrochemical manufacturing or returns from customers.
Donot include transfers of hydrocarbons from another Australian refinery that are intended as blendstock. These should be reported under ‘Hydrocarbon blendstocks - Domestic’.

Refining Output

Automotive gasoline. / Consists of a mixture of light hydrocarbons and may include additives, oxygenates and octane enhancers. Intended for use in automotive vehicles.
Regular: 95 RON
Premium (95): 95-97 RON
Premium (98): 97+ RON
Include premium blendsonly if the blending occurs within the refinery.
Gasoline produced by the refinery that will be blended at a terminal should be reported under the category that most accurately represents the product which leaves the refinery.
Diesel / Primarily a medium distillate. There are four categories of automotive diesel:
Premium automotive diesel
Regular automotive diesel
Automotive biodiesel blends
Diesel - other
Include blended products, including premium diesel, only if the blending actually occurs within the refinery.
Automotive diesel produced by the refinery for future blending at a terminal should be reported as ‘Regular automotive diesel’.
Donot include any diesel heating oil which should instead be reported under the ‘Heating oil’ category.
Any diesel that is not intended for automotive use (e.g. marine or industrial diesel) should be reported combined in the Diesel – other category.
Aviation gasoline. / This is motor spirit prepared especially for aviation piston engines, with an octane number suited to the engine and a freezing point typically around –60 oC.
Aviation kerosene (jet fuel). / A distillate fuel used for aviation turbine power units. It is used for commercial and military turbo jet and turbo prop aircraft engines.It has particular specifications (such as freeze point, flash point, sulphur content, etc.) which are established by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), or ASTM Specification D 1655 or Military Specifications MIL-T-5624P and MIL-T-83133D (Grades JP-5and JP-8).
Other kerosene. / Refined petroleum distillate that is used in sectors other than aircraft transport.
Donot include any kerosene heating oil which should instead be reported under the ‘Heating oil’ category.
Heating oil. / Diesel or kerosene based fuel intended specifically for internal heating systems in commercial or residential properties.
Fuel oil. / A liquid petroleum product less volatile than gasoline, used as an energy source. Fuel oil includes distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, and blends of distillate and residual fuel oil.
Low sulphur (<1%)
High sulphur (>= 1%)
Lubricant oils. / Hydrocarbons produced from distillate by-product; mainly used to reduce friction between bearing surfaces.
Lubricant oil base-stock. / Include all grades of lubricating oil base-stocks destined for further refining or blending.
Greases (inc petroleum jelly). / Semi-solid petroleum based lubricant oils.
Finished lubricants - other / Include all finished grades of lubricating oil destined for sale/export.
Refinery feedstocks (produced for sale or export) / Processed oil destined for further processing, excluding blending, in another refinery/processing plant (e.g. reduced or topped crude, straight run fuel oil, vacuum gas oil, etc.).
Donot include feedstocks that will be later used in your refinery (these should be counted in the ‘Working stock’ category on the third tab).
Paraffin wax / Solid or semi-solid material consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons obtained or derived from petroleum fractions. It includes all marketable wax, whether crude or refined.
Petroleum based solvents. / Petroleum based solvents produced at the refinery. Includes White Spirit, Industrial Spirit (SBP), etc.
Naphtha / A mixture of low boiling point hydrocarbons, typically extracted by distillation, with a range of different uses:
If naphtha is produced as a petrochemical feedstock, its production and stockholdings should be reported in the ‘Petrochemical feedstocks’ section in the ‘Gases-Unfin-Petrochem-Losses’ tab. Any returns of naphtha to the refinery from petrochemical plants should be included in the ‘Backflows’ section in the ‘Refinery inputs’ tab.
If naphtha is produced and then later used within the refinery as a feedstock to subsequent processes, such as reforming, it should be classified as an unfinished/intermediate product. As with other unfinished products, only opening and closing stock levels are required which should be reported in the ‘Working stock - Unfinished/intermediate products produced at this refinery’ section.
If naphtha is produced for sale or export, it should be reported in the ‘Naphtha’ section of the ‘Refinery output’ tab. Any deliveries of naphtha that will be blended/commingled with the refinery’s own naphtha or transformed into different naphthas (e.g. light and heavy) should also be reported in this section, under ‘Total receipts’.
If naphtha is imported to be blended (without further transformation) into gasoline or other finished products, it should be reported under the most appropriate sub-category of ‘Hydrocarbon blendstocks – imported’ in the ‘Refinery inputs’ tab.
If domestically produced naphtha is delivered to be blended (without further transformation) into gasoline or other finished products, it should be reported under the ‘Hydrocarbon blendstocks –domestic’ category in the ‘Refinery inputs’ tab.
Bitumen. / A solid, semi–solid or viscous hydrocarbon with a colloidal structure, obtained as a residue in the distillation of crude oil, by vacuum distillation of oil residues from atmospheric distillation. Bitumen is often referred to as asphalt and is primarily used for construction of roads and for roofing material. This category includes fluidized and cut back bitumen and bitumen feedstock.
Petroleum coke. / A solid by–product, obtained mainly by cracking and carbonising petroleum derived feedstock, vacuum bottoms, tar and pitches in processes such as delayed coking or fluid coking.
If the coke produced in the refinery is burned as fuel in the refinery this should be reported under ‘Consumed as fuel’.
Other products not elsewhere indicated / All finished products, not reportedelsewhere on the template, which have been produced by the refinery during the month.

Gases-Unfin-Petrochem-Losses