OMEGA: An Improved Gasoline Blending System for Texaco

Gasoline blending is a critical refinery operation. In 1980, Texaco began developing an improved, optimization based, decision support system for planning and scheduling its blending operations. The system, OMEGA, is implemented on personal computers and on larger computer systems. It relies on refinery data bases and on-line data acquisition and exploits detailed nonlinear models of gasoline attributes. Texaco uses OMEGA in all seven US refineries and its Canadian and Welsh refineries. Its benefits include an estimated $30 million annually, better quality control, improved planning and marketing information, and the ability to conduct a variety of what-if studies.