--- title: "Air Emissions Management: Oil Refinery Case Study | Cority" description: "See how a U.S. oil refinery automated air emissions calculations, cut consultant costs 75%, and finished reporting a month early." canonical: "/customer-stories-1/oil-refinery-air-emissions-management-case-study" published: 2026-09-30 --- # Air Emissions Management: Oil Refinery Case Study | Cority ## Header ## Hero ### How a major U.S. oil refinery regained control of air emissions management A sunsetting system hid how emissions were calculated, and spreadsheets filled the gaps. With Cority and ERM, the refinery nowmaintainsits own setup. **Download PDF** ## Highlights ###### 75% ###### Less spent on consultants ###### 4 weeks ###### Earlier annual reporting ###### 210 tanks ###### Hourly calculations ###### One click ###### Final report output ## Footprint Industry: **OIL REFINING** Facility: **210 TANKS 410 PROCESS UNITS** Regulatory context: **NON-ATTAINMENT AREA** Cority Deployed: AIR EMISSIONS MANAGEMENT · IMPLEMENTED WITH EMR ## Context ###### THE CONTEXT ###### Pemex ###### A U.S. refinery facing demanding air emissions requirements ###### The facility produces refined products for domestic and international markets. In a non-attainment area, it reports under Title V, the EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, and state and local rules. Hourly emissions calculations add to the complexity. ## Challenge ###### THE CHALLENGE ###### Seeing the data behind emissions ###### The refinery’s legacy environmental systemwas beingsunset. Its calculations were difficult to trace back to source data, while spreadsheets filled gaps in tracking site-wide limits. ###### “They didn’t have any automated way to track against some of their site-wide compliance limits.” — EHS Manager ###### The team needed to manage hourly limits and several reporting programs. Yet manual work and opaque calculations made audits harder and kept outside consultants involved. ###### This chaos was compounded by external factors ###### “We were a SharePoint, Excel, shared network drive nightmare. Information was everywhere, from filing cabinets to storing it online,” Bryn explains. Consultant support costs exceeded $200K annually Manual tracking of site-wide limits via spreadsheets Title V, EPA GHG, state/local programs use different data formats ###### All of this created what Bryn describes as ###### “a mismatch of information all over the place.” ## Problem ###### THE PROBLEM ###### When calculations stay hidden ###### The legacy system, now being sunset, obscured how source data became reported emissions. The team needed traceable inputs and its own control. ###### A black box with no way to trace calculations #### A black box ###### External experts handled fixes and upkeep at a cost above $200K a year. The refinery still faced year-end reporting scrambles because the legacy system was a black box—the teamcouldn'tsee how data was preprocessed or traced back to its source. This opacity meant audits were difficult, and compliance relied heavily onconsultantexpertiserather than in-house knowledge. ## Approach ###### THE APPROACH ###### A configurable air emissions system ###### Cority and ERM configured Cority’s Air Emissions Management software for hourly calculations across 210 tanks and 410 process units. ###### The refinery,ERMand Cority worked closely to configure the system for the facility's needs. Live reporting followed about 10 months after kickoff... ## Approach 2 ###### Integration pivot ###### Halfway through, the refinery lost IT support for its integration. Cority and ERMpivotedto a low-cost, reliable data connection. ###### Open methods ###### The team found legacy equation errors and could now trace emissions factors and inputs. ## Transformation ###### THE TRANSFORMATION ###### Control through reporting ###### A once-opaque system gave way to a configuration the refinery can ###### can inspect and maintain. ###### Sothey started by addressing their emissions control challenges through these five foundational implementation steps. ###### Map hourly requirements ###### 01 / ###### Configure tanks ###### 02 / ###### Adapt integration ###### 03 / ###### Trace calculation inputs ###### 04 / ###### Move to live reporting ###### 05 / ###### The team nowmonitorsand updates their emissions data throughout the year. This continuous oversight means they arrive at year-end with confidence in their reporting status—allowing them to complete annual reporting weeks earlier andeliminatethe typical end-of-year rush. ###### Because they canmaintainthe system themselves, the team now has full transparency into how calculations are being made. This level of visibilitydidn'texist before. Increased visibility into air emissions management meant time, money, and resources saved—and more transparent,auditable reporting overall. ###### We got the report approved at the beginning of March, which is one month before thetimeframeof whenit'sdue. That is the earliest we have ever gotten it done." ## Outcome ###### THE OUTCOME ###### Reporting four weeks earlier ###### Annual reporting wrapped four weeks earlier than ever before. The team reviewed visiblecalculations throughout the year. ###### “That is the earliest we have ever gotten it done.” — EHS Manager ###### Ergonomics ###### 75% lower annual consultant costs: $200K to about $50K ###### But the successes don’t end there. Since rolling out Cority at Pemex, the team has achieved the following wins: Hourly calculations across 210 storage tanks. Visible factors and methods aid audit review. Nine file pulls replaced by one-click output. Internal staffmaintainthe configuration. Greater confidence in emissions data. ## Quote ###### The environmental team now has a clearer view of calculations and more control over its annual reporting process. ###### "We got the report approved at the beginning of March, which is one month before thetimeframeof whenit'sdue. That is the earliestwe haveever gotten it done." –EHS Manager ## Cortex AI ###### See what connected emissions data can change Discuss airemissionscalculations, reporting, and audit readiness with Cority. ###### Book a Walkthrough ## Customer Stories ###### More Customer Stories ### Customer Stories Showing 0-0 of 0 Assets Type Learn from the best of lore. Name Description **VIEW CONTENT** ## Footer Subscribe for EHS & ESG insights, event invites, and industry updates **Subscribe**