Planning the decision-making process and strategic management of ROP wastewater treatment system in Abadan Oil Refinery with a combined benefit of SWOT and AHP

Abstract

The present study aimed to plan the decision-making process and strategic management of ROP system for oil refinery wastewater treatment with the combined benefits of the AHP and SWOT techniques. The research was conducted at Abadan Oil Refinery in Iran during 2019-2020. The AHP approach was used for the pairwise comparison of the factors or criteria to divide their priorities using eigenvalues. We also used statistical analysis, Delphi questionnaires, validity and reliability assessment of the research, and extraction of the influential external and internal factors in the performance of the ROP unit of Abadan Oil Refinery. In addition, the Expert Choice 2000 software was applied to weigh the parameters, and Cronbach's alpha was estimated at 0.932. Based on the SWOT matrix and due to the significant multiplicity and role of the internal weaknesses and external threats affecting the refining performance, the consistent, prioritized strategic planning had defensive strategies from the first- to the third-rank model output. The systemic, maintenance, and efficiency issues of the refinery ROP system necessitate the prioritization of defensive strategic strategies due to the considerable multiplicity and role of the internal weaknesses and external threats affecting the refinery performance. Our findings indicated that currently, the strategic state of the refinery ROP system in entropy conditions is unstable, and the strategic orientation to improve the operational and environmental efficiency of the refinery should be based on the minimization of the external threats and reduction of the internal weaknesses.