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The Nelson complexity index, developed by Wilbur Nelson in 1960, is a measure of the secondary conversion capacity of a petroleum refinery relative to the primary distillation capacity.

The Nelson complexity index assigns a complexity factor to each major piece of refinery equipment based on its complexity and cost in comparison to crude distillation, which is assigned a complexity factor of 1.0.






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The Nelson complexity index, developed by Wilbur Nelson in 1960, is a measure of the secondary conversion capacity of a petroleum refinery relative to the primary distillation capacity.

The Nelson complexity index assigns a complexity factor to each major piece of refinery equipment based on its complexity and cost in comparison to crude distillation, which is assigned a complexity factor of 1.0. The complexity of each piece of refinery equipment is then calculated by multiplying its complexity factor by its throughput ratio
Throughput (business)

Throughput can be best described as the rate at which a system generates money through sales. This is in stark contrast to output or production in that it is not enough to make something....
 as a percentage of crude distillation capacity. Adding up the complexity values assigned to each piece of equipment, including crude distillation, determines a refinery’s complexity on the Nelson Complexity Index.

The Nelson complexity index indicates not only the investment intensity or cost index of the refinery but also its potential value addition
Value added

Value added refers to the additional value of a commodity over the cost of commodities used to produce it from the previous stage of production....
. Thus, the higher the index number, the greater the cost of the refinery and the higher the value of its products.

In the second edition of the book Petroleum Refinery Process Economics (2000), author Robert Maples notes that US refineries rank highest in complexity index, averaging 9.5, compared with Europe's at 6.5. The Jamnagar refinery
Reliance Petroleum

Jamnagar Refinery Refining activities of Reliance Industries Limited are carried out at the Jamnagar refinery complex with refining capacity of 27 million tonnes per annum ....
 belonging to India-based Reliance Industries Limited is now one of the most complex refineries in the world with a Nelson complexity index of 14. The new refinery began trial production on December 25, 2008.

The Oil and Gas Journal calculates refinery complexity as measured by the Nelson Complexity Index annually.