Americas
US officials tighten crude-by-rail shipping rules
Federal railroad officials are investigating whether some crude shipments contain chemicals from fracking that make them more hazardous than their classification indicates.
US approves Lake Charles group for LNG exports
The Energy Department said it is allowing Lake Charles Exports to ship up to 2 billion cubic feet/day of natural gas to countries lacking a free trade agreement with the US. The approval lasts for 20 years. Lake Charles Exports still needs to obtain permits from another federal agency, the FERC.
KBR wins FEED work to raise US refinery's capacity to handle heavy crudes
During the feasibility phase, KBR’s expertise will focus on determining the optimum economic configuration to increase overall heavy crude processing capability and flexibility. The refinery currently processes light sweet crudes and aims to take advantage of fluctuations in the crude oil pricing market.
Global LNG spending to double in next five years
The increase in capital expenditures includes onshore and offshore projects to liquefy gas for export, import terminals to regasify LNG and LNG carriers for transporting the fuel. By region, Australasia and North America are expected to bring most of the new supply to market.
EPA likely to lower US renewable fuels mandate
The EPA plans to reduce the volume of renewable fuel that refiners must blend into the US gasoline supply, a move that could shrink markets for ethanol and other products.
Enterprise chooses Foster Wheeler for engineering on Texas PDH project
Foster Wheeler was awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by Enterprise Products for a propane dehydrogenation unit (PDH) and associated power, utilities and infrastructure at Mont Belvieu, Texas. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
US Gulf, Western Canada vie for big gas projects
Producers largely have divided up into two camps: One is betting on Canada's industry-friendly federal government and its closer proximity to Asia. The other group is hoping already-developed infrastructure in the US will outweigh political uncertainty in Washington over large-scale exports of the cheap fuel.
New TransCanada pipeline to carry crudes from Alberta to East Canada
TransCanada plans to seek regulatory approval for the project from Canada's National Energy Board by the end of the year, and, if it succeeds, to start construction in 2016. Service to refineries in Montreal and Quebec City would begin the following year and then to Saint John in 2018.
Environmentalists warn of hazards in extracting gas from methane hydrate
The trillions of cubic feet of methane hydrates contained in the ocean's floor are in geologically unstable areas. The fear: One wrong move and an undersea landslide could send massive amounts of a particularly potent greenhouse gas to the ocean's surface and into the atmosphere.
Optimize your compressor maintenance program
One deviation alone might not be enough to bring on a compressor failure, but, when several more deviations combine, the failure risk is known to increase exponentially.
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