Americas
Use model-based temperature control for fixed-bed reactors
A process unit at BASF’s Geismar, Louisiana manufacturing facility contains a series of six packed-bed reactors filled with a proprietary catalyst. This catalyst promotes an exothermic reaction, ..
Overcome barriers to proper planning and scheduling
Planning and scheduling must work hand-in-hand for a turnaround, outage or shutdown to be executed to budget and schedule. Unless proper diligence is given up-front to planning and scheduling, no amou..
Exxon pipeline ruptures in Arkansas, spilling crude
Exxon said the weekend breach caused a few thousand barrels of oil to spill into Mayflower, a town of less than 3,000 about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock. The Environmental Protection Agency called it a "major spill," a category that includes any spill larger than 250 barrels.
Kinder Morgan to expand methanol storage tanks at Louisiana liquids terminal
The assets will provide critical marine, rail and truck access in support of a 1 million tpy methanol production plant being relocated by Methanex from Chile, South America. The terminal is expected to be in service during the second half of 2014, coinciding with the anticipated startup of the relocated plant.
Gasoline prices fall on high supply, lower crude
US pump prices for gasoline are dropping as refiners are boosting production and crude-oil prices are down from a year earlier, according to domestic travel group AAA.
US refiners decry latest EPA proposal for tougher auto pollution standards
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce the proposal as early as Friday. It is expected to require refiners to reduce the amount of sulfur in gasoline to 10 parts per million, down from the current standard of 30 ppm, people familiar with the issue said.
Chevron cuts executive pay amid safety woes
Chevron's board is cutting compensation for its CEO and other top executives in the wake of a string of accidents and other operational problems since late 2011.
Suncor, Total kill plan for Alberta bitumen upgrader
Amid the ongoing US oil boom, Suncor executives said it may not make sense to spend money on a new upgrading facility, which was to be located in Alberta. Instead, Suncor said it could be more economical to simply send unprocessed heavy bitumen to refiners equipped to handle it.
Kinder Morgan to boost US condensate processing after BP throughput deal
Kinder Morgan's processing facility will split condensate into its various components, such as light and heavy naphtha, kerosene, diesel and gas oil, and can be expanded pending additional market demand, the company said. The new investment will increase its total capacity to 100,000 bpd.
US refinery use signals stronger crude demand
A better-than-expected increase in last week's US refinery utilization rates is welcome relief to recent concerns that weak demand was contributing to a surplus of crude oil.
- XRG to expand its global chemicals reach with takeover of Covestro 11/21
- U.S. FERC explores blanket authorizations for LNG projects 11/21
- thyssenkrupp Uhde selected by Dangote Fertilizer Ltd. to license four urea granulation units in Nigeria 11/21
- Indian and Chinese refineries are moving to comply with U.S. sanctions on Russia 11/21
- Dynamis Power Solutions awards Baker Hughes with significant order for gas turbine technology to support mobile power for oil and gas applications 11/21
- China's first coal-to-chemicals project with green hydrogen starts commercial operations 11/20
