Asia/Pacific
Thai refiner IRPC's quarterly profit more than doubles on rising oil prices
BANGKOK (Reuters) — Thai oil refiner IRPC Pcl's net profit more than doubled in the third quarter as the subsidiary of energy giant PTT Group benefited from rising oil prices and higher margins on its chemical products.
Metso receives major oil and gas valve orders from Chinese petchem customers
Metso has received four major valve orders for the oil and gas industry from Chinese petrochemical customers.
BPCL ramps up run rate at Kochi refinery after expansion
SINGAPORE (Reuters) — India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) has ramped up the operating rate of its Kochi oil refinery after completing an expansion at the plant in southern India, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.
Business Trends: Preparing for a sea change in global refining
The global oil refining industry has been buffeted by many events in recent years.
Global: Russia’s plan to dominate fuel supply to Asia
Russia hopes to become a major supplier of gasoline, diesel fuel and other oil products to the Asia-Pacific region during the next several years, with help from the planned launch of large-scale refineries in the Far East that will be built with the participation of Asian investors.
Refining: Alkylation—What’s a refiner to do?
Within the refining industry, gasoline production and alkylation capacity are running at near all-time highs.
Editorial Comment: Ingenuity out of necessity
One of the main focal points in this issue of Hydrocarbon Processing is the environment.
Praxair starts up VPSA plants in South Korean petchem complex
DANBURY, Conn. — Praxair, Inc. announced it has started up three new vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) plants at the Daesan petrochemical complex located on the west coast of the Korean peninsula. Praxair will start up a fourth VPSA plant in early 2018.
Idemitsu restarts Chiba naphtha cracker
TOKYO (Reuters) — Japan's Idemitsu Kosan said on Wednesday it restarted the 414,000 tpy Chiba naphtha cracker after works to increase its capacity to process propane were completed.
S.Korea's SK Innovation to build new desulfurization unit by 2020
SEOUL (Reuters) — The owner of top South Korean oil refiner SK Energy said on Wednesday that it would spend about $897.8 MM to build a new desulfurization unit by 2020, part of a push to churn out cleaner shipping fuels.

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