Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Crude oil

Oil falls towards $44, lowest since May, on glut worries

Oil hit its lowest since May, falling towards $44/bl, pressured by concerns that a long-awaited rebalancing of the market would be delayed due to excess supply.

Secure the best benefit from C4 hydrocarbon processing—Part 2: Economic evaluation

thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG: Streich, T.  |  Kömpel, H.  |  Geng, J.  |  Renger, M.

Summarizing the outcome of the technical evaluation in Part 1 of this technical study, a tailor-made process route should be chosen for proper C<sub>4</sub> hydrocarbon processing to obtain the best benefits from case to case.

Catalytic advances make chemical upgrading a reality for heavy sour feeds

Auterra Inc.: Burnett, E.  |  Litz, K.  |  Schmelzer, G.

For many years, industry researchers have worked to find more cost-effective alternative processes than traditional hydroprocessing for upgrading petroleum fractions.

Industry Metrics

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

The impact of Canadian and French refinery outages caused margins to fall slightly in the Atlantic Basin and Europe, despite stronger gasoline demand and higher inventories.

Refining: Tackle operational challenges in refining unconventional crudes

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Andrew, Bob

Fuel refineries in earlier decades would preferentially process light sweet crudes, for the right price, to maximize gasoline and distillate production and to meet sulfur specifications with less cost.

US crude stockpiles fall, gasoline builds as refiners boost output

US crude oil stockpiles fell sharply last week and gasoline inventories posted an unseasonably surprise large build as refineries ramped up production.

India Essar eyes sale of Gujarat refinery

Essar Group is exploring the sale of its 405 Mbpd oil refinery in the western state of Gujarat.

Global: Meeting Africa’s demand for oil products

Contributing Editor: Oirere, S.

Demand for refined oil products is expected to continue growing in Africa, both in the short and medium terms. However, the continent’s refining capacity is unlikely to keep pace as commercial risks threaten to hold back planned new refineries and the expansion of existing facilities.

Industry Metrics

US refinery utilization rates have increased in some areas following the peak of maintenance season.

Business Trends: Will India be Asia’s next downstream powerhouse?

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

The Asia-Pacific region dominates in the total number of active projects in all sectors of the downstream hydrocarbon processing industry. Just as China has seen unprecedented growth over the past decade, India is emerging as the globe’s new oil demand center.