Economics
Business Trends
The oil and gas industry is at a turning point.
Viewpoint—Industry 4.0: Demystifying the next big thing in oil and gas
Until a few years ago, the term Industrial Revolution referred to the significant technological changes that began in the late 1700s with the advent of the steam engine, leading to the mechanization of work and the unprecedented economic growth and prosperity that followed.
Refining—The evolving base oil industry: The Group 1 shift
In April, ExxonMobil launched its 2018 Basestocks Industry Pulse Report. Supported by survey responses from 300 base oil decision makers around the world, the report reveals their own perspectives into the key market trends and industry drivers in the base oils business.
Improve refinery production and efficiency with asset monitoring
The sheer volume of equipment in a refinery—from vessels, columns, huge structures and mazes of pipes to pumps, valves, controllers and instruments—is staggering.
Global Project Data
According to <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i>’s Construction Boxscore Database, more than 320 new projects have been announced in the downstream processing industry over the past year.
Viewpoint: Reducing the sulfur shadow— Who pays the price?
The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) 2020 regulation has been described as the most disruptive change to impact the oil industry in the past 30 yr.
Risk: Measuring margins—Avoiding complacency when the market is stable
When top oil marketer Geneva Energy Markets LLC liquidated its trading book holding<sup>1</sup> “millions of barrels of open interest across crude oil, refined products and natural gas,” managing partner Mark Vonderheide emphasized the pressures and potential damage of new market regulations.
The road to successful plant modernization
Any personnel working in a refinery or heavy petrochemical plant with “vintage” automation equipment are painfully aware of the effects a distributed control system (DCS) from the 1990s, 1980s or even earlier can have on operations.
Amine pumps upgraded for improved operations and reliability
A gas processing plant in Malaysia eliminated a source of expensive failures in its acid gas removal unit (AGRU).
Industry Metrics
US margins recorded losses as crack spreads declined for all products except fuel oil, despite lower refinery crude intakes.

- CNOOC completes construction on $2.9-B, 1.8-MMtpy integrated complex in east China 8/22
- bp's Whiting refinery (U.S.) continues to flare days after severe thunderstorm 8/22
- Bachmann introduces latest version M-Target for Simulink 8/22
- U.S. to rule on biofuel waivers, but big oil refiners may need to wait 8/22
- Chinese independent refiner Hongrun buys Canadian, Brazilian crude 8/22
- Ukrainian attack suspends Russian oil flows to Hungary, Slovakia 8/22