Economics
Shell proposes adding Russian oil to Brent benchmark
LONDON (Reuters) -- Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday urged oil pricing agency S&P Global Platts to protect the dated Brent crude benchmark from declining North Sea supply by including other grades, such as Russian Urals, in its price-setting process.
Calif. Assemblyman Travis Allen files ballot initiative to repeal $52 B gas tax
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) filed an initiative to repeal the recently signed $52 B gas tax and move it to a vote of the California people in 2018.
Pemex seeks investors for its refineries, but who's buying?
NEW YORK/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Sweeping energy reforms have turned Mexico into one of the world's most attractive offshore prospects, but one segment is getting no love from US investors: the nation's aging refineries.
ConocoPhillips to lay off 300 in Canada oil sands pullback
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) -- ConocoPhillips will lay off 300 Canadian workers after selling most local assets to domestic crude producer Cenovus Energy Inc, the Houston-based company said on Thursday.
UK oil lobby warns May post-Brexit tariffs could double trade costs
LONDON (Reuters) -- The cost of Britain's oil and gas trade with the rest of the world could nearly double if the country fails to agree new tariffs when it leaves the European Union, the country's oil lobby group has warned Prime Minister Theresa May.
Equipment critical analysis: The need for an effective maintenance program
Oil refineries and large petrochemical plants contain thousands of pieces of process and utilities equipment that are subject to wear, erosion, deterioration, aging, etc., resulting in increasing breakdowns and outages. Imagine being a maintenance engineer and receiving 50 work orders during an overhaul with a limited budget, time, labor, spare parts, tools, machines, etc. How does that engineer prioritize the work?
Global: The future growth of Argentina’s oil and gas industry hinges on additional investments
Attracting new investments is vital to revive the Argentine oil industry. It is essential to involve multinationals, due to the lack of financial resources of the Argentinian government. The modernization of the country’s downstream infrastructure is crucial to improve productivity, and the nation will need international support to obtain profitable results.
Industry Perspectives: Hydrocarbon Processing’s IRPC returns to Europe in June
Founded in 2009, Gulf Publishing Company and Hydrocarbon Processing’s International Refining and Petrochemical Conference (IRPC) provides a series of events for the international downstream industry covering technical innovations, and exploring both the challenges and opportunities found in today’s market.
Embracing MACs: A better way of executing automation projects
Historically, automation projects have been executed as single-transaction projects. Often, individual projects, along with phases within a given project, are bid with the potential for new vendors and different engineering teams.
Extend unit life at ammonia-urea plants with debottlenecking and equipment replacement
Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. (NFCL) operates a large, modern, integrated ammonia-urea complex with an annual capacity of 1.6 metric MMtpd of urea from natural gas feedstock. The facility is laid out in two units, located in Kakinada in India’s coastal state of Andhra Pradesh.
- 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
