Environment & Safety
More fires expected after blast at Arkema's flooded Texas plant
CROSBY, Texas (Reuters) — Chemical maker Arkema SA said it expected more fires after two explosions hit its flooded plant 25 mi northeast of Houston on Thursday, sickening more than a dozen law enforcement personnel and prompting an evacuation of the surrounding area.
Fire breaks out at Exxon's refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands
(Reuters) — ExxonMobil Corp said on Monday a fire broke out at its refinery in Rotterdam but that there were no injuries and most of the facility remained operational.
Fire breaks out at Petrochina chemical plant in Dalian
BEIJING (Reuters) — A fire broke out on Thursday at state oil major PetroChina's plant in northeastern China, one of the country's largest refineries, state media reported, the latest industrial incident to rock the port city of Dalian.
Schneider Electric, Claroty partner to address safety, cybersecurity challenges
NEW YORK — Claroty, in Operational Technology (OT) network protection, and Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, announced that they are partnering to address safety and cybersecurity challenges for the world's industrial infrastructure.
California rolls out new refinery regulations
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State agencies today announced final approval of new regulations to strengthen workplace and environmental safety at oil refineries across the state. The regulations take effect Oct. 1.
Marathon Petroleum to pay $86 MM to settle Texas fire lawsuits
(Reuters) — US oil refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp said on Thursday it would pay $86 MM to settle lawsuits that allege injuries due to a January 2016 fire at its Galveston Bay, Texas refinery.
Freight train cars burning after derailment in Pennsylvania; residents flee
Hyndman, Pa. (Reuters) — Rail cars carrying gas and sulfur on a CSX Corp freight train skidded off the tracks and burst into flames on Wednesday in a small Pennsylvania town, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes as firefighters fought the blaze.
Rethinking the risk mitigation process and revitalizing operational safety
For the past 2 yr, oil prices have been in free-fall. At the time of writing, the WTI price is around $50/bbl, up slightly since OPEC’s May 2017 announcement to extend its September 2016 production cut of 2.2%.
Revamp fired heaters with a common air-preheating system to increase capacity
In any process plant, fired heaters are generally considered to be one of the most optimally designed pieces of equipment.
Boxscore Construction Analysis: The state of the global downstream construction sector
In May, Lee Nichols, Editor and Associate Publisher of <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i> and <i>Gas Processing</i>, presented a detailed, year-to-date trend analysis and review on new and active downstream construction projects around the world.

- thyssenkrupp Uhde completes pre-FEED for HAMR Energy’s renewable fuels project in Australia 8/21
- Ketjen introduces new breakthrough catalyst that mitigates the effects of iron poisoning in FCCUs 8/20
- Sumitomo Chemical achieves scale-up of its process for producing propylene directly from ethanol 8/20
- EcoCortec, Jakob Schober GmbH awarded sustainability award for closed-loop circular films solution 8/20
- Addverb reinvents its factory automation development with Siemens Xcelerator 8/20
- Sanctions-hit Indian refiner Nayara turns to ‘dark fleet’ 8/20