Management
HP Brief
Changes on the horizon at Harburg refineryNynas has received approval from the European Commission to take over production and responsibility for the base oil plant and associated production units at ..
HP Impact: Statoil issues report on In Amenas terrorist attack
Statoil’s board has concluded an investigation into the terrorist attack at the BP gas plant in In Amenas, Algeria. The investigation team visited the In Amenas plant on April 16 and issued its f..
Mitigate fouling in crude unit overhead—Part 1
In a refinery crude distillation column, up to 40% of the total heat removal may be found in the tower overhead condenser. The quantity of duty available makes heat integration (HI) between the column..
Improved oxidation process increases sulfur recovery with Claus unit
Since its development in 1936, the “modified Claus” technology has been the preferred process used by refineries and gas processing plants for the recovery of sulfur from acid-gas streams. M..
Novel use of sulfiding agent prevents refinery shutdown
When an insufficient supply of acid gas threatened to shut down operations at a US refinery, quick thinking, along with the novel use of a sulfiding agent and a strong supply chain made all the difference.
Consider accurate feed characterization with improved simulation methods
Assay definition is crucial for accurate process simulations. The performance of process simulators depends on the feed definition to the processing unit. Modern analytical laboratories can offer comp..
Optimize slop-wax bed height in the vacuum unit
The vacuum distillation (VD) unit in the petroleum refinery separates the heavier fraction of crude oil from the atmospheric distillation unit (ADU) into light vacuum gasoil (LVGO) and heavy VGO (HVGO..
HP Reliability: Leaders must allocate time for technology updates
Just as a good medical doctor is expected to have wide knowledge on modern treatment options, we would expect reliability professionals to be equally informed on technology advances. There are numerou..
HP Integration Strategies: The information-driven operating company
New information technologies—such as cloud computing, mobility, social technologies, big data/analytics and 3D visualization—have been receiving a lot of attention in the industrial communit..
HP Brief
A roundup of top news in the hydrocarbon processing industry from September's issue.

- Carbon capture tops agenda at GPAE Conference 2025 6/17
- INEOS to cease phenol production at German site, cites high European energy costs and CO2 tax policy 6/17
- Petrobras signs $892 MM in contracts to complete RNEST Train 2 refinery expansion 6/17
- China's May refinery throughput at 9-month low on plant overhauls (1) 6/17
- bp completes turnaround work at 250,000-bpd refinery in Washington (U.S.) 6/17
- Japan's Eneos restarts 77,000-bpd Kawasaki CDU after unplanned shutdown 6/17