Project Management
Engineering Case Histories: Case 97—Beware of confirmation bias in industry
The term confirmation bias recently came up in a book I was reading,1 and it was then that I realized how relevant it was to engineering.
Modified revamp process to reduce energy use in an SDA unit
Solvent deasphalting (SDA) is emerging as a low-cost, bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading process to recover valuable oil from short residue. This oil can either be further processed to make lube-oil-based stocks or cracked in secondary processing units.
Engineering Case Histories: Case 96: Career paths—technical and management
I have spent most of my career in the mechanical engineering technical area because that is what I do best. I was a manager of advanced engineering for many years, but then realized that it was not my calling.
Automation Strategies: Adopting the IIoT: How the industry needs to rethink IT and OT relationships
For the connected enterprise, what was once just a futuristic ideal is now becoming a reality. Step by step, organizations are beginning to put together the pieces of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Business Trends: Human reliability—a disruptive innovation
Annual bottom-line losses due to equipment failures total more than $100 MM at major refineries and petrochemical complexes. Corporate executives charge plant personnel with improving the reliability of the facility.
Business Trends: Standardized modularization—Drivers, challenges and perspectives in the oil and gas industry
Modularization is an alternative way of performing engineering aimed to reduce the number of interfaces, the total installed cost (TIC) and overall schedule length of a project, while optimizing the return on investment (ROI) and allowing standardization for similar future projects.
Viewpoint: Operational excellence—The path to world-class performance
Why is operational excellence (OE) increasingly being recognized as the path to world-class performance?
Driving innovation in the downstream: IRPC returns to New Delhi
Gulf Publishing Company and Hydrocarbon Processing are pleased to announce that IRPC 2017 will be held April 18–20 in New Delhi.
Viewpoint: Three ways to protect the future of your workforce
With job cuts numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the oil and gas industry has been hard-hit by the massive drop in prices. While no immediate end to the crisis is in sight, there are signs that prices—and hiring—may pick up again later this year.
Automation Strategies: Next-gen automation services support operational excellence and reduce project cost
Major suppliers are expanding their automation-related service capabilities from project and engineering services through services for operations and maintenance. This is happening partly in response to overall automation market conditions, but largely in response to evolving user challenges and requirements.
- Kazakhstan to build a new $10-B, 10-MMtpy refinery 2/18
- U.S. EPA expected to send 2026 biofuel blending quotas to White House this week 2/18
- Kent awarded pre-FEED contract for Eq.flight, an advanced power-to-liquids SAF project 2/18
- ABB launches integrated carbon capture measurement solution to accelerate industrial decarbonization 2/18
- CONSER awarded technology licensing/PDP contract for DMS and BDO plant in China 2/18
- Singapore marine fuel sales maintain strong start in early 2026 2/18
