Crude oil
Refining: Despite decline, Group 1 base stocks are here to stay
Given increasingly stringent automotive specifications and the advent of the International Maritime Organization’s 2020 sulfur regulations, the continued decrease in Group I base stocks demand should come as no surprise for anyone in the industry.
Octane enhancement avoiding both high reformer severity and alkylation
An innovative refinery process arrangementa converts butane-rich, light paraffinic streams—preferably containing a high proportion of isobutane—into butylene by dehydrogenation.
Safety: Where foresight replaces hindsight: How AI impacts the future of oil and gas safety
According to the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), there were 31 fatal incidents across the industry in 2018.
Design of very-high-flow coefficient centrifugal compressor stages
Centrifugal compressors are widely used in the oil and gas and petrochemical industries, with more than 15,000 operating in the U.S. alone.
Industry Metrics
High product inventory levels and weak heating oil demand continued to weigh on U.S. refining economics. European product markets, except gasoil, exhibited positive performance backed by firm exports and heavy turnarounds in the Middle East.
Business Trends: Rethinking the refining and petrochemicals industries
Crude oil has been the fundamental element of transportation fuel for many decades.
Construction
Nigeria LNG (NLNG), a consortium comprised of Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), Shell, Total and Eni, has greenlighted the expansion of the Bonny Island LNG terminal.
Executive Viewpoint: Fuels and petrochemicals will continue to help humanity thrive
A 15-yr rise in U.S. exports of refined products continued in 2019 with the nation exporting more than ever, underscoring the importance of these products to fueling a growing world. In the latter half of the last decade, U.S. petrochemical production capacity increased—with more than $20 B invested in domestic petrochemical projects in the last 2 yr alone—and exports of petrochemicals and petrochemical feedstocks rose, as well.
Brazilian developments in the biofuels market
Since the 1970s, Brazil has been a world reference in automotive biofuels, especially bioethanol produced from sugarcane. In 1973, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) forced a sharp rise in oil prices, triggering a massive slowdown in the country’s economic growth, which had been going through what was dubbed the “economic miracle,” with growth at an average of 12% of GDP. This study gives an overview of the biofuel sector in Brazil, along with the main business challenges and opportunities in this area.
Fluid Flow: Energy markets, product improvements drive growth in the global flowmeter market
The size of the global flowmeter market has followed the upward and downward fluctuations in oil prices and is now on an upward trajectory, according to a new study by Flow Research that provides total global market shares of the major suppliers of each flowmeter technology (except sonar and optical) by 2018 revenues.
- Topsoe fuels China’s push for sustainable aviation fuel: Selected as technology provider for major project 1/23
- Europe set for record LNG imports in 2026 1/23
- Plug Power completes installation of 100-MW GenEco electrolyzer units at Galp’s Sines refinery 1/23
- Reju announces site selection for first U.S. industrial-sized facility regeneration hub 1/23
- Engineering a low-cost alternative catalyst for producing sustainable petrochemicals 1/23
- New report identifies methanol-to-jet as a key accelerator of the next wave of sustainable aviation fuel 1/23

