Crude oil
Reliability: Exploring better compressor sour seal oil traps
An interesting case involving sour seal oil traps in an offshore application recently came to our attention.
Good distributor design for high-velocity feed debottlenecks a crude preflash tower
Bazan Group’s crude unit No. 3—not designed by any of the authors’ companies—was bottlenecked by the preflash tower.
Executive Viewpoint: It was the best of times
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”. Fortunately, this opening line from A Tale of Two Cities does not often present itself as an appropriate analogy to the oil and gas industry. Yet, here we are.
Business Trends: The economics of reliability—An interim report on the global refining industry
What is reliability? Most people think reliability is simply a measure of failure, or lack of failure. If something runs for a longer period without failing, then it is more reliable than something that runs for less time. However, reliability is a measure of how often something performs when you want it to.
Understanding HCN in FCC: Formation, effects and mitigating options
In these challenging times, fluidized catalytic cracking units (FCCUs) aim to improve margins by processing poorer- or different-quality feeds, while maintaining good yield performance.
TOTAL refineries improve overhead systems corrosion and salting with amine-neutralizing technology
Weak organic amines are commonly used in crude unit overhead systems to prevent acidic corrosion from chlorides and other acidic contaminants via a neutralization reaction.
Leveraging digital technologies to create the smart renewable diesel facility
Many companies are modifying existing crude refineries or building grassroots renewable diesel facilities to produce drop-in, green renewable diesel from a variety of agriculturally derived triglyceride feedstocks.
Reducing acid consumption: Maximizing sulfuric acid alkylation unit profitability
Alkylation is a process used to produce highly branched isoparaffins from the reaction of lighter olefins and isobutane in the presence of sulfuric acid as a catalyst.
Converting a petroleum diesel refinery for renewable diesel
As refiners consider renewable, low-carbon alternatives, renewable diesel—refined from agricultural products using petroleum refinery processes—is gaining traction.
Industry Metrics
U.S. refinery margins extended their upward trend for the fifth consecutive month, exhibiting the largest upturn relative to other regions.
- Topsoe and Sasol bring advanced SAF technology to Allied Biofuel’s landmark project in Uzbekistan 7/14
- Siemens Energy begins preparations for the launch of an independent brand 7/14
- Emerson helps Romania’s largest refinery reduce control system alarms by over 95% 7/14
- Bunker One executes Latin America's first bioethanol bunkering of a deep-sea container vessel 7/14
- Kognitiv Spark advances the future of connected field worker collaboration 7/14
- EIA: Global LNG trade volumes reached record high in 2025 7/14
