Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Crude oil

EIA raises 2012 price forecasts for crude oil, fuels

The Energy Information Administration projected the price of West Texas Intermediate crude, the US benchmark, will average $93.90/bbl in 2012, up from $92.83/bbl predicted in July. Retail gasoline prices were forecast to average $3.53/gal this year, up from $3.49/gal in the July estimate.

CNPC to resume Hohhot refinery operations after year-long shutdown

The China refinery has been shut since August 2011 to make way for a new crude distillation unit, fluid catalytic cracking unit and polypropylene unit. It will now be able to produce 1.7 million tons of gasoline, 2.1 million tons of diesel, 200,000 tons of jet fuel and 150,000 tons of polypropylene.

Canadian energy regulator to audit pipeline safety practices of Enbridge

Canada's National Energy Board is reviewing the Calgary pipeline company's management practices and safety record. The audits come after the US National Transportation Board released last month a report critical of Enbridge's handling of a 2010 crude oil spill in Marshall, Michigan.

HP Insight: How long is an economic cycle for the HPI?

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Romanow, Stephany

As summer takes hold in the Northern Hemisphere, demand for energy in various forms increases. In looking back over the past 90 years, energy demand and pricing cycle through high and low points. In 2..

HP Impact: Comparing land use impacts for petroleum and biofuels

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Thinnes, Billy

The biofuels industry claims its fuel is unfairly singled out by potential regulatory policies that focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with land use change. It argues that petroleum al..

US bars Enbridge from Wisconsin pipeline restart

The U.S Department of Transportation issued a corrective order against Enbridge for the Wisconsin spill, saying the Calgary energy infrastructure company must conduct new tests on the integrity of the pipeline as well as bring in an independent expert to investigate the company's pipeline maintenance plan.

TransCanada wins final permit to build Gulf leg of Keystone XL pipeline

With the extension, the company says Gulf Coast refiners can access cheaper domestic production and avoid paying a premium to foreign producers, thereby reducing costs.

Bakken crude reaches Louisiana refiners by barge

Kirby Corp. appears to be the first barge operator to use America's famed Mississippi River as a highway for oil from the land-locked Bakken, an oil-rich area in North Dakota. The barges take a week to travel down the Mississippi River to bring the oil to the Baton Rouge, La. area.

US safety board says lapses led to BP oil spill

The CSB said a "robust system of process safety indicators" may have revealed problems that led to the disaster, such as discordant safety controls between BP and Transocean.

Essar, Barclays reach crude oil supply deal for UK Stanlow refinery

Under the three-year deal announced Wednesday, Barclays has already started buying crude for the Stanlow refinery, the UK's second largest at 296,000 bpd. Barclays has also taken control of inventories of crude oil and refined products on the site worth $700 million, Essar said.