Europe
Lanxess to shut Belgium butyl rubber, Texas EPDM plants amid weak demand
Soft underlying demand in the second half of 2012 has continued into 2013 across most businesses, against the usual seasonal trend. Lanxess said the closures are to counter the current soft demand.
Phillips 66 mulls sale of European, Asian refineries
Larry Ziemba, executive vice president for refining, project development and procurement, said that, for the right price the company would consider selling a 71,000 bpd refinery in Cork, Ireland, and its joint venture stakes in refineries in Malaysia and Germany. "They're really not strategic," Mr. Ziemba said.
Lukoil sells Odessa refinery in Ukraine to Vetek
The refinery, with a capacity of 3.9 million tpy, has been idle since the end of 2010. The decision to sell is part of a plan by Lukoil -- Russia's No. 2 crude oil producer -- to restructure its international refining assets, the company said. The deal is expected to be closed before June 1, after both sides fulfill conditions.
Monitor and minimize corrosion in high-TAN crude processing
In addition to inhibitor dosing, intensive corrosion monitoring and analytical tests play a major role in equipment and piping health monitoring and in analyzing stream properties online.
Mitigate reactor failures due to graphitization
Graphitization occurs in carbon steel (CS) reactors in high-temperature service (> 455°C). As discussed in this case history, the shell of a methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) reactor became s..
Corrosion under insulation is a hidden problem
Corrosion under insulation (CUI) is one of the costliest avoidable problems facing the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) today. CUI afflicts refineries—specifically, the steel piping, storage..
Process safety management: Going beyond functional safety
Operating companies are increasing efforts to reduce the risk of catastrophic events such as the release of toxic, reactive or explosive chemicals that can damage the environment or plant assets.
Operator response to alarms is an important protection layer
Operator response to alarms is important layers of protection (LOP). When implemented with good design, engineering and maintenance practices, an alarm can help reduce the safety integrity level (SIL)..
Key aspects of design and operational safety in offsite storage terminals
The Buncefield incident in the UK and the Jaipur fire in India stand out as major offsite storage terminal disasters in the European and Asian regions. In the Americas, a similar explosion rocked the ..
Improve benzene control
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Mobile Source Toxics (MSAT) Rule on February 26, 2007 (40 CFR Parts 59, 80, 85 and 86). This rule required refiners to reduce the average benzen..
- Aramco’s gas strategy builds momentum with major progress towards growth target 2/26
- Carbon Direct and C2X announce collaboration on pioneering forestry residue-to-biofuel project 2/26
- Air bp signs agreement with Airbus for aviation services and fuel supply in Europe 2/26
- Turkey Wealth Fund in talks for a potential $10-B petrochemical complex 2/26
- Asia's ethanol targets and recent developments 2/26
- Eni can now receive oil from Venezuela as payment for gas, CEO says 2/26
