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Refining

Guyana says future oil output could be refined in Trinidad, Suriname

GEORGETOWN (Reuters) -- The South American nation of Guyana could send future oil production to Trinidad and Tobago or Suriname for refining, a government official said on Thursday.

China's largest 'teapot' refiner, CEFC team up in Shandong oil terminal venture

BEIJING (Reuters) -- Dongming Petrochemical, China's largest independent or 'teapot' refiner, has signed a deal with privately run CEFC China Energy and a local port authority to build a crude oil terminal in Shandong province, seeking to ease a logistics bottleneck gripping the country's teapot oil sector.

Industry Metrics

The European market saw stronger domestic demand amid gasoline export opportunities to West Africa and higher volumes of naphtha and fuel oil to Asia, fed by continued strong demand in that region. After recovery from the impact of the Colonial Pipeline outage, US refinery runs have risen, mainly in the USGC, taking advantage of stronger export opportunities and ahead of the spring maintenance season.

Business Trends: Africa—Will increasing demand spark downstream capacity builds?

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Over the past decade, Africa’s oil demand has increased by more than 1 MMbpd, to nearly 3.9 MMbpd. Africa’s oil production is more than double the amount it consumes, but lack of investment, failing infrastructure and inadequate refining capacity force the continent to rely on imports to satisfy increasing fuel demand.

Alternatives to flare gas recovery for sour refinery flare gas

Trimeric Corp.: McIntush, K.  |  Mamrosh, D. L.  |  Jones, R. A.  |  Beitler, C. M.

For many sour gas streams present in a flare header, less expensive options than flare gas recovery may exist. The compressors, liquids management, downstream treating and other systems required for flare gas recovery (FGR) can be expensive to install and/or operate reliably. Some refineries allow the flaring of sweet gases.

Vibration studies offer valuable lessons for correcting problematic operations

Suncor Energy Inc.: Tharakan, J.

All plants have a vibration monitoring program for rotating equipment. Portable instruments measure vibration at the bearing housing of machines at horizontal (x), vertical (y) and axial (z) directions. The frequency spectrum helps diagnose the causes of vibration.

Advance analytics to keep pace with production

Thermo Fisher Scientific: Van Cann, B.

Predicting the state of the energy industry a year or two from now is difficult. At best, potential scenarios can be envisioned, as in the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2016. Through this analysis of data and market reports, the IEA casts its projections for different scenarios to the year 2040. The IEA expects the fastest growth to occur in renewable energy, given recent climate pledges by global governments.

Implement proactive asset management techniques

T.A. Cook Consultants Inc.: Natarelli, J.

The drop in crude oil prices since 2014 has impacted both upstream producers and downstream players. Upstream producers—those responsible for exploration, drilling and production—were the first to feel the effects. While refining margins benefitted from the drop in crude oil pricing, they began to suffer when record surpluses of gasoline and diesel flooded the market a year later.

Expand crude diet flexibility through comprehensive oil management

Baker Hughes: Arensdorf, J.  |  Hoffman, G.

One of the primary means for refiners to boost profitability is to improve crude diet flexibility. Many refiners are challenged with increasing their margins while the quality of the global crude oil supply declines.

Saudi Arabia may raise light crude price to Asia for third straight month in April

(Reuters) -- Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia could raise the price of Arab Light crude it sells to Asia in April for a third straight month after Middle East benchmark Dubai crude strengthened on OPEC cuts, four of seven respondents said in a Reuters survey of refiners and traders on Wednesday.