Refining
LPG subsidy burden climbs as Indonesia considers price hike
JAKARTA (Reuters) — The cost of Indonesia's subsidy on LPG is increasing, leading to the country paying at least half of the cost of the fuel, said an official from state-owned energy company Pertamina on Tuesday.
China "teapot" oil group urges compliance on quotas, tax
BEIJING (Reuters) — An alliance of more than 20 of China's independent oil refineries has urged its members to strictly adhere to government rules on oil quotas and taxes, according to a group statement seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
Case study: Improve vacuum tower operation with VFD addition
The bottom pump in crude vacuum units is an area of concern for almost all petroleum oil refineries. The harsh operating parameters in which these pumps operate, including high product temperature and significant vacuum suction pressure, have resulted in frequent vacuum tower upsets and low mean time between failures (MTBF) for vacuum bottom pumps.
Improve H2O measurement in catalytic reformer H2 recycle streams
Catalytic reformer units convert naphtha into high-octane aromatic compounds called reformates, which are used in gasoline blending and formulation. UOP developed the catalytic reforming process and brought the first unit into operation in 1949.
Modified revamp process to reduce energy use in an SDA unit
Solvent deasphalting (SDA) is emerging as a low-cost, bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading process to recover valuable oil from short residue. This oil can either be further processed to make lube-oil-based stocks or cracked in secondary processing units.
People
Randy Schmidt has been named Managing Director of the Burns & McDonnell Terminals and Pipelines group, replacing Ted Born, who is retiring.
Innovations
Siemens has been working closely with the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on a cyber security project.
Global Project Data
<i>Hydrocarbon Processing’s</i> Construction Boxscore Database is tracking more than 1,700 active downstream projects around the world.
Industry Metrics
US gasoline demand increased with the shift to summer fuels and higher export opportunities to Latin America.
Business Trends: The digital frontier and the process industry
Is a digital revolution underway in the process industry? For years, we have been hearing more and more about the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Industry 4.0, Connected xxx (plant, enterprise, field, performance, etc.), smart Clouds, smart devices and so on. These concepts share numerous similarities, usually with a slightly different twist depending on who is promoting or selling them. But is the hype and buzz rapidly spreading to day-to-day applications and implementations? Not quite.
- ITT to acquire SPX Flow for > $4.77 B, expanding leadership in highly engineered components and adjacent flow technologies 12/5
- MOL Group introduces eco-friendly Bag-in-Box packaging for lubricants 12/5
- Addis Energy secures $8.3 MM to scale its transformative approach to low-cost ammonia production 12/5
- World Fuel Services supplies cruise line with waste-based biofuels 12/5
- Chevron announces $18 B-$19-B CAPEX budget for 2026 12/5
- Russia and India sign deal to build urea plant in Russia 12/5
