Refining
India's Gulf Oil to buy specialty chemicals company Houghton International
The acquisition will allow Gulf Oil, part of the diversified Hinduja Group, to expand its lubricants and chemicals business. Indian companies have been increasingly looking overseas for acquisitions because red tape, corruption and land acquisition issues often hurt plans to expand at home.
Marathon Petroleum restarts Detroit refinery after major expansion project
The $2.2 billion, four-year Detroit Heavy Oil Upgrade Project increased the refinery's heavy-oil processing capacity to 100,000 bpd, five times the amount it could process before the project. Heavy oil is usually sold at discounts to light varieties, which are easier to process.
Fire erupts at PdVSA Cardon refinery in Venezuela
Workers at the site shut down the unit shortly after a small explosion caused a fire at the plant, Ivan Freites, secretary general of the local oil workers union, said. He added that some workers were being evacuated as a precautionary measure but did not offer more details.
Kuwait to tender new refinery, clean fuel projects by early next year
The new refinery will be located in Kuwait's Al Zour region while the clean fuel project will involve a major upgrade of existing refineries in Mina Abdullah and Mina Al Ahmadi. KPC awarded two firms consultancy contracts for the projects and the other tenders for construction will soon be issued.
Fuel outages begin to ease in US Northeast
Eric DeGesero, executive vice president of the Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey, said a key bottleneck remains the closure of some major fuel terminals - a problem that means that the remaining terminals that are open face greater demand than normal.
JX Nippon to permanently end crude processing at Japan's Muroran refinery
JX said it will keep oil tanks in the site and transport refined products from elsewhere to Muroran to ensure adequate supply. JX will also maintain some secondary units to produce petrochemical products - mainly toluene and xylene - to be used as feedstock for a paraxylene joint venture in South Korea.
US waives clean gasoline rules for Sandy-hit region
Without the waiver, many of the states would have to use a special blend of gasoline to reduce pollution, rather than conventional blends that may be more widely available. The action by the EPA allows the sale of conventional gasoline even if it doesn't meet Clean Air Act regulations.
Relief valve and flare action items: What plant engineers should know
This article can help the plant engineer review the concerns developed by the design engineer. Implementing field modifications without performing such a review is costly and exposes a facility to unjustified risks.
Consider new technologies to raise diesel yield in bottom-of-barrel products
The debate continues over adding a new delayed coker vs. a residue hydrocracker upstream of an existing delayed coker.
Low-pressure absorption of CO2 from flue gas: Plant economics with incentives
The precedent to this article, published in the April 2011 issue of Hydrocarbon Processing, discussed the chemical feasibility and process engineering design to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from flue g..
- CTCI awarded $417-MM EPC contract to build ethylene storage in Qatar 11/15
- Russian refineries cut oil runs due to losses, closures loom 11/15
- Spain's Moeve swings to quarterly loss on weak refining margins 11/15
- Asia naphtha supply expected to remain tight over next two years 11/15
- Countries, companies lag in response to tackle methane emissions, U.N. says 11/15
- U.S. energy draws up a wish list for new Trump administration 11/15
