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Environment & Safety

New oil slick in Gulf of Mexico traced to abandoned BP containment dome

Remote-controlled submarines that were sent down to search for the source of the light slick earlier this week found a small amount of oil leaking from the dome, a four-story tall steel box which in May 2010 was lowered onto the oil leaking from BP's well some 5,000 feet below the ocean surface.

Petronas, LanzaTech agree to develop acetic acid from waste gases

In this collaboration, the two firms say they will work together to extend the technology to include carbon dioxide (CO2) containing gases from several sources, including refinery off gases and natural gas wells, to produce acetic acid. Investment terms were not disclosed.

BP liability talks complicated by new Gulf oil slick

Federal officials said late this week that the oil slick, about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast near where the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, matches crude that gushed from the well, which was being drilled by BP. The source of the thin slick, known as a sheen, isn't clear.

Citgo reports fire at Corpus Christi refinery in Texas

The fire started earlier this week but resulted in no injuries, a Citgo official said. An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing, the official said. The Corpus refinery has a capacity of 163,000 bpd.

Fluor to build Canada carbon capture plant for Shell

The Athabasca project produces bitumen, which is piped to Shell’s Scotford upgrader. Fluor will provide full EPC services, using its patented third-generation modular execution approach for the 1.1 million tpy facility at the Scotford upgrader site. It is located near Edmonton, Alberta.

ExxonMobil Baytown fire caused by hole in reactor

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

ExxonMobil said this week's fire at its massive Texas refinery will result in some impacts to production, but it still expects to meet contractual agreements. All remaining refining operations are normal.

Fire halts production at TNK-BP's Saratov refinery

Mr. Shikhalov said the unit affected by the fire could be repaired and restarted within 24 hours. TNK-BP earlier shut down the refinery, which processes about 7 million tpy of crude. Mr. Shikhalov said the commission would also assess damage and investigate the cause of the fire.

HP Innovations: Innovations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Blume, Adrienne

Invensys introduces new technology offeringsSoftware and technology provider Invensys Operations Management recently released a program to help clients modernize and improve the performance of aging c..

HP Water Management: Consider software tools for water reuse projects

MarTech Systems, Inc.: Huchler, L. A.

The hydrocarbon processing industry needs reliable and economic sources of water for present and future operations. Ensuring a sustainable water supply requires a focused effort to evaluate the qualit..

Consider automated fault detection systems to improve facility reliability

REDUCT & Lobbe Technologies Inc.: Szladow, A. J.

Automated fault detection and diagnosis systems (AFDDSs) are well established in many consumer and industrial sectors.1 The conventional limit-value based (high/low alarms) fault detection and diagnos..