Maintenance & Reliability
Eliminate mechanical seal failure in a crude distillation unit
Multiple mechanical seal failures in a crude distillation unit (CDU) resulted in total losses of $3 MM in a refinery since its startup in January 2015. The maximum seal life achieved did not exceed 6 mos, which was much shorter than the American Petroleum Institute (API) 682 “Advancements in Mechanical Sealing” goal of 3 yr of seal life.
Japan plans maintenance at seven naphtha crackers in 2018
TOKYO (Reuters) — Seven naphtha crackers in Japan are expected to be shut in 2018 for scheduled maintenance, industry and company sources said.
Engineering Case Histories—Case 99: Pooling knowledge and experience builds personal and team success
With the help of an excellent mentor, I became adept at analyzing equipment and structures at the start of my career, using analytical techniques.
Reliability: Dry gas sealing technology replaces segmented carbon rings in small steam turbines
Since the late 1800s, small steam turbines have incorporated bushing-type, single-piece and/or segmented carbon gland components to reduce and prevent steam leakage along the shaft.
Incorporate assurance into an operational readiness program—Part 2
Investors have a critical need for assurance that the asset they are invested in will achieve continuous operation at the designed rates, as well as meet—and hopefully surpass—reliability, availability and maintenance targets safely.
Libya needs a week to repair blown-up oil pipeline
TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) — A Libyan crude oil pipeline blown up on Tuesday will take about a week to repair, the head of state oil firm NOC told Reuters on Wednesday.
PDVSA at risk of losing Bonaire terminal over maintenance delay
HOUSTON (Reuters) — Venezuela’s PDVSA could lose its license to operate an oil storage terminal it owns on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire if it does not soon fulfill maintenance demands by regulators, a government spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Ineos considers shifting refinery work due to Forties outage
LONDON (Reuters) — Ineos may bring forward maintenance work at its Grangemouth refinery in Scotland due to the unplanned outage at its Forties North Sea crude pipeline, which threatens to choke the plant's feedstock, industry sources said on Wednesday.
Innovations
In the demanding environment of a Claus reaction furnace, flame detection sensors must distinguish whether a flame is still burning against a hot refractory lining background.
Reliability: Deriving high value from reliability conferences
In August 2017, a publisher-colleague and I attended an important regional reliability conference in Galveston, Texas.
- Valero Energy Q4 profit beats estimates; shares surge 1/30
- Dow launches "Transform to Outperform" to raise the competitive industry benchmark for productivity and growth to enable improved returns 1/30
- Russian oil refineries' peak maintenance expected in January and September 1/30
- U.S. lifts some Venezuela sanctions to ease oil sales 1/30
- Keppel, Aster plan sustainable aviation fuel project in Singapore 1/30
- Boeing, Israel's Technion to develop sustainable aviation fuel, as sector grapples with 2050 goal 1/30
