Middle East
Uganda in oil refinery talks with South Korean SK Engineering
Uganda has begun negotiations with a consortium led by South Korea's SK Engineering for the building of a crude oil refinery and ended talks with a group led by Russia's Rostec Global Resources.
India Essar eyes sale of Gujarat refinery
Essar Group is exploring the sale of its 405 Mbpd oil refinery in the western state of Gujarat.
Iraq's June oil exports fall as domestic usage rises
Iraq's oil exports from the southern ports fell slightly in June as power generators burning more fuel to keep up with demand for air conditioning increased domestic demand.
Trafigura in talks to buy stake in Essar Oil
Commodities trader Trafigura Group Pte. is in talks to buy a minority stake in Essar Oil Ltd., which runs India's second biggest private sector refinery, in a deal that could be valued at around $6.5 B.
Industry Metrics
US refinery utilization rates have increased in some areas following the peak of maintenance season.
Catalyst replacement strategy for a hydrocracking unit at a Middle East refinery
A Saudi Aramco refinery operates a series-flow, single-stage hydrocracking unit (HU) in a recycle high-conversion mode. The HU has been in operation for over 35 years and is being debottlenecked to increase its throughput by 20%.
Optimize isomerization reactor temperatures and component RON
Isomerate is useful because it is paraffinic and contains no benzene, aromatics or sulfur. This pentane and hexane fraction of crude oil is known as light naphtha. The main objective of reactions is to increase the research octane number (RON) of the components. Decreasing fuel consumption without changing the product RON of isomerization units is discussed here.
Secure the best benefits from C4 hydrocarbon processing—Part 1: Separation sequences
Crude C<sub>4</sub> streams from the steam cracker unit or the fluidized catalytic cracker unit contain valuable hydrocarbons, such as butadiene and C<sub>4</sub> olefins.
Global Project Data
According to <i>Hydrocarbon Processing’s </i> Construction Boxscore Database, there were nearly 90 new project announcements from January 2015 to June 2015.
EIA: China diesel exports grow as refining industry, economy change
China is reforming its refining sector by liberalizing import and export restrictions on crude oil and petroleum products, allowing for increased competition in the domestic transportation fuels market.
- 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 announced $18 B-$19-B CAPEX budget for 2026 12/5
- Russia and India sign deal to build urea plant in Russia 12/5

