Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Middle East

Egypt freezes talks on importing LNG from Qatar amid political tensions

Cash-strapped Egypt has frozen talks to import liquefied natural gas from wealthy Qatar due to the political instability and violence that erupted after the army swept the streets of the supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi last week, a leading official said Monday.

Iran detains Indian Oil tanker in Persian Gulf

The Shipping Corp. of India, the ship's owner, said Iranian authorities have detained the vessel since Tuesday afternoon and had alleged the Suezmax crude-oil tanker was polluting Iranian waters, though the company denies the allegation. Suezmax tankers are medium-sized oil tankers.

Iran expands tanker fleet in bid to maintain exports

Iran has added seven new Very Large Crude Carriers to its fleet since the beginning of the year, including four in the last four months. National Iranian Tanker Co.'s fleet now numbers 37 VLCCs, with a total capacity of 64 million bbl, and 14 smaller tankers, with a capacity of 12.5 million bbl.

Global LNG spending to double in next five years

The increase in capital expenditures includes onshore and offshore projects to liquefy gas for export, import terminals to regasify LNG and LNG carriers for transporting the fuel. By region, Australasia and North America are expected to bring most of the new supply to market.

Optimize your compressor maintenance program

Consultant: Geitner, F. K.

One deviation alone might not be enough to bring on a compressor failure, but, when several more deviations combine, the failure risk is known to increase exponentially.

Case history: Failure analysis of a syngas compressor

SABIC Technology Centre: van Zyl, G.  |  Al-Zahrani, E.  |  Al-Meshari, A.  |  Al-Haroon, M.

A first-stage impeller in a synthetic gas compressor failed after 20 years of service. The compressor is a six-stage centrifugal compressor driven by a steam turbine. This case history discusses the i..

Improve pressure drop calculations for saturated water lines

When saturated water flows through pipes and components, it flashes—thus increasing its specific volume and limiting the fluid flowrate. Due to these conditions, the calculation and design for pi..

World’s largest GTL facility turns to LIMS for enhanced operations

Thermo Fisher Scientific: Thurston, C.

Pearl GTL is using a new laboratory information management system (LIMS) to manage, analyze and integrate data that keeps the plant functioning securely and efficiently.

HP Reliability: Four-stage, low-flow process centrifugal compressor can fill important industry gaps

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

In the 1970s and 1980s, multistage centrifugal compressors in the 3,000 acfm (about 5,000m3/hr) and lower flow ranges were largely confined to instrument and plant air duties. Three stages with interc..

HP Integration Strategies: Consider procedural automation at a commercial-scale pilot plant

ARC Advisory Group: Miller, Paul

“All processes are batch processes to some degree. Even in ‘continuous’ process plants, processing units will need to be shut down at some point and then restarted to resume production...