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

Natural Gas

Industry Metrics

A lack of gasoline export opportunities amid increasing inflows of middle distillates impacted the European market. Stronger US domestic gasoline demand and falling inventories ahead of the transition to summer-grade quality supported refinery margins. The Asia market was impacted by a stronger domestic gasoline demand amid an upcoming switch to summer grades.

Recommended practices for fired process heater instrumentation and control

Burns & McDonnell: Schaffer, C.

Fired process heaters are one of the most critical pieces of equipment within many refinery and petrochemical facilities. Proper instrumentation and control of the equipment has direct bearing on the successful operation of the process, as well as on overall facility process safety.

Extend unit life at ammonia-urea plants with debottlenecking and equipment replacement

Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd.: Kumar, K. R. R.  |  Anand, G. V. S.

Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. (NFCL) operates a large, modern, integrated ammonia-urea complex with an annual capacity of 1.6 metric MMtpd of urea from natural gas feedstock. The facility is laid out in two units, located in Kakinada in India’s coastal state of Andhra Pradesh.

Industry Metrics

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

Asian refinery margins remained healthy ahead of the spring maintenance season, despite a slight fall due to signs of a bearish gasoline market.

India to cut Iranian oil purchases in row over gas field

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- Indian state refiners will cut oil imports from Iran in 2017/18 by a fifth, as New Delhi takes a more assertive stance over an impasse on a giant gas field that it wants awarded to an Indian consortium, sources familiar with the matter said.

Honeywell UOP scientists recognized for methanol-to-olefins technology

DES PLAINES, Ill. – Honeywell UOP announced that the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Fuels and Petrochemical Division has recognized four of its scientists with the 2016 Industrial Research & Development Award for the development and commercialization of the UOP Advanced Methanol-to-Olefins process.

EMGC '17: Prospects for accelerating gas trade and regional energy cooperation

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Blume, Adrienne

NICOSIA—Gulf Publishing Company's Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference (EMGC) 2017, the world's primary event for discussing the forces shaping gas industry development in the Eastern Med, continued on March 15.

EMGC '17: Eastern Med gas monetization demands regional cooperation

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Blume, Adrienne

NICOSIA—Gulf Publishing Company's fourth Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference (EMGC) 2017 continued on the afternoon of March 14 with sessions devoted to gas monetization options and foreign investment initiatives.

Industry Metrics

The European market saw stronger domestic demand amid gasoline export opportunities to West Africa and higher volumes of naphtha and fuel oil to Asia, fed by continued strong demand in that region. After recovery from the impact of the Colonial Pipeline outage, US refinery runs have risen, mainly in the USGC, taking advantage of stronger export opportunities and ahead of the spring maintenance season.

Business Trends: Africa—Will increasing demand spark downstream capacity builds?

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Over the past decade, Africa’s oil demand has increased by more than 1 MMbpd, to nearly 3.9 MMbpd. Africa’s oil production is more than double the amount it consumes, but lack of investment, failing infrastructure and inadequate refining capacity force the continent to rely on imports to satisfy increasing fuel demand.