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Refining

Asia's booming diesel market draws rare European cargoes

LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Oil traders are shipping diesel out of Europe to Asia and the Middle East where strong demand and tighter supplies have boosted prices, in a rare arbitrage that reverses traditional routes.

Indian refiners tap spot crude market to feed increased capacity

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) — Indian companies have stepped up purchases of high-sulfur crude oil from the Middle East and Russia in the spot market to feed demand from expanded refining capacity, trade sources said.

Saudi Aramco, France's Total study mixed feed cracker

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) — Saudi Aramco and France's Total are considering building a mixed-feed cracker and derivatives in Jubail, near their joint refining complex, industry sources said.

Indian Oil plans to buy N. American sour crude for the first time

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) — India's top refiner has issued its first tender to buy high-sulfur, or sour, crude from North America as it seeks to diversify imports, three trading sources said on Tuesday.

Sinopec upgrades 11 refineries to meet stricter fuel standards

BEIJING (Reuters) — China's Sinopec says on Monday the company has upgraded 11 refineries in North China to meet the stricter standards for fuel.

Japan's Idemitsu: No plan to call shareholders' meeting on Showa Shell merger

TOKYO (Reuters) — Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co said it had no plans to call a shareholders' meeting to vote on a merger with rival Showa Shell Sekiyu after the issuance of new shares, which would dilute the stake held by the refiner's founding family.

Business Trends: Innovative commissioning and startup technologies for industrial projects

University of Nevada: Choi, J. O.
University of Texas: O'Connor, J. T.
Delta Air Lines: Winkler, M.

The performance of capital project facility commissioning, startup and initial operations often falls short of expectations, and the opportunity for innovative commissioning and startup technologies has yet to be discussed extensively.

Design and troubleshoot the orifice chamber in an FCCU

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd.: Saidulu, G.  |  Yadav, M.  |  Satheesh, V. K.  |  Sahney, A. S.  |  Bhattacharyya, D.

The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process remains one of the most important secondary conversion processes due to its inherent capability to upgrade residual streams and its flexibility to maximize the desired product, depending on market dynamics.

Enhanced flash zone design for coker fractionators

Bechtel Corp.: Thomas, C.  |  Spalding, M.  |  Patel, D.  |  Varma, H.

Since the flash zone is the first process undergone by the coke drum effluent vapor upon entering the column, the operation of the flash zone is critical to the operation of the entire coker fractionator column.

View/Alt-View: Giving voice to alternative views

Opportune LLP: Campos, J.
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Andrew, Bob

Our publication often features a Viewpoint column, an executive-level short opinion piece that usually focuses on the author’s sector of the hydrocarbon processing industry. This month, we are featuring two columns back-to-back, presenting alternative views on a single topic. We use the word “alternative” deliberately—rather than “opposing”—as we wish to highlight views that present legitimately different perspectives.