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Refining

Exxon says it is dealing with 'operational matter' at Britain's Fawley refinery

Exxon Mobil said it was dealing with an "operational matter" at its Fawley oil refinery in Britain.

Kuwait's KIPIC says first phase of Al-Zour refinery starts commercial operations

The commercial launch comes after the project started last month to produce and sell primary quantities of fuel oil and supply it to local power stations.

U.S. oil refiners to keep running at breakneck speeds in fourth quarter

U.S. oil refiners this quarter will run their plants at breakneck rates, near or above 90% of capacity, as tight fuel supplies spur high profits and operating rates, according to company forecasts and analysts surveyed by Reuters.

French energy minister says fuel supply crisis over

Supply at French petrol stations is returning to normal with only one TotalEnergies refinery at Feyzin in Southern France still on strike, Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Thursday.

Exxon's French Fos-Sur-Mer oil refinery to restart by end of week

The restart of Exxon Mobil's 140,000-bpd Fos-Sur-Mer oil refinery in France should be completed by the end of the week, a company spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

OMV and Wood sign MoU for commercial licensing of ReOil technology

A ReOil pilot plant has been operating in the OMV refinery in Schwechat, Austria, since 2018 and has been processing end-of-life plastics for more than 17,000 hours to date.

Petronas says assessing fire damage at Malaysian joint venture with Aramco

Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said on Tuesday it was studying the damage to interconnecting pipes caused by a fire last week at its refinery and petrochemical joint venture with Saudi Aramco.

Why sulfur plants fail: An in-depth study of sulfur recovery unit failures—Part 2

Sulphur Experts: Bohme, G. E.

Equipment malfunction or an unplanned shutdown of a sulfur recovery unit (SRU) can have a significant effect on a production company’s profitability, along with an equally serious impact on personnel safety and the environment.

Innovations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

Anyone who has encountered foam clamshells for restaurant takeout food, white or green “peanut” packing to cushion shipments, or those thick foam blocks for protecting boxed furniture is familiar with expanded polystyrene (EPS).

Mechanical design challenges in high-temperature electric heaters

Contributing Editor: Pramanik, R.
China Petroleum Engineering Co. Ltd.: Srinath, N. R.
Fluor Canada Ltd.: Stefanovic, R.

Electric heaters are used in the process industries as an alternative to fired heaters or process heaters—where the heating medium is either steam or any heating fluid—for some specific applications where the process duties are low but fluids are heated to high temperature.