Crude oil
China's $10 B strategic project in Myanmar sparks local ire
KYAUK PYU, Myanmar (Reuters) — Days before the first supertanker carrying 140 Mt of Chinese-bound crude oil arrived in Myanmar's Kyauk Pyu port, local officials confiscated Nyein Aye's fishing nets.
Oil pipeline protester convicted of burglary in Washington state
(Reuters) — A climate-change activist who disrupted the flow of millions of barrels of crude oil into the United States as part of a coordinated protest of global warming was found guilty of burglary in Washington state on Wednesday. But a Skagit County Superior Court jury deadlocked on a second charge of sabotage against Kenneth Ward, a co-founder of the Climate Disobedience Center.
Sinopec says did not receive order to relocate Yanshan oil refinery
BEIJING (Reuters) — China's Sinopec has not received a government order to relocate the Yanshan oil refinery, contradicting an earlier news report that the plant would be moved to develop the Xiongan New Area, the company said on Thursday.
UAE re-imposes port ban on Qatari-linked oil tankers
SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Abu Dhabi Petroleum Ports Authority has re-imposed a ban on oil tankers linked to Qatar calling at ports in the United Arab Emirates, reversing an earlier decision to ease restrictions, and potentially creating a logjam of crude cargoes.
EIA: US remains the world’s top producer of petroleum, natgas hydrocarbons
The US remained the world's top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2016 for the fifth straight year despite production declines for both petroleum and natural gas relative to their 2015 levels.
Tankers load Qatari crude along with UAE oil as shipping ban eases
SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Exports of Qatari crude oil have not been hindered by a port ban imposed by other Gulf states as tankers are loading Qatari grades along with cargoes from the United Arab Emirate, shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon showed on Wednesday.
Venezuelan refinery reels as PDVSA ships light oil to Cuba, Curacao
(Reuters) — Venezuela's 187,000-bpd Puerto la Cruz refinery is running at 16% of capacity, mainly due to a lack of light oil as state-run PDVSA ships a portion of its Mesa 30 crude to Cuba and Curacao, according to internal trade reports and workers.
Platts restricts Qatari-loading crude in pricing process
SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) — Oil pricing agency S&P Global Platts said it will not automatically include Qatari-loading crude in its Middle East benchmark after Saudi Arabia and some other Arab states cut ties with Doha, a move that disrupted traditional shipping routes.
Case study: Improve vacuum tower operation with VFD addition
The bottom pump in crude vacuum units is an area of concern for almost all petroleum oil refineries. The harsh operating parameters in which these pumps operate, including high product temperature and significant vacuum suction pressure, have resulted in frequent vacuum tower upsets and low mean time between failures (MTBF) for vacuum bottom pumps.
Industry Metrics
US gasoline demand increased with the shift to summer fuels and higher export opportunities to Latin America.
- Exploring ethanol: Maersk to test 50/50 ethanol-methanol bunker fuel 12/8
- BASF introduces low-VOC polyurethane catalyst Lupragen® N 208 12/8
- Idemitsu Kosan to be first Japanese refiner to supply biofuels to shipping industry 12/8
- China refiner moves forward with expansion despite sanctions 12/8
- Air Products and Yara to partner on low-emission ammonia projects 12/8
- Opinion: G7’s Russian oil tanker ban shows teeth, but bite is in doubt 12/8
