Economics

Canada's Imperial Oil posts rise in quarterly profit on stronger refining margins

Canadian oil producer Imperial Oil posted a rise in first-quarter profit on Friday, driven primarily by stronger margins in its refining and fuel sales business, sending its U.S.-listed shares up nearly 6% before the bell.

Manage reliability and asset management performance by implementing a reliable operations committee program

This article examines how the author's company instituted a reliable operations committee program at its refinery in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. The main goal of the program is to oversee the implementation and performance of maintenance and reliability programs to ensure a culture of optimum reliability and endorse new initiatives and programs that enhance maintenance performance in the facility.

Harness the power of asset performance management to transform reliability

As the energy industry navigates the shifting energy landscape and macroeconomic uncertainties, it must adopt collaborative and innovative solutions to enhance the productivity and quality of value chain operations, while also remaining focused on efficiency improvement projects that protect the bottom line. Spurred by this need for increased resilience and recent advancements in artificial intelligence, the market is seeing growth in the deployment of asset performance management (APM) solutions.

Synergize FCCUs and hydrocracking processing units to maximize refining margins—Part 2

Part 1 of this article appeared in the February issue. Part 2 here will explore the role of FCC and hydrocracking in crude-to-chemicals and the challenge of cracked feeds, among other topics. 

Heat exchanger modifications during hydrocracking and lube oil basestock units’ revamp at BPCL’s Mumbai refinery

This article provides insights into several possibilities for modifying heat exchangers that will help refinery owners/operators and consultants to plan similar revamp activities. 

Sizing PRVs for homogeneous non-equilibrium saturated flashing liquids

Driving operational excellence: Integrate digital solutions for a smarter supply chain

Siloed systems lead to isolated data and inefficiencies in decision-making due to a lack of visibility. To address these challenges, the authors' company built a strategic digital command and control center. The goal was to resolve daily operational issues by integrating various systems into a unified data ecosystem, enabling real-time, integrated decision-making and driving operational excellence.

Venezuela loses 20% of oil exports after cargo cancellations to Chevron

Venezuela's oil exports fell almost 20% to some 700,000 bpd in April, the lowest level in nine months, as cargo cancellations to U.S.-based producer Chevron forced ships to return and left some ports empty.

EIA: Oil prices and refinery margins fell slightly in first quarter of 2025

During the first quarter (1Q) of 2025, crude oil prices generally decreased while U.S. refinery margins initially increased before decreasing in the final month of the quarter. In its quarterly update, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reviews petroleum markets price developments in 1Q, covering crude oil prices, refinery margins, biofuel compliance credit prices and natural gas plant liquids prices.

China waives tariffs on U.S. ethane imports, sources say

China has waived the 125% tariff on ethane imports from the United States imposed earlier this month, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday, among a group of products that have been granted exemptions.