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

Engineering & Design

Editorial Comment: Petrochemicals: Growth, challenges, advancements and the technologies shaping an industry

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Each year, <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i> devotes a Special Focus section to the latest advancements in petrochemical technology, as well as best practices, reliability and safety to ensure efficient and optimized petrochemical operations.

Leveraging modern flow technologies to improve safety in refineries

Emerson: Jha, M.  |  Valentine, J.

The refining industry is facing increased pressures, such as crude oil supply changes, changing product distributions and increasing regulations. These pressure points create a highly competitive market where refiners are looking for options that include digitally transforming operations and adapting new technologies to enhance safety and improve uptime, flexibility and efficiency, while securing their competitive position in a dynamic market. Improving personnel and process safety remains a top focus area for refiners.

Managing dark data and visualizing your digital twin

Siemens: Pawlewitz, J.  |  Doyle, A.

Today’s tools are often specialized for a certain type of task; however, they often lack the connectivity that would enable the easy comparison and cross-reference of asset information. Engineering tools are well suited for design and build phases, but may be less suited for use in operations and maintenance.

Five key innovation concepts to impact frontline engineers in 2020

KBC, a Yokogawa Company: McIntee, A.
Yokogawa Corp. of America: Finnan, K.

Gas processing, liquefaction, oil refining, bulk petrochemicals and chemicals plants represent a large population of frontline engineers and technical managers. Their professional lives will become increasingly impacted by the growing adoption of disruptive digital technologies and digital platforms.

Construction

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Nigeria LNG (NLNG), a consortium comprised of Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), Shell, Total and Eni, has greenlighted the expansion of the Bonny Island LNG terminal.

Industry Perspectives: The Main Column—Hydrocarbon Processing's new podcast series

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

In December 2019, <i>Hydrocarbon Processing's</i> launched its new podcast series: The Main Column. The podcast series will feature the latest in hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) trends, technology developments, engineering and operations.

Editorial Comment: Adopting digital technologies to enhance operations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

What is the future of refining and petrochemical operations? One trend that has been the focus of many articles, whitepapers and conference presentations is the digital transformation of the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI).

Inspection: A practical approach to internal inspection of pressure equipment

Contributing Editor: Anwer, A.

Internal inspections of pressure equipment involve a full inspection of the equipment. Inspection engineers and inspectors depend heavily on internal inspections to retrieve useful data, which includes information on active degradation mechanisms, corrosion rates, remaining equipment life, failure occurrences and failure expectations, among other critical details.

Project Management: How human intelligence and AI are driving project planning in the oil and gas industry

InEight: Patterson, D.

The science of project planning has something of a tenuous reputation. How often do large oil and gas capital expenditure (CAPEX) projects really come in according to plan? Almost never. Indeed, 30% of respondents to a 2018 PWC survey said they had experienced cost overruns of 10%–50% on their Middle East capital projects.

Digital: How digital tools improve access to device information

Emerson Automation Solutions: Thompson, A.

Welcome to the future! The plant runs fully automated; robots glide silently back and forth, ensuring an optimized process; and your maintenance technician—with a few keystrokes—can tell you exactly how each piece of equipment is running. The promise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has been delivered.