Americas
Chevron unlikely to invest more in Venezuela in short term, says CEO
Chevron Corp is unlikely to add investment in Venezuela in the next six months despite a recent U.S. license to allow it to expand its operations in the South American country, Chief Executive Michael Wirth said.
Flexibility in catalyst technology for improved bottoms upgrading
Bottoms product from fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) is typically one of the least valuable products from a refinery.
Industry Perspectives: Despite reaching $180 B, new project announcements are down year-over-year
Over the past year, the Global Energy Infrastructure database has tracked more than $180 B in new project announcements.
Solving maldistribution: Catalyst loading and why it matters
Are your reactor yields lower than forecast? Does your fixed-bed catalytic reactor suffer from hotspots?
United Airlines invests millions into proposed Oregon biofuel refinery
United Airlines will add $37.5 MM into a proposed biofuel refinery in northwest Oregon, per a report by OPB.
Refiner Phillips 66 to boost investor returns by up to $12 B
Refiner Phillips 66 said it plans to return up to $12 B more to shareholders by end-2024 through dividends and stock buybacks, sending its shares up as much as 3%.
Fire breaks out at Chevron's El Segundo, California refinery
Chevron said fire crews responded to an isolated fire inside its 269,000-barrel-per-day El Segundo refinery in California on Tuesday, with no injuries due to the incident.
Phillips 66 plans to lay off 1,100 workers by end-2022
Refiner Phillips 66 said on Wednesday, it plans to reduce its employee headcount by 1,100 to help cut costs and meet its savings target of $500 MM by end-2022.
Why sulfur plants fail: An in-depth study of sulfur recovery unit failures—Part 2
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.
Potential US refined oil product export ban would challenge already constrained global markets and refining systems
A proposed US refined product export ban would save US consumers at the gasoline pump but pose significant challenges and costs to US and global refining systems, according to a recent analysis from Wood Mackenzie.

- Studi Tecnologie Progetti S.p.A. signs agreement to upgrade Attock refinery in Pakistan for $600 MM 7/1
- Maire's NEXTCHEM awarded engineering contract for Pacifico Mexinol's $3.3-B, 2.1-MMtpy low-carbon methanol project 7/1
- BASF closes purchase of DOMO Chemicals’ shares in Alsachimie JV 7/1
- deugro completes another equipment shipment for INEOS' Project One project in Belgium 7/1
- Shell renews contract with Cyberhawk, enabling a global visualization and data integration platform across its portfolio 7/1
- HyOrc and Acetech partner to develop waste-to-green methanol facility in the UK 7/1