Americas
Without reliability, there can be no safety
Reliability and safety are complimentary concepts. For instance, unless process reliability at a plant is extraordinary, safety cannot be assured. Achieving the highest level of safety at a processing..
HP Editorial Comment: Alternative energy?
Alternative energy is a point-of-reference term. Natural gas is an alternative energy resource for transportation fuels. As more natural gas resources are developed, natural gas is displacing coal as ..
HP Reliability: Plan now to deal with stressed equipment later
The US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) “Today in Energy” brief evaluated how US refineries are processing record amounts of crude oil (Fig. 1), with Midwest and Gulf Co..
HP Automation Strategies: Control on the wire(less)
Since the industrial revolution, process/industrial control had relied on tightly coupled systems to transmit control signals. Industrial plants have used “modern” control via wired electron..
HP Project Management: German refinery successfully modernizes safety system
In September 2014, the Heide refinery in Germany used two weeks of planned downtime at its pyrolysis plant to migrate to new safety systems. The new system emphasized high plant/equipment availability..
HP Global: State of the US petrochemical/chemical industry
After a promising start, the global economy faltered in 2014 with heightened geopolitical uncertainty; recessions in Brazil, Japan and many European nations; and slowdowns in China, the Euro Area and ..
HP Petrochemicals: Global PE demand growth to drive downstream expansions
According to IHS Chemical, global demand for polyethylene (PE) is expected to increase by more than 25% during the next five years, from approximately 85 million metric tons (metric MMt) in 2014, to m..
HP Industry Perspectives: Keystone XL: It is time to move forward, Mr. President
In a media call, the American Petroleum Institute (API) president and CEO Jack Gerard emphasized that it is time for the Keystone XL pipeline to move forward, and he requested urgent action by Preside..
HP News
Fuel cells to experience a bright future due to natural gasRising natural gas production is facilitating growth for both stationary fuel cells that provide power to business and the utility grid, as w..
HP Industry Metrics
Recent declines in oil pricing and the associated volatility in future pricing has created a difficult forecasting environment. Other factors are causing deviations, especially with regard to the resp..

- SIBUR produces test batch of first hexane plant in Russia 8/28
- Universal Fuel Technologies’ SAF accepted into ASTM Clearinghouse for qualification 8/28
- Honeywell technology to fuel Syzygy Plasmonics' SAF project 8/28
- Sinopec wins engineering contract for Saudi Arabian green hydrogen/ammonia project 8/28
- Russia's idle oil refining capacity record high after Ukrainian drone attacks 8/28
- Brazil approves temporary antidumping measures against Canadian, U.S. polyethylene resins 8/28