Asia/Pacific
Equipment critical analysis: The need for an effective maintenance program
Oil refineries and large petrochemical plants contain thousands of pieces of process and utilities equipment that are subject to wear, erosion, deterioration, aging, etc., resulting in increasing breakdowns and outages. Imagine being a maintenance engineer and receiving 50 work orders during an overhaul with a limited budget, time, labor, spare parts, tools, machines, etc. How does that engineer prioritize the work?
Automation Strategies: Adopting the IIoT: How the industry needs to rethink IT and OT relationships
For the connected enterprise, what was once just a futuristic ideal is now becoming a reality. Step by step, organizations are beginning to put together the pieces of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Global Project Data
A global LNG supply glut has put many mega-LNG projects in doubt in 2017. This predicament has many industry experts heralding it as the end of the mega-LNG project era.
Business Trends: Human reliability—a disruptive innovation
Annual bottom-line losses due to equipment failures total more than $100 MM at major refineries and petrochemical complexes. Corporate executives charge plant personnel with improving the reliability of the facility.
Editorial Comment: Maintenance—a value-added expense
This issue of <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i> tackles one of the most integral aspects of the downstream industry (or any industry, for that matter): maintenance and reliability. These two terms go hand-in-hand and help to ensure efficient and safe operations.
Installation of liquid sulfur degassing processes in existing SRUs
Over the last 35 yr, more companies worldwide have installed liquid sulfur degassing processes in their sulfur recovery units (SRUs) to minimize the dangers of the release of hydrogen sulfide from the produced elemental sulfur.
A deeper examination of thermal expansion issues in process equipment and piping
Piping and process equipment that operate at high temperatures experience thermal expansion. If free thermal expansion is restrained, mechanical stresses are created within the component.
OPEC output cuts whet Asia's appetite for North Sea oil
LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- OPEC production cuts have created record Asian demand for European oil and made China the second biggest consumer of North Sea crude as flows from its usual Middle East suppliers dip.
How North Korea gets its oil from China: lifeline in question at UN meeting
BEIJING (Reuters) -- As the United Nations Security Council decides whether to tighten the sanctions screws on North Korea, the country's increasingly isolated government could lose a lifeline provided by state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).
Uzbekistan starts construction of $2.2-B oil refinery
TASHKENT (Reuters) -- Uzbekistan started construction of a $2.2 B refinery on Thursday, which will use oil imported from Russia and Kazakhstan, state news agency UzA reported.

- Transition Industries signs agreements for the Pacifico Mexinol Project, an ultra-low carbon chemical production facility 7/3
- Bangkok Airways introduces SAF on commercial flights 7/3
- EcoCeres secures SAF contract with British Airways to help reduce carbon emissions 7/3
- Air Liquide to invest up to $200 MM in Louisiana, U.S. to support industrial growth 7/3
- MOL completes the acquisition of LBC Tank Terminals 7/3
- BHP awards charter contracts for two ammonia dual-fueled vessels 7/3