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Crude oil

Sinopec says did not receive order to relocate Yanshan oil refinery

BEIJING (Reuters) — China's Sinopec has not received a government order to relocate the Yanshan oil refinery, contradicting an earlier news report that the plant would be moved to develop the Xiongan New Area, the company said on Thursday.

UAE re-imposes port ban on Qatari-linked oil tankers

SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Abu Dhabi Petroleum Ports Authority has re-imposed a ban on oil tankers linked to Qatar calling at ports in the United Arab Emirates, reversing an earlier decision to ease restrictions, and potentially creating a logjam of crude cargoes.

EIA: US remains the world’s top producer of petroleum, natgas hydrocarbons

The US remained the world's top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2016 for the fifth straight year despite production declines for both petroleum and natural gas relative to their 2015 levels.

Tankers load Qatari crude along with UAE oil as shipping ban eases

SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Exports of Qatari crude oil have not been hindered by a port ban imposed by other Gulf states as tankers are loading Qatari grades along with cargoes from the United Arab Emirate, shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon showed on Wednesday.

Venezuelan refinery reels as PDVSA ships light oil to Cuba, Curacao

(Reuters) — Venezuela's 187,000-bpd Puerto la Cruz refinery is running at 16% of capacity, mainly due to a lack of light oil as state-run PDVSA ships a portion of its Mesa 30 crude to Cuba and Curacao, according to internal trade reports and workers.

Platts restricts Qatari-loading crude in pricing process

SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) — Oil pricing agency S&P Global Platts said it will not automatically include Qatari-loading crude in its Middle East benchmark after Saudi Arabia and some other Arab states cut ties with Doha, a move that disrupted traditional shipping routes.

Case study: Improve vacuum tower operation with VFD addition

Saudi Aramco: Alshaye, A.

The bottom pump in crude vacuum units is an area of concern for almost all petroleum oil refineries. The harsh operating parameters in which these pumps operate, including high product temperature and significant vacuum suction pressure, have resulted in frequent vacuum tower upsets and low mean time between failures (MTBF) for vacuum bottom pumps.

Industry Metrics

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

US gasoline demand increased with the shift to summer fuels and higher export opportunities to Latin America.

Reliability: Oil in galvanized containers poses undue risk

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Professional advancement is often linked to obtaining certification. To prepare, the technician or engineer must study texts, culminating in taking a test or passing an exam that makes use of, or is based on, questions contributed by subject matter experts.

Oil edges up in quiet holiday trade, focus on crude glut

(Reuters) — Oil prices rose slightly on Monday, paring steep losses from last week, but the market remained cautious as increases in US drilling activity have undercut an OPEC-led push to tighten supply.