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

Environment & Safety

US chemical group aligns with Indian oil industry to improve process safety

This communication may lead to joint meetings and conferences and peer review of each other’s publications. Leaders of both organizations say such cooperation is critical to incorporating process safety into companies’ management systems to prevent the recurrence of existing and former problems.

Argentina storm sparks fire at YPF La Plata refinery

YPF said the fire started after flooding caused by a major rain storm cut electricity to the entire refinery. YPF said its personnel and firefighters from two nearby cities managed to bring the blaze under control in the early-morning hours. The company said there were no casualties.

Valero sees costs outweighing benefits for new US gasoline pollution rules

Valero spokesman Bill Day said the company expects to spend $300 million to $400 million building new equipment to remove sulfur from gasoline and to expand existing facilities. He said the company expects to incur additional operating costs each year, and those have yet to be determined.

Arkansas officials to probe Exxon pipeline spill

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

The attorney general's office is investigating the causes of ExxonMobil's ruptured pipeline that spilled thousands of gallons of oil into a small town neighborhood last week.

Take a quicker approach to staggered blowdown

WorleyParsons: Khan, M. S.

The design of a reliable blowdown system for a large sour gas-processing facility is one of the most important aspects of plant design. Safe design is vital for facility operation. With the developmen..

Conceptually, accidents are a fallacy

Apex Safety Consultants: Sawyer, M.

Webster’s unabridged dictionary defines accident as “Literally, a befalling; an event that takes place without one’s foresight or expectation; an undesigned, sudden and unexpected event..

HP Water Management: Update: Online measurement of oxidizing biocides

MarTech Systems, Inc.: Huchler, L. A.

Nearly all owners of industrial cooling towers feed oxidizing biocides—chlorine (Cl) and bromine (Br)—to kill bacteria in the recirculating cooling water. Minimizing the populations of bacte..

HP Industry Perspectives: Are Arctic projects safe?

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: DuBose, Ben

Key industry officials answer a poll question from HydrocarbonProcessing.com

HP Innovations: Innovations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Blume, Adrienne

Flowmeter uses Coriolis force in measurementThe Sitrans FC430 flowmeter from Siemens AG is capable of measuring liquids and gases using the Coriolis principle. Flows can be measured with a precision o..

Exxon pipeline ruptures in Arkansas, spilling crude

Exxon said the weekend breach caused a few thousand barrels of oil to spill into Mayflower, a town of less than 3,000 about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock. The Environmental Protection Agency called it a "major spill," a category that includes any spill larger than 250 barrels.