Project Management
Rethinking the risk mitigation process and revitalizing operational safety
For the past 2 yr, oil prices have been in free-fall. At the time of writing, the WTI price is around $50/bbl, up slightly since OPEC’s May 2017 announcement to extend its September 2016 production cut of 2.2%.
Reliability: Identify top ways to weather weak market conditions
New Jersey-based Carmagen Engineering Inc., a member of Mistras Group Inc., is a highly respected consulting engineering and project management firm comprising experienced subject matter experts (SMEs).
Business Trends: Innovative commissioning and startup technologies for industrial projects
The performance of capital project facility commissioning, startup and initial operations often falls short of expectations, and the opportunity for innovative commissioning and startup technologies has yet to be discussed extensively.
View/Alt-View: Giving voice to alternative views
Our publication often features a Viewpoint column, an executive-level short opinion piece that usually focuses on the author’s sector of the hydrocarbon processing industry. This month, we are featuring two columns back-to-back, presenting alternative views on a single topic. We use the word “alternative” deliberately—rather than “opposing”—as we wish to highlight views that present legitimately different perspectives.
Engineering Case Histories: Case 97—Beware of confirmation bias in industry
The term confirmation bias recently came up in a book I was reading,1 and it was then that I realized how relevant it was to engineering.
Modified revamp process to reduce energy use in an SDA unit
Solvent deasphalting (SDA) is emerging as a low-cost, bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading process to recover valuable oil from short residue. This oil can either be further processed to make lube-oil-based stocks or cracked in secondary processing units.
Engineering Case Histories: Case 96: Career paths—technical and management
I have spent most of my career in the mechanical engineering technical area because that is what I do best. I was a manager of advanced engineering for many years, but then realized that it was not my calling.
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).
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.
Business Trends: Standardized modularization—Drivers, challenges and perspectives in the oil and gas industry
Modularization is an alternative way of performing engineering aimed to reduce the number of interfaces, the total installed cost (TIC) and overall schedule length of a project, while optimizing the return on investment (ROI) and allowing standardization for similar future projects.
- Europe's chemical industry seeks a lifeboat to stay in business 7/21
- BlackRock-led group set to invest in $10 billion Aramco Jafurah infrastructure deal 7/21
- Yara announces possible new ammonia projects in the U.S. 7/21
- German chemical lobby VCI sees no sector recovery before 2026 7/21
- India's Numaligarh Refinery extends key green hydrogen tender date amid Assam policy uncertainty 7/21
- Hynfra and JK Srivastava Group to build $4-B green hydrogen and ammonia hub in India 7/21
