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Refining

India Essar eyes sale of Gujarat refinery

Essar Group is exploring the sale of its 405 Mbpd oil refinery in the western state of Gujarat.

Trafigura in talks to buy stake in Essar Oil

Commodities trader Trafigura Group Pte. is in talks to buy a minority stake in Essar Oil Ltd., which runs India's second biggest private sector refinery, in a deal that could be valued at around $6.5 B.

Viewpoint: “Intelligizing” the refinery for business sustainability

Schneider Electric: Freburger, G.

In today’s digital world, the line between IT and OT is blurring, and connectivity has become both inescapable and necessary. Connectivity is driving an influx of data that is both beneficial and overwhelming, especially as we explore how to apply this data in meaningful ways.

Global: Meeting Africa’s demand for oil products

Contributing Editor: Oirere, S.

Demand for refined oil products is expected to continue growing in Africa, both in the short and medium terms. However, the continent’s refining capacity is unlikely to keep pace as commercial risks threaten to hold back planned new refineries and the expansion of existing facilities.

Refining: Refinery investments focus on ultra-low-sulfur gasoline

Contributing Writer: Nogarin, M.

Mexican oil company Pemex recently announced major refinery improvement projects that will represent a total investment of $23 B over the next three years.

Reliability: Overcome biases and challenges facing industry

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

When asked about the challenges facing the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI), our answer was swift and direct: The trials we face are bundled, or can be found, in lessons some of us learned decades ago. However, lessons learned and explained decades ago were often disregarded by managers with a short-range focus.

Industry Metrics

US refinery utilization rates have increased in some areas following the peak of maintenance season.

Business Trends: Will India be Asia’s next downstream powerhouse?

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

The Asia-Pacific region dominates in the total number of active projects in all sectors of the downstream hydrocarbon processing industry. Just as China has seen unprecedented growth over the past decade, India is emerging as the globe’s new oil demand center.

Catalyst replacement strategy for a hydrocracking unit at a Middle East refinery

A Saudi Aramco refinery operates a series-flow, single-stage hydrocracking unit (HU) in a recycle high-conversion mode. The HU has been in operation for over 35 years and is being debottlenecked to increase its throughput by 20%.

Utilize an optimizer to blend gasoline directly to ships

Valero Energy Corp.: Scriven, W.  |  Martin, A.  |  Seiver, D. S.

A new control system and single-blend optimization system make it possible to blend gasoline directly into tanker ships for delivery, rather than only into tanks, thereby saving millions in capital and reducing product giveaway.