North America
Business Trends: Rethinking the refining and petrochemicals industries
Crude oil has been the fundamental element of transportation fuel for many decades. However, market factors are changing this dynamic, creating incentives for some organizations to consider oil-to-chemical complexes to maintain a competitive edge.
Industry Perspectives: Petrochemicals surge despite possible future roadblocks
Over the past several years, investments in petrochemicals capacity additions have skyrocketed. Hundreds of billions of dollars have and will be invested in additional petrochemicals units and complexes.
Business Trends: Global LNG projects to compete with pipeline gas
Expanding LNG supply worldwide will continue to dominate the changing landscape of the natural gas industry and gas trade. By 2040, LNG is expected to account for more than 15% of global gas consumption, after overtaking interregional pipeline deliveries in the late 2020s.
Business Trends: Application of blockchain technology in the petrochemical industry
A JV between Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons and Marathon Oil plans to build a modular refinery on Bioko Island. In late April, the JV signed a contract to VFuels to conduct a feasibility study for the 5,000-bpd facility. The project involves dismantling a methanol plant and converting it into a refinery. If built, the facility—part of Equatorial Guinea’s Year of Investment 2020 initiative—would provide refined products to satisfy increasing domestic demand.
Centurion Pipeline Announces In-Service Date for Augustus Pipeline
(P&GJ) — Centurion Pipeline has announced that the Augustus Pipeline is on schedule and expected to commence service on December 1, 2020.
Offshore wind continues strong growth, bolstered by new floating projects
As spending on renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, accelerates, floating projects will make up a growing share of activity.
Pilot Plant Advances Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles for Gas-Fired Generation
Power cycles utilizing supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) as a working fluid show promise for many power generation applications, including high-efficiency waste heat recovery on pipeline gas turbines.
FERC Approval Gives Alaska LNG 10 Years to Start Operations
Federal authorization for the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project sets a 10-year deadline to start operating the gas pipeline and liquefaction plant, twice as much time as regulators have generally allowed for other U.S. LNG export terminal developers to build multibillion-dollar facilities.
Amid Challenges, Natural Gas Remains Growing Part of Energy Mix
According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, 120,498 MW of gas-fired capacity came online between 2008 and Aug. 1, 2019. Twenty percent of that was in 2018 and 2019 alone, and roughly 200 new gas plants have been proposed or are in development right now.
Navigator Looks to Expand Borger Express Pipeline System
Navigator Energy Services has announced a binding open season on its Borger Express pipeline system, to provide shippers the opportunity to secure crude oil transportation services from Cushing, Oklahoma to Borger, Texas.
Gas Release from Kinder Morgan Pipeline in Texas
(P&GJ) — Kinder Morgan reported a natural gas release shortly before 8:30 A.M. on Sunday from its pipeline near Goodrich, Texas in Polk County outside of Livingston.
Golar Power offers top bid for Petrobras's LNG terminal
Golar Power Ltd has submitted the top bid for a highly-sought-after LNG import terminal being leased by Brazil’s state-run energy firm Petrobras, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The terminal and regasification facility was offered under a wider government effort to end the state oil company’s monopoly in natural gas imports and processing. The Bahia state terminal can process 20 MM cubic meters per day of LNG and includes a 45 kilometer pipeline.
Permian Enters Uncharted Waters in Better Shape than Most Regions
With the Coronavirus crisis and its effect on upstream operations putting a damper on all segments of the midstream sector, some major projects in the Permian Basin appear to be moving forward, albeit at a slower and far more cautious pace.
Goldboro LNG project signs service agreement contract
Pieridae Energy Limited announced it has signed a services agreement with global engineering firm Bechtel related to Pieridae’s 2-Train Goldboro LNG Facility. Some of the key deliverables in the services agreement are: Initiating a detailed review of the scope and design of the Goldboro LNG Facility and developing a comprehensive engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) execution plan by March 31, 2021; Delivering a final lump sum, turnkey EPCC contract price proposal by May 31, 2021; and Conducting a meaningful engagement with the Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq First Nations including their participation in the construction of a large-scale work camp at the LNG site.
Dominion shuts Maryland Cove Point LNG export plant for annual maintenance
Dominion Energy has shut its Cove Point LNG export terminal in Maryland for annual maintenance expected to last about three weeks, according to energy traders and company notices to customers. Natural gas flows to the plant fell close to zero on Monday from around 0.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) since its last maintenance outage from Sept. 20-Oct. 13, 2019, according to data from Refinitiv.
Eyeing demand recovery in a post-COVID-19 world
At AFPM's virtual Summit on Tuesday, Robert Auers, Senior Consultant at Turner, Mason & Company, hosted an afternoon session on challenges in the U.S. refining sector, including how COVID-19 has affected the short-term global demand for refined products and the prospects for demand longer term.
2020 AFPM Summit: Five trends to watch as coronavirus reshapes the global olefins industry
The coronavirus outbreak is having a transformational effect on global olefins. Supply, demand, trade, pricing, costs and margins are all being affected to the extent that it will undoubtedly reshape the wider industry.
A Little Good News from Back East
The pipeline industry in the U.S. Northeast finally got some positive news on the permitting front, when New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) received the go-ahead to move forward with construction work on a controversial 30-mile (48-km) section of the Southern Reliability Link (SRL) pipeline in New Jersey.
IRPC Americas ONLINE: Refinery-Petrochemical integration – Upgrading existing refineries to maximize chemicals
Raj Singh, Senior FCC technologist, TechnipFMC, presented a highly informative technical session on Refinery-Petrochemical integration - Upgrading existing refineries to maximize chemicals at Hydrocarbon Processing’s IRPC Americas ONLINE event today.
Calculating petroleum quantities in the 21st century
Over the past 100 yr, a number of technological advances and process improvements have dramatically changed how the oil and gas industry finds, produces and refines petroleum. The industry has made vast improvements in physical property databases, calculation procedures, and the determination of density and petroleum quantities by incorporating advances in modern processing technologies and updating measurement standards.
Global announcements and developments July
The industry's most comprehensive list of current and recent rounds for onshore and offshore licences
Oil firms ready to pick up the infrastructure divestment pace
Pipelines, storage facilities and processing plants could replace non-advantaged production as prime candidates Oil and gas producing firms create the most value by exploring for, developing and producing hydrocarbons. Internal rates of return (IRRs) far in excess of 20pc are the norm for successful upstream projects.
End of an Era? Series of Setbacks Bode ill for Big Pipeline Projects
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK — A rapid-fire succession of setbacks for big energy pipelines in the United States this week has revealed an uncomfortable truth for the oil and gas industry: environmental activists and landowners opposed to projects have become good at blocking them in court.
Caution creeps into investors’ oil and gas infrastructure appetite
The US downturn and the inexorable rise of ESG concerns are clouds on the horizon even for traditionally low-risk energy investments Infrastructure assets have remained relatively immune to the negative sentiment from investors towards fossil fuels—good news for IOCs looking to sell off non-core pipelines, processing plants and storage tanks to generate cash. But this immunity may be waning. Investors like the steady source of revenue from these assets, which help to diversify their investment portfolios and can provide some protection from low oil prices.
Developers Cancel Long-Delayed Atlantic Coast Pipeline
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The developers of the long-delayed, $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline announced the cancellation of the multi-state natural gas project Sunday, citing uncertainties about costs, permitting and litigation.
Tallgrass Energy Cheyenne Connector Pipeline Enters Service
(P&GJ) — Tallgrass Energy announced that both the Cheyenne Connector pipeline and the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Project will commence commercial service effective June 26, 2020, having obtained approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on June 24, 2020.
TC Energy Selects Michels Canada to Build Keystone XL Pipeline in Canada
(P&GJ) — Michels Canada has been awarded the contract from TC Energy to construct approximately 260 kilometers (162 miles) of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project in Alberta, Canada.
Global announcements and developments June
The industry's most comprehensive list of current and recent rounds for onshore and offshore licences
Golden Pass Seeks to Boost Capacity at Texas LNG Plant
(Reuters) — Golden Pass LNG sought permission from U.S. federal energy regulators to boost the capacity of the company’s $10 billion export terminal under construction in Texas to 18.1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from 15.6 MTPA.
Maintenance: How to conduct successful turnaround maintenance at refineries
PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that, since 2014, the oil and gas industry has put off noncritical spending to reduce costs.1 In 2016, for example, the average number of backlogged labor hours for corrective and deferred safety-critical maintenance increased by 25%.1 While deferring maintenance saves resources initially, such delays lead to unsafe equipment and reduced output due to sub-par equipment.
