Having just returned to full production after Hurricane Dean, Petroleos Mexicanos again faced a possible decision Sept. 3 whether to evacuate offshore rigs and platforms in the Bay of Campeche as another category 5 storm, Hurricane Felix, churned through the Caribbean.
Some have argued that refiners’ recent high income levels are excessive. However, oil refining is a highly capital-intensive industry needing large profits to compensate companies for huge investments.
Market factors ranging from reduced refining capacity to higher crude oil and ethanol prices led to dramatically higher gasoline prices in the late spring and early summer of 2006, the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division and the Federal Trade Commission jointly concluded on Aug. 30.
Nigeria is radically restructuring state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. and the Nigerian energy sector under a new oil and gas policy that will take 6 months to implement.
Total E&P Australia, Samson International (Australia) Pty. Ltd., and CNOOC Australia E&P are among companies acquiring 6-year exploration permits in Australia’s latest licensing round.
Ireland is revamping its fiscal and licensing regime for oil and gas and soon will invite operators to bid for Porcupine basin blocks on its challenging Atlantic margin.
Advanced fiber-reinforced polymer composites offer new options for working on and completing deep wells that have high temperatures and pressures (HT-HP) and produce corrosive fluids, although proper material selection requires an understanding of the composite’s hot-wet thermomechanical behavior.
Companies that use coatings to properly maintain and keep their heat-transfer equipment (HTE) clean can realize significant cost savings-in the form of reduced downtime and depreciation on capital equipment, improved energy efficiency, and stronger feed outputs.
Filler metals for 36Ni alloy cryogenic pipeline construction need further refining to obtain overmatching mechanical properties relative to the base metal.
