Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich., is in the final stages of constructing new ethylene capacity via extensive upgrades to its operations in Terneuzen, the Netherlands.
Qatar Chemical Co. Ltd. (Q-Chem) is building a grassroots petrochemical facility that will almost double the current 525,000 tonne/year (tpy) ethylene capacity at the Mesaieed industrial area in Qatar.
Increased competition between the ethylene and electricity markets for natural gas is one reason North American natural gas prices will remain higher than in the recent past.
State-owned Uzbekneftegas is commissioning parts of its grassroots petrochemical complex in the Shurtan area, south of Uzbekistan, expected to start up by the end of this year.
The recent higher prices for oil and gas coupled with a rising awareness of a potential supply shortage indicate exploration will climb in the next few years. Based on historical trends, this should translate into another wave of exploration in the onshore basins of North America.
Koa Oil Ltd. improved operations and increased its coker feed rate by applying model predictive control technology combined with an inferential coke-yield model to its No. 2 delayed coking unit at the Marifu refinery, Iwakuni, Japan.
Repair of the Macaroni field flowline in the US Gulf of Mexico confirmed for project participants the necessity of adequate preparations in design and equipment.
IEA has left its estimate of worldwide oil demand growth unchanged in its latest report, but the total numbers have shifted upwards as the agency has revised its non-OECD demand figures back to 1999.
The article "California bill would criminalize energy curtailment," (OGJ, July 23, 2001, p. 34) outlines just the type of legislation the oil and gas industry has needed for years.
Paul Denney's comments on the Potato Hills are welcomed (Letters, "Not an astrobleme," OGJ, July 23, 2001, p. 10). There appears to be a misinterpretation of the OGJ article he mentions (OGJ, Oct. 30, 2000, p. 35), which was referring to an online article at the University of Oklahoma Institute for Exploration & Development Geosciences (EDGE) website.
Many US citizens probably think their government actually did something about international terrorism when Congress passed and President George W. Bush on Aug. 3 signed a 5-year extension of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA).
During the past year a series of US energy supply concerns caused extensive unease about the availability and cost of heating oil, the price of gasoline-in what threatened to be a repeat of last year's price spikes-and natural gas price in- creases and supply concerns.
A move away from the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether to the use of ethanol as a blending component in gasoline would have a profound impact on a number of petroleum-dependent industries.
Although the US Energy Information Administration cut its forecast for world oil demand growth this year to 1 million b/d for 2001 from its previously predicted 1.2 million b/d, it said that prospects for world demand growth will not be as dim as some had earlier predicted.
Environmentalists are livid about a US House of Represenatives energy bill that would open the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp, Houston, announced senior management changes in its exploration and production segment and key executive changes in its business development, strategy, planning, and marketing functions.
