Robot to Replace Inspection Engineer in the Chemical Industry

We all know how difficult a decision would be for the management of the refining and petrochemical plants when inspection engineers will need to do critical inspection when the integrity of the plant is in doubt. In chemical industry such as production of highly combustible gases and gases that self-ignite upon loss of containment, this is very dangerous.

A Mexican company has come up with a prototype of RoboPipe, a robot that could do the inspection of

Cyberfuels – A New Type of Gasoline Provides “Virtual Energy”

CyberFuels, a potential contender to the standard gasoline is on its way. Known as Enhanced Methanol Gasoline, it contains 85% methanol, only 14% gasoline and a proprietary CyberFuels patented additive. 

The new type of fuel produces less carbon dioxide and heat and has been known to provide virtual energy,

Saudi Arabia Poised to become World's 3rd Largest Chemical Exporter by 2015

Saudi Arabia is set to become the world's 3rd largest of chemical exporter by 2015, a radical change from its current standing of crude oil exporter to further downstream exporter. This is part due to Saudi Aramco's vision of becoming the world leader in refinery - petrochemical integrated company by 2020. Saudi Aramco also tops the Middle Eastern market for the highest Foreign Direct Investment into the country in 2013. The growth is expected to catapult its position from world's biggest energy producer to world's biggest energy and downstream products in the world. Already it has offices in Europe, the US and China for marketing of its downstream chemical products.

Royal Dutch Shell Entering Iraq with New $11 Billion Cracker Project

Royal Dutch Shell is entering Middle East, in particular Iraq with a force. It has recently announced a downstream petrochemical complex in the southern part of Iraq pending Heads of Agreement signing. 

The petrochemical facility will produce cracked ethylene from ethane gas cracker. The complex is eavesdropped to be costing $11 billion. Shell is the world leader in integrated energy from upstream to downstream and feedstock for the petrochemical facility will most likely to come from Shell presence in Iraq in the Majnoon oil field near Basra. The oil field is currently churning out almost 200kbpd of oil.

It is not clear when the project is expected to come on-stream. Taking the already existing MoU last year, it is expected that the project will be on fast track.

Berkshire Hathaway Acquired Lubrizol

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has acquired Lubrizol for $9.7 Billion or $135/share in an all-cash transaction. The transaction includes $700 million in debt of the lubricant business company. There is only four well-known detergent companies globally with the recent fifth coming from China. The move is seen as Warren's new agenda towards the energy market.

Pertamina Collaborating with Petronas & Total for Natuna Project

Indonesian state oil and gas company PT Pertamina will be in collaboration with Malaysia’s Petronas and France’s Total SA for East Natuna project in Indonesia waters. This comes amids Pertamina inking agreement with ExxonMobil earlier.

Pertamina is looking for collaboration both for investment and technology provider such as one in regards to high CO2 content in the oil field.

PTT Acquired Canadian Shale Oil from Statoil

PTT Exploration & Production PLC, has recently acquired 40% stake in Kai Kos Dehseh oil sands project from Statoil worth US$4.3 billion of recoverable bitumen capable at extraction rate of 10,000 bpd of bitumen.

The acquisition means PTT is in a new playfield of breakthrough shale oil extraction which will allow the company to build technlogical capability in that shale oil area.

Bahrain to Boost Oil to 100,000 BPD and Supplying to Saudi Arabia

H.E. Dr Abdul-Hussain Ali Mirza, Minister of Oil & Gas Affairs, Bahrain has indicated that Bahrain is planning to bring oil output to about 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) from its current 32,000 bpd. The excess supply is reportedly will be sold to Saudi Arabia via pipeline expansion.

Currently Bahrain is exporting 230,000 bpd of oil to Saudi Arabia. With the expansion of the pipeline, it will be capable to supply up to 350,000 bpd.

Shell & Petronas Preparing Award for Iraq Oil Wells

Shell and Petronas are in the process of awarding a deal to drill new oil wells at Iraq's super giant Majnoon oil field which will include engineering, procurement and construction deal to build various production installations at the field.

Potential firms in the bidding lists are reportedly Halliburton, Weatherford International, and Petrofac which will be responsible to develop Majnoon to175,000 barrels a day by 2012.

The oil field is owned by Shell of 45%, Petronas 30%, and Iraq's state-run Missan Oil holding 25%.

ExxonMobil Enters Oil Recovery Enhancement Project with Petronas Malaysia

ExxonMobil has reportedly entering a joint venture project with Petronas Malaysia for a recovery of an oil field, Tapis expected to begin in 2013.

The project which is estimated at $1 billion is considered by many timely in concordance with Petronas's recent announcement of re-shifting its focus backs towards domestic exploration and production and away from its wide-reaching international portfolio. It will look at reviving the 1980s Tapis which is regarded as one of the best API grades in the world and was used extensively in the Asia-Pacific benchmark.

US Energy Company Raising Money for First US Oil Sands Project

Earth Energy Resources Inc., a Canadian company has been granted a government's approval to launch the very first US oil sands project in a 62 acre pit in Uintah County, Utah.

The project would be able to produce 2,000 barrels of oil a day by extracting oil out of sands using a proprietary solvent. Earth Energy requires $35 million to fund the project.

New Technologies Create Oil Industry Boom in North Dakota

Recent technology advancement in drilling techniques has enable bigger oil wells to be developed with faster drilling and lower costs. Such things have turned North Dakota massive oil reserve to be economically able to be tapped.

The two miles underground Bakken Shale deposit has been known and tapped on occasion for decades. This year however is entirely new since technological improvements made it extremely economically and quickly becoming United State's fastest-growing oil-producing areas.

In 2009 alone the oil production has jumped to 80 million barrels, a figure that will be fast growing in 2010 especially since the Bakken Shale could contain up to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Malaysia’s Proton Lubricant Business Reaching 2 Million Litres Mark

Malaysia's PETRONAS and Proton Holdings Bhd, the national car company are in collaborations to grow its lubricant business.

It is expected that the collaboration will amount up to two million litres in the next two to three years.

The two companies under the agreement gives Petronas the exclusive rights as Proton partner for all its domestic and global original equipment manufacturered (OEM) lubricants and functional fluids. Petronas in turn will support Proton to produce lubricants that cater specifically to its specific requirements.

Burma Military Jinta Privatising Oil and Gas

Burma’s military government, widely known as Junta is planning to privatize Burma's 50 million oil reserve industry.

This following rumours that a meeting between petrol and diesel business and the government was held in Naypyitaw.

The Junta government had earlier reduced its subsidy for petrol in the country.

Kuwait Reviving US$14 Billion Refineries

Kuwait will be reviving its US$14 billion project which will see new fourth oil refinery, previously on hald in March due to corruption allegations. The refinery targeting production of 615,000 barrels a day was earlier planned to be built by Japanese and South Korean companies.

The allegation which accuses government officials profiting from the project due to bypassing of central bidding committee was denied by the Kuwait government.

China Increasing Oil Stock

As part of China's third phase strategic oil reserves, the country has announced that it will buildup its reserve capacity as commented by China's National Energy Administration Head, Zhang Guobao. China is planning to be in the league of international standard of developed countries of at least 90 days of oil rerserve.

Given China's hunger for oil, this would be a huge requirement and work will be starting on 5.4 million cubic meter oil reserve in Karamay City for a gross combined storage for the country amounting to 26.8 million cubic meters.

Improving Economy Boosting Oil Demand

The International Energy Agency had revised its forecast for world oil demand on improved Asian economic activity however most likely will still be offset by countries like Russia who are pumping more crude than the added rise in consumption.

The agency which is based in Paris revised the forecast to 83.94 million barrels a day. The world is still having a huge reserve of oil supply with non-Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries producing more supply than previously expected. Russia, the world's biggest oil producer churns out a total of 360,000 barrels a day as new fields being developed in Western Siberia and enhanced oil recovery techniques are used to squeeze out more hydrocarbons from existing fields.

Despite current projection, some analysts think Russia will pump around 9.7-9.8 million barrels a day on average this year rather than 10.07 million barrels a day as expected by the IEA with global crude demand to rise 1.6% next year outpacing non-OPEC supply growth of about 1% in 2010.

Countries like the U.S which is the biggest consumer for oil and energy has 8 days higher average on its inventory which stands at 61.7 days this year. China has indicated a move to follow the same lead.

BP CNPC & Exxon Petronas Bidding for Rumaila Field

Oil giants U.K BP PLC with its pair China National Petroleum Corp. and U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or Petronas are bidding for joint offers to develop Iraq's Rumaila oil field.

Despite Iraq's long black history with the western world, the country is holding Iraq's first bidding round in 30 years for Rumaila future development oil field. Rumania's current output capacity is 1 million barrels a day, in which the Iraqi government persuing to increase by up to 1.75 million barrels a day by getting foreign participation into the country.

Malaysia Regulates New Petrol Quality RON95

Malaysia has requested its National Oil Company, Petronas to supply the country with new petrol quality of RON95 instead of the current available petrol quality RON92 and RON97. The country's administration move will eliminate RON92 to better position with global petrol quality.

The move has been getting different response from the Malaysian people. The move will help Malaysia as a whole to save subsidy by supplying a lower quality petrol RON95 at a price expected to be as close to the current RON97. However, the government will also increase the price of RON97 which expected by analysts to be the country's premium petrol. Whilst many of today's car are designed to run by RON95; some of outdated models are incompatible.

The move is also likely to incur significant cost for PETRONAS under its marketing arm, PETRONAS Dagangan Bhd as RON95 petrol is formulated with a detergent to prevent the build-up of deposits that degrade the engine's performance. The company has said that the change involves the whole supply chain from refineries to delivery of the fuel to the consumers which comes September 9 is likely to be followed by other oil companies like Shell, BHP, Caltex and Exxon Mobil in the country as set by the Malaysian government.

China Postponing Stockpiling Oil & Energy

China has announced that it is suspending the energy and oil stockpiling program due to unavailability of new storage facilities. China has been aggressively looking at its energy security for growth and stability protection especially after the global oil price hike in 2008.

China's oil stockpiling program's first phase is looking at 100 million barrels equivalent to China's 30 days of oil import for emergency usage.

Beijing administration is interested to have oil reserve in case of a crisis scenario, in particular to situations in Middlea East & Africa where most of world oil production is located now. China's plan has been regarded by analysist as getting the help from heaven as the global financial and economic crisis has put a pressure on and subsequently much lower global oil prices enabling the cash-rich Chinese to pursue the mega-plans of oil reserve.

The last phase of the strategic plan will enable China to have 100 days of total oil import enabling independance on China's soil without any foreign interference on energy usage which is the same as U.S Strategic Petroleum Reserve.