Honeywell introduces virtual reality-based simulator to optimize training for industrial workers

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced the introduction of an advanced industrial training solution that combines 3D immersive technology with industry-leading operator training simulation to create a collaborative learning environment for plant operators and field technicians, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Honeywell’s Immersive Field Simulator is a virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality-based training tool that incorporates a digital twin of the physical plant to provide targeted, on-demand, skill-based training for workers. “Faced with increasingly complex technology and an experienced workforce nearing retirement, operators need robust technical training and development solutions that accurately depict real-world environments,” said Pramesh Maheshwari, vice president and general manager, Lifecycle Solutions and Services, Honeywell Process Solutions. “Traditional training approaches often fail to meet the mark when it comes to helping panel and field operators and maintenance technicians in process plants become better at their jobs. The result can be reliability issues and increased operational incidents."

The Immersive Field Simulator offers a smooth, virtual walkthrough to familiarize workers with the plant. It includes avatars that represent virtual team members. The simulator’s cloud-hosted, device-agnostic platform, which incorporates flexible 3D models, grows with the user as plant operations change. The simulator is customizable to meet specific instructional needs and project team members and plant subject matter experts can easily create customized training modules.

Honeywell’s Immersive Field Simulator transforms training for today’s digital-native workforce, enabling employees to learn by doing while increasing knowledge retention, minimizing situations that can result in operational downtime improving competencies across a variety of areas.

"With our end-to-end solution, console and field operators can practice different operating and safety scenarios, including rare but critical situations, in a safe, simulated environment,” said Maheshwari. “This approach significantly improves upon current training tools and methods. VR-based training boosts confidence and retention while improving overall professional skills. Experience shows that students using VR can learn significantly faster than in the classroom."

Honeywell’s Competency Management program, which includes the simulator training, is built upon decades of workers’ experiences using integrated control and safety systems. Honeywell has incorporated this experience into state-of-the-art competency-based offerings that improve worker performance and safety.

As MRC informed earlier, Honeywell UOP has announced that French energy company Total will utilize Honeywell UOP’s Ecofining process technology to produce renewable fuels, primarily for the aviation industry, at its Grandpuits platform at Seine-et-Marne in north central France. Once completed, the bio-refinery will process 400,000 tons of feed per year, producing up to 170,000 tons of sustainable aviation fuel, 120,000 tons of renewable diesel and 50,000 tons of renewable naphtha for production of bioplastics.

We remind, Honeywell announced Zhenhua Petrochemical Co. Ltd will use Honeywell UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology for propane dehydrogenation to process 1 million metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene for a proposed plant in Dongying City, Shandong Province, China.

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2020, Honeywell announced that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will use Honeywell UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology in its second propane dehydrogenation plant, called "PDH 2". Located near Mont Belvieu, Texas, PDH 2 will produce 750,000 metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene as part of Enterprise’s expansion of propylene manufacturing capacity.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s fuel consumption in October registered its first year-on-year increase since February, as slowing coronavirus cases and increased mobility accelerated an economic recovery, reported Reuters.

Consumption of refined fuels, a proxy for oil demand, rose 2.5% in October from the prior year to 17.78 million tons and nearly 15% higher from the previous month, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas showed.

“GST (Goods and Services Tax) collections, power demand, PMI etc all are indicating increased economic activity and COVID cases are also coming down to a point where demand is coming back to normalcy,” said K Ravichandran, senior vice president at ICRA, a unit of Moody’s Investors Service.

With public transportation gradually picking up, fuel demand is expected to improve further, he added.

India's fuel consumption rises for 2nd straight month.

India’s daily COVID-19 case count has steadily declined since September, although total cases remain north of 8.5 million- the second highest in the world.

Activity in India’s dominant services industry also expanded for the first time in eight months in October as demand surged.

Diesel consumption, a key parameter linked to economic growth and which accounts for about 40% of overall refined fuel sales in India, rose 7.4% to 6.99 million tons on an annual basis, and climbed about 27% month-on-month.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, rose by 4.3% from a year earlier to 2.65 million tons, and by 8.2% from 2.45 million tons from September.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased by 3% to 2.42 million tons from a year earlier and 6.6% from the previous month, while naphtha sales rose 15% to 1.30 million tons and about 14% month-on-month.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, rose about 47% versus last year, and fuel oil increased by about 12.8% last month.

As MRC informed previously, India’s top refiner Indian Oil Corp has been operating at 100% capacity since early November as local fuel demand has recovered.

We remind that IOC is expanding its petrochemical capacity by more than 70 per cent from its current 3.2 million tonnes a year. It is also on new technologies that reduces the cost of producing petrochemicals.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Corp will lay off about 25% of Noble Energy's employees who joined the oil major after its USD4.1 billion purchase of the smaller rival earlier this month, the company announced, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A collapse in crude oil prices has forced most oil and gas producers to drastically cut costs by laying off thousands of employees and cutting down on drilling. For many companies, consolidation with larger players at low or no premiums is becoming the only option to survive.

The job cuts, which are on top of Chevron’s plan to reduce 10%-15% of its own workforce, come after the company promised to lower its operating expenses by USD1 billion this year to cope with the downturn. Chevron’s 10%-15% cuts would imply a reduction of between 4,500 and 6,750 jobs, while job cuts at Noble will reduce the total workforce by roughly another 570 positions.

Most of the cuts will take place this year, Chevron said in an email. Chevron’s purchase of Noble boosted its investments in U.S. shale patches of Colorado and the Permian basin and gave the company a foothold in Israel through Noble’s flagship Leviathan project, the largest natural gas field in the eastern Mediterranean.

The company, which took a USD1 billion charge earlier this year to cover severance payments, has also been in the process of asking employees worldwide to reapply for their positions as part of a cost-cutting program, Reuters reported this month.

As part of the plan, Chevron also plans to lay off more than 50 employees starting Dec. 14 in both its Bakersfield production unit and the El Segundo refinery, according to a notice the company sent to the state of California. About 700 employees will lose jobs in Houston starting this month, according to a filing with the Texas state.

Chevron had begun streamlining its operations at the end of 2019 when investor pressure was mounting on oil producers over their abysmal returns. Reuters also reported exclusively on Tuesday that Cenovus Energy Inc plans to cut 20% to 25% of its workforce after it acquires Husky Energy Inc.

As MRC informed earlier, Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) announced they have been awarded a contract by China's largest oil and gas producer and distributor, PetroChina Company Limited, for the supply of its proprietary ISOMIX-e reactor internals for two of their RDS units in Liaoning Province.

As MRC reported earlier, Chevron Phillips Chemical, part of Chevron Corporation, still has not lifted force majeure on its polyethylene (PE) products after assessing the impact of Hurricane Laura to its Gulf Coast PE operations. The force majeure circumstances were declared on 1 September, 2020. CP Chem operates a 420,000 mt/year high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plant in Orange, Texas, and an 855,000 mt/year cracker in Port Arthur. The company plans to minimize the impact of the event and return to full PE deliveries as soon as possible.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

Chevron Corporation is the the second-largest integrated energy company in the United States and among the largest corporations in the world. Chevron is involved in upstream activities including exploration and production, downstream activities including refining, marketing and transportation, and advanced energy technology. Chevron is also invested in power generation and gasification processes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French energy giant Total has promoted Singaporean Liang Ting Wee to president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Total Oil Asia Pacific for its marketing and services division, overseeing the Asia-Pacific and Middle East, reported The Business Times.

The marketing and services division of Total develops and markets products primarily derived from crude oil, along with all associated services. Its solutions include lubricants, liquefied petroleum gas, bitumen and special fluids.

The division has close to 6,800 employees in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East, and serves customers through its retail network of around 2,400 service stations.

Based in Singapore, Mr Liang has also been appointed the country chair to represent all of the oil and gas major's business interests in the city-state. Total has a 600-strong local workforce in Singapore.

The group has been active in the Republic for 38 years, retailing petrochemicals, marketing liquefied natural gas, petroleum products, as well as trading oil, petroleum products, natural gas and power.

In December 2019, Total opened its regional headquarters at Frasers Tower along Cecil Street, spanning about 125,000 square feet. The group said then that the Singapore office will serve as a base to manage its liquefied natural gas business in the Asia-Pacific and its renewable energy business in Asia.

Both of Mr Liang's appointments took effect from Oct 1 this year. He replaces Christian Cabrol, who has assumed the role of CEO of Total Deutschland in Germany.

Mr Liang has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the energy sector.

Since joining Total in 2012, he has taken on senior management responsibilities in strategy development in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East, as well as profit-and-loss responsibilities covering markets in China, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.

Before working at Total, Mr Liang began his career as a refinery engineer in Singapore, and later joined the country's Economic Development Board.

As MRC wrote earlier, within the framework of its net zero strategy, Total will convert its Grandpuits refinery (Seine-et-Marne) into a zero-crude platform and will invest more then EUR500 mln into this project. By 2024 the platform will focus on four new industrial activities: production of renewable diesel primarily intended for the aviation industry, production of bioplastics, plastics recycling and operation of two photovoltaic solar power plants.

We remind that in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Enterprise Products’ Q3 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose slightly year on year, “despite another challenging quarter for the US energy industry” amid the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, said th company.

The performance of the company’s marketing, storage, natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation, NGL pipeline, petrochemical pipeline and Permian gathering and processing businesses largely offset the impact of lower margins, volumes and earnings from natural gas gathering and processing assets in the Rockies, South Texas and the Haynesville. Notably, Enterprise’s petrochemical services segment reported a USD124m sequential improvement in gross operating margin, from a challenging Q2, the company said.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. EPD stock increased nearly 2% since the partnership reported third-quarter results on Oct 28, wherein earnings met estimates. It has narrowed 2020 growth capital investment projections, while reducing the budget for 2021 and 2022.

It reported third-quarter 2020 adjusted earnings per limited partner unit of 48 cents, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The bottom line, moreover, improved from the year-ago quarter’s 46 cents per unit.

Revenues declined to USD6,922 million from USD7,964.1 million in the prior-year quarter. However, the top line beat the consensus estimate of USD6,529 million.

Increased transportation volumes in Petrochemical & Refined Products Services, and higher fee-based volumes from the Permian Basin at the partnership’s gas processing plants aided the bottom line. The positives were partially offset by lower natural gas pipeline transportation volumes, and crude oil transportation and marine terminal volumes.

As MRC reported earlier, Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPP), through one of its affiliates, has entered a long-term agreement with Marubeni Corp. of Japan, under which Marubeni will offtake polymer-grade propylene (PGP) produced from a second propane dehydrogenation plant (PDH 2) currently under construction at EPP’s operations in Mont Belvieu, Tex., for supply to global customers. Concluded on June 16, the PGP offtake agreement is part of a long-term collaboration between EPP and Marubeni that also includes the export of liquefied ethylene, the first 25-million lb vessel of which loaded and sailed from EPP and Navigator Holdings Ltd.’s 50-50 joint venture marine terminal at Morgan’s Point, Tex., in early January, EPP and Marubeni said on June 30.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in September 2020 by 6.7% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased by 6.1% year on year in the first nine months of 2020, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-September output. Last month's production of primary polymers decreased to 852,000 tonnes from 888,000 tonnes in August due to shutdowns in Tomsk, Ufa and Kazan. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 7,480,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 16.4% year on year.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is an American midstream natural gas and crude oil pipeline company with headquarters in Houston, Texas. It acquired GulfTerra in September 2004. The company ranked No. 105 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
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