Don't miss out on the latest business and technology news for chemical engineers, featuring select items in relation to Fuels & Petrochemicals.
Big Oil profits lag behind oil price rally
Oil majors posted weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings and signaled a continued resistance to boosting spending and shareholder returns as they struggle to fully recover from the downturn. ExxonMobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP should generate about $90 billion in combined free cash flow this year and next, but only about $15 billion of that is projected to go toward share buybacks.
Tech advances help BP turn around its shale business
Tech innovations combined with its experience as a multinational oil company helped BP cut its shale production costs by 34% over five years and make its shale business profitable for the first time in 2017. These achievements encouraged BP to pursue the $10.5 billion acquisition of BHP Billiton's US shale assets, which is expected to boost BP's total shale output from 315,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to more than 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Quicker battery charging with niobium tungsten oxides
University of Cambridge researchers report using pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy with niobium tungsten oxides to produce materials that have a complex crystalline structure. These materials could provide faster charging for lithium-ion batteries, they say.
US ends policy mandating compensation for damage to public lands
The Interior Department is canceling a compensatory mitigation policy that required oil drillers, miners and other land users to pay for damage they inflicted on public lands.
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