Workforce Development

Rail union member: more staff, shorter trains may prevent chemical cargo derailments

Feb 20, 2023

The Feb. 3, 2023 derailment of about three dozen rail cars, including five with vinyl chloride monomer (an intermediate for PVC), along the Ohio River, the biggest tributary of the Mississippi by volume, and the ensuing fire for about five days forcing a town...

Oil-rich Guyana builds entirely new downstream industry including refinery, power plant

Dec 20, 2022

The government of Guyana, that has seen within the past two decades an increase in per-capita income of over five times thanks to new hydrocarbon developments, announced in late 2022 that it has taken steps to develop a downstream oil and gas industry...

U.S. petrochemical companies relieved after strike by railroad workers prevented but labor discontent remains

Dec 6, 2022

Petrochemical plants and refineries, customers of the North American freight railroad industry comprised of seven class I railroads and employing some 170,000 people, expressed relief at the start of December 2022 that U.S. President Joe Biden and Congress...

Strong dollar, visa delays help keep 2022 jet fuel volume still below pre-pandemic levels

Oct 25, 2022

As of late 2022 jet fuel volumes have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels as corporate travel and long-distance trips still need to come back to where they once were while airlines, mostly those outside the U.S., face the challenge of a strong dollar and...

U.S. chemical guild renews calls for better rail service, prices after union-railroads deal

Sep 27, 2022

Chemical manufacturers reiterated demands for better rail service and prices as the country´s association that includes resins producers expressed relief after a mid-September accord between U.S. freight railroads owners and unions that prevented 7,000 trains...

Mexico´s Pemex to upgrade its six refineries after completing 340,000 bpd new plant construction

Jul 20, 2022

Octavio Romero, director of Mexican state oil Pemex, said the company will work in the second half of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador´s term on improving its six refineries after completing during the first half of the six-year period the...

Apprenticeship programs help petrochemical companies select workers in tight market

Jun 21, 2022

Downstream oil and gas companies including BASF, one of the three biggest petrochemical producers, have organized apprenticeship development programs to select and professionally develop workers in the current tight North American labor market.

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