Hydrocarbon Processing - September 2022 - 7

Editorial
Comment
LEE NICHOLS, VICE PRESIDENT, CONTENT/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Lee.Nichols@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Our purpose: 100 yr of striving to deliver
technical editorial excellence to the HPI
One hundred years ago, a group of
individuals saw a need to disseminate
the latest technologies and know-how
to improve refining operations, safety,
management and profitability. At the
time, World War 1 had ended roughly
4 yr prior, and global gasoline demand
expanded immensely. In turn, new refining
capacity was being built around the
world to increase production to satisfy
burgeoning demand. Simultaneously,
new discoveries were being made to produce
plastics, fertilizers and other petrochemical
products.
However, as with any growing industry,
challenges emerged. In turn, these
challenges brought forth the best in individuals,
resulting in new technologies
and products that revolutionized the
world-a common theme within the
hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI)
even today. These ideas, technologies,
know-how and problem-solving techniques
have been the basis for Hydrocarbon
Processing for 100 yr. The publication
has and will continue to be written
by the industry for the industry.
Origins. In September 1922, Gulf Publishing
Co. (now Gulf Energy Information)
launched Vol. 1, No. 1 of The Refiner
and Natural Gasoline Manufacturer. The
publication's name changed several times
over the next few decades-and its coverage
expanded to include petrochemicals
and gas processing/LNG, as those
industries
evolved-until the name
Hydrocarbon Processing was adopted in
June 1966. The publication's title-Hydrocarbon
Processing-represents the
integration of the global refining and
petrochemical industries and the technical
processes and operational know-how
that are synonymous with refinery and
petrochemicals production.
The following is the publication's inaugural
editorial comment, written by
Gulf Publishing Co.'s President at the
time, R. L. Dudley. Not only does he provide
the basis of the publication's direction
and audience, but also the intense
focus on editorial integrity-a guideline
that is strictly followed to this day.
Mr. Dudley's words laid the foundation
for the genesis of what was to become
the HPI's most trusted and read
technical publication. These guidelines
have resonated within the publication
for 100 yr and continue to be the basis
for technical editorial excellence.
OUR PURPOSE
The trade publication that attempts
to cover a field when that field does not
exist is doomed in advance; a publication
that attempts to cover a field that
does exist will prosper just in proportion
to the earnestness of its purpose and the
accuracy of its judgement.
For a long time, we have believed that
the refining branch of the oil industry
deserved a publication devoted to its
particular challenges. For a long time,
we have believed that the natural gasoline
business had grown to the point
where a publication dedicated to its interests
was needed.
These two branches of the industry,
closely allied in more ways than one,
have developed to a tremendous degree
during the past decade, but the development
is by no means completed. For
some time, we have thought that an industry
that must get better results with
the raw material at its command needed
a professional journal having for its purpose
the dissemination of knowledge of
what is going on in that industry.
The welcome which The Refiner and
Natural Gasoline Manufacturer has had
even in advance of its first issue confirms
our belief that the industry will
welcome such a journal.
If we came to you with simply " another
oil journal, " we would deserve no
sympathy, no support nor friendship
at your hands. We would be nothing
more than a leach upon the industry we
claimed to serve.
But we present The Refiner and Natural
Gasoline Manufacturer to you with no
such idea. Its idea is one of service. It will
bring to its readers each issue new data
on refinery methods, written by professionals
who are in a position to write
with authority. It will bring to you information
on new processes of refining
oils-which it will not present as a panacea
for refining ills, but simply as news
to be taken for what you think it is worth.
We recognize that one of the greatest
obstacles facing a publication of this
kind is the reputation which oil publications-through
no bad intention on
their part-have suffered from insofar
as the refinery superintendent is concerned.
" Not half of what you read is
true-and it seems that the writers of refinery
articles are anxious to cover space
and yet not release any of their own trade
secrets, " was the way one professional
put it recently.
It is our hope that The Refiner and
Natural Gasoline Manufacturer will become
a publication for which the refinery
engineer will be willing to write,
knowing that the professionals who read
are their fellows in every respect.
And to this end, we crave help. We
know that the field exists, our friends in
the industry have confirmed our belief
in it, but the greatest service can only
be had through the greatest cooperation
from those who compose the profession
to which The Refiner and Natural Gasoline
Manufacturer earnestly dedicates itself.
R. L. Dudley
President, Gulf Publishing Company
September 1922
Hydrocarbon Processing's Centennial Anniversary | SEPTEMBER 2022 7
Hydrocarbon Processing - September 2022

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