Americas
US Senate passes bill to speed up permitting on LNG export projects
The Energy Policy and Modernization Act, the first wide-ranging energy bill passed by the Senate since George W. Bush was president, would increase US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), eventually helping to give European consumers alternatives to relying mainly on Russia for gas.
Petroecuador restarts Esmeraldas refinery after weekend earthquake
"After suspending operations for 57 hours to allow for technical inspections and find possible damage to industrial structure, yesterday at 9 p.m. ECT (0200 GMT) the start-up process of the Esmeraldas refinery's different processing units began," Petroecuador said in a statement.
Petroecuador halts Esmeraldas refinery on quake
Petroecuador said it would assess when to restart operations during the day after verifying that no infrastructure was damaged by the 7.8 magnitude quake which struck off the country's Pacific coast.
China calls for talks after Costa Rica abandons $1.5B refinery project
The refinery upgrading project has been paralyzed since 2013 by Costa Rica's comptroller after complaints of conflicts of interest in the feasibility studies.
ExxonMobil exports first cargo of offshore US oil to Rotterdam refinery
The vessel carrying offshore oil from the US Gulf of Mexico departed from Gramercy, Louisiana, in early April and is expected to arrive in Rotterdam on April 19, according to the data.
Cheap oil is blunting drive for fuel efficiency
Now that the costs of transport fuel have dropped sharply and appear set to remain low for several years, the focus will shift from efficiency to speed, power and convenience.
Dow Chemical invests in OxyMem’s wastewater treatment technology
The investment will accelerate the commercialization of OxyMem’s promising wastewater treatment technology -- the Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR).
US gasoline use comes in stronger than expected
A larger-than-expected draw in gasoline inventories and falling US crude production softened the blow of soaring crude stocks. Gasoline fell by 4.2 MMbbl to 239.76 million, compared with an analyst forecast for a 1.4-MMbbl draw.
G2X secures $680MM in funding for Natgasoline methanol unit in Texas
The injection of $680 million into the project, combined with OCI's existing equity of $520 million and shareholder loans of $511 million, will complete the entire funding requirements for the project.
Global chemicals output shows monthly growth
During February, chemical production rose in North America, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific; was flat in Africa & the Middle East; and fell in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.

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