Americas
US chemical production shows improvement
January 2012 output rose on both a month-on-month and year-on-year basis, according to monthly figures from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) trade group.
Crude tank explodes at Texas fuel storage terminal
Firefighters have extinguished a crude oil tank fire that began Thursday night at a fuel storage terminal in Galveston, Texas, according to news media reports. The facility has the capacity to handle 1.25 million bbl of liquid cargo storage and 350,000 tons of dry flat storage, according to the Galveston Daily News.
Calumet, MDU to explore building diesel refinery in North Dakota
MDU Resources and Calumet say they will explore the feasibility of jointly building and operating a 20,000 bpd diesel refinery in southwestern North Dakota. Site selection, permitting, crude oil feed procurement, marketing and engineering studies are currently underway.
TransCanada to extend Tamazunchale natural gas pipeline in Mexico
TransCanada said Friday that it will build, own and operate the Tamazunchale Pipeline Extension in Mexico. TransCanada expects to invest approximately $500 million in the pipeline and anticipates an in-service date in the first quarter of 2014.
Lower crude exports from Iran could trigger 30% spike in oil prices - IMF
A halt of Iran's oil exports to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries could trigger a 20%-30% spike in oil prices, an International Monetary Fund official said. The EU last month said it would ban all purchases of oil from Iran for countries within the union.
ExxonMobil says oil, gas reserves higher in 2011
ExxonMobil said Thursday the company's 2011 proved oil-and-gas reserves inched up compared with the previous year. The bulk of reserves additions came from the Kearl Expansion Project in Canada, which totaled 1 billion oil-equivalent bbl. Additions were also made in the US, Nigeria and Indonesia.
Obama defends energy policy, blames Middle East turmoil for rising US gasoline
President Barack Obama defended his energy policy from Republican attacks that he has not done enough to counter the recent run-up in gasoline prices. Obama said that more drilling will not bring down the price at the pump. In fact, the US is producing more oil than at any time in the last eight years, he said.
CertifiedSafety opens US Midwest office in Indiana
CertifiedSafety opened a new regional office in this month in Whiting, Indiana, company officials confirmed on Thursday. The new Whiting office is their third regional facility and will serve many clients in US Midwest such as BP Whiting, the nation's seventh-largest refinery.
ITT lands global deal to supply pumps for Shell
ITT announced an agreement with Shell Global Solutions in which ITT’s Goulds Pumps brand will provide American Petroleum Institute (API) centrifugal pumps to support Shell operations worldwide. The deal is for five years with an option for an additional five years. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Tesoro refinery workers reject USW labor contract, strike possible
Union workers at three more Tesoro refineries have rejected new labor contracts, setting up the potential for a strike. A general strike at Tesoro's refineries still negotiating could shut down 500,000 bpd of refining capacity, though it wouldn't spread to refineries run by other companies.
- IHI, Vopak to launch ammonia terminal project in Japan 7/11
- India's BPCL plans to shut Bina refinery unit for 15-day maintenance in August 7/11
- Soaring electric truck sales deal new blow to diesel use in China 7/11
- Russia`s Tatneft launches new hydrocracking unit on TANECO refinery 7/11
- IEA: Global oil market may be tighter than it looks 7/11
- India must boost its petchem output to counter China's dominance, Reliance says 7/11
