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Crude oil

India boosts Iran oil imports, largely offsets China reduction - sources

India has boosted its imports of Iranian oil, becoming the Islamic Republic's largest customer last month and largely offsetting a cut in Chinese purchases as sanctions fail to dent Tehran's sales for now, people within the oil industry said this week. Iranian crude exports to India were up 37.5% from December.

Independents nab control of US refining industry

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

Independent refiners appear in the driver's seat in the US as integrated oil companies increasingly shed refining assets.

EIA raises most US price forecasts for crude, petroleum products

The US government on Tuesday raised its predicted prices for most crude oil and petroleum products in the latest edition of its monthly energy forecast. With crude prices serving as the fuel feedstock for petroleum products, forecasts for gasoline and diesel were also up as well.

Magellan Midstream CEO: El Paso-Houston pipeline not fully committed

Magellan Midstream plans to begin by 2013 its project to ship oil from increasingly productive south Texas fields to the refining belt along the US Gulf Coast despite lacking enough shipper interest to fill the line. Last year's WTI-Brent crude price disparity helped spark multiple projects to bring Cushing crude to the Gulf.

Sunoco to swap CEOs amid transition to logistics

Sunoco’s Lynn Elsenhans will step down as CEO and be replaced by Brian MacDonald in March, as the US-based company continues its exit from the manufacturing industry and transition to a logistics and retail focus. MacDonald, 46, joined Sunoco in 2009 as senior vice president and chief financial officer.

ExxonMobil's natural gas emphasis may hurt small US producers

ExxonMobil’s decision to leave US natural gas output untouched despite low commodity prices may push smaller producers out of the business, force industry consolidation and make Exxon an even more powerful force. The company said drilling for natural gas in some areas is still profitable, even at current prices.

Shell looking at ways to improve US gas profits

HP Editorial Staff: HP News

The company says it may seek land for potential liquefaction and export terminals. After heavy investment in US shale assets, low gas prices are driving up project costs.

Brazil sets domestic record for crude, natural gas production in 2011

Brazil set a record for crude oil and natural gas production in 2011 as ongoing tests at recently discovered oil fields continue to boost the country's output. Average daily output was 2.52 million BOE in 2011, up from 2.45 million BOE per day in 2010, according to the ANP.

Debottleneck crude-unit preheat exchanger network inefficiencies

Saudi Aramco: Al-Zahrani, S.  |  Bright, E.  |  Roy, S.

Simulation models can be effectively used to optimize heat transfer and boost operational performance

HP Insight: Government, environment and taxes, oh my!

In this issue of HPInsight, the global hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) still battles some very familiar and present day challenges, such as economic cycles, feedstock spikes, government over reg..