Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Crude oil

Valero restarting Memphis refinery after recent fire

US refiner Valero is restarting units at its Memphis refinery in Tennessee, which was shut down on Aug. 5 due to a fire in a crude distillation unit. The restart will begin with one of the crude distillation units, FCC, and other key units, the company said.

Fluor wins deal from Chevron to expand oil pipeline in Kazakhstan, Russia

Fluor has been awarded a contract by Chevron Neftegaz - one of three project managers engaged by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium - for its recently-announced expansion project. Fluor will provide project services for the marine terminal and supervisory control and data system (SCADA) portions of the Caspian expansion project.

ExxonMobil to sell downstream units in Malaysia

ExxonMobil affiliates have agreed to sell their interest in three businesses operating in the Malaysian downstream petroleum sector to San Miguel Corp. (SMC). The agreement includes ExxonMobil’s 65% stake in the publicly traded company Esso Malaysia Berhad (EMB), which operates the Port Dickson refinery, as well as its wholly-owned ExxonMobil Malaysia Sdn Bhd (EMMSB) and ExxonMobil Borneo Sdn Bhd (EMBSB) affiliates, which are involved in the retail, industrial and wholesale and aviation fuels businesses.

US invests $510m on military, commercial biofuels

President Barack Obama announced that the US Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy will invest up to $510 million during the next three years in partnership with the private sector to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power military and commercial transportation.

Invensys to build integrated refinery information system for Saudi Aramco, Total project

Invensys Operations Management, a global provider of technology systems, software solutions and consulting services to the manufacturing and infrastructure operations industries, said it signed a multi-million dollar contract to implement an integrated refinery information system (IRIS) for Saudi Aramco Total Refining & Petrochemical Co. (SATORP).

Momentive starts up new production line at Texas oilfield technology complex

The oilfield technology group (OTG) of Momentive Specialty Chemicals started up a new manufacturing production line at its facility in Brady, Texas, to provide additional resin-coated proppants to fracturing service companies and operators in the oil and gas industry.

PGI Energy acquires Texas oil, gas field

PGI Energy, through its joint venture with Home Creek Energy as operator, has acquired an oil and gas field located in Haskell County, Texas, covering five leases with 11 production wells, 2 injection wells, pumper jacks, tanks, separators, tubing, rods and well equipment.

OriginOil receives new order from MBD Energy for algae-to-oil system

OriginOil, the developer of a technology to extract oil from algae, said it recently received an increased order for a large-scale algae extraction system from MBD Energy, a leading solutions provider in the field of industrial CO2 waste management.

American Petroleum Institute CEO disappointed by US shale gas committee findings

American Petroleum Institute (API) chief executive Jack Gerard welcomed an acknowledgement from the US government subcommittee on shale gas of the economic and energy security benefits of natural gas development, but said the specific recommendations were disappointing and confusing.

El Paso Corp. to spin off E&P business in 2011

Natural gas company El Paso Corp. said Thursday that it had taken important steps related to the planned spinoff of its E&P business before year-end 2011. On Thursday, El Paso filed its initial Form 10 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This filing provides information about the spinoff and provides a detailed look at all aspects of the E&P business.