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Distillation

China’s crude oil imports decreased from a record as refinery activity slowed

Slower oil demand growth in 2024 led to less crude oil processed by China’s refineries and fewer crude oil imports compared with the record high set in 2023. China, the world’s largest importer of crude oil, received 11.1 MMbpd in 2024, down from 11.3 MMbpd in 2023.

Russia's Sibur suspends output at petrochemical plant east of Moscow after drone attack

Russian petrochemicals giant Sibur said on Wednesday it had temporarily suspended production at its plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region due to a Ukrainian drone attack.

Motiva shuts FCC, alkylation units at its Port Arthur, Texas (U.S.) refinery

Motiva Enterprises completed shutting the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker-3 (FCC-3) and the alkylation units at its 626,000-bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery on Tuesday for planned work, said people familiar with operations.

Emerging Fuels Technology awarded technology licensing contract for seawater CO2-to-SAF conversion plant

Emerging Fuels Technology's proprietary technology platform will be used on Sea Dragon Energy's demonstration plant that will convert CO2 extracted from seawater into synthetic jet fuel (sustainable aviation fuel).

RCM Technologies unlocks increases in ethanol plant capacity

RCM Technologies Inc., RCM Thermal Kinetics, a division of RCM Technologies, has launched its innovative New Ethanol eXpansion Technology (NEXT) program. This solution is designed to revolutionize ethanol plant expansion projects by enhancing production capacity and energy efficiency without requiring costly and time-consuming major equipment replacement.

South Korea's GS Caltex plans Yeosu refinery maintenance in late February

The maintenance at its 330,000-bpd crude distillation unit is expected to last for around 30 days

Indonesia's B40 palm oil delay causes market uncertainty

Indonesia has yet to implement a higher mandatory blend of biodiesel planned for Jan. 1 as industry participants await technical details of the new regulation, causing confusion among palm oil traders.

Japan's Taiyo Oil to shut two CDUs at Shikoku refinery for maintenance

Japanese oil refiner Taiyo Oil plans to shut down two crude distillation units (CDUs) at its 138,000-bpd Shikoku refinery in western Japan this week for scheduled maintenance.

Chevron upgrades Pasadena refinery to increase capacity, feedstock and product flexibility

Chevron U.S.A. has completed a retrofit of its refinery in Pasadena, Texas (U.S.), which is expected to increase product flexibility and expand the processing capacity of lighter crudes by nearly 15% to 125,000 bpd.

Malaysia plans to produce sustainable jet fuel in 2027

Malaysia plans to start producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2027, with an initial production capacity of 1MMtpy.