Refining
Residual fuel fills Venezuela's storage tanks as exports cut to minimum
Most ships bound for Venezuelan ports for December and early January cargo deliveries have made U-turns, as the blockade spooks even vessels not under sanctions.
Indian Oil buys first Colombian oil under Ecopetrol contract
Indian refiners are scouting for crude as tighter U.S. and European Union sanctions on Moscow's producers and vessels are disrupting Russian oil imports.
Ukrainian drone attack sparks fire, damages equipment at Tuapse refinery
Tuapse in the Krasnodar region lies in southwest Russia on the Black Sea and about 350 km (218 mi) to the nearest parts of Ukraine’s mainland across the Sea of Azov.
China begins issuing second batch of 2026 crude import quotas to refiners
The newest allocation, combined with a small batch issued in late November, accounts for about 70% of the refiner's total quota for next year.
EIA: U.S. crude, fuel inventories rose in the week ended December 19
Monday's data release was delayed over six hours and released after the oil market had closed.
Ghana's Tema oil refinery restarts after 9-yr shutdown
Refining began on December 19 at the 45,000-bpd refinery, which had been shut since 2017.
Five energy market trends to track in 2026, the year of the glut
This past year was a wild one for the oil and gas industry, punctuated by the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, U.S. President Donald Trump's trade wars, the intensified targeting of energy infrastructure in Russia in its war against Ukraine, OPEC’s often perplexing production decisions and the recently threatened U.S. blockade of Venezuela.
Eneos plans to shut Marifu CDU in mid-January for maintenance
The refiner, a unit of Eneos Holdings, restarted the 172,100-bpd No. 2 CDU at its Kawasaki refinery near Tokyo on November 21 after it had been shut since August 16 for a planned turnaround.
Asia refinery 2025–2026 maintenance/outages
The table lists planned and unplanned refinery shutdowns for 2025 and 2026 compiled through a survey of Asian oil refiners and market sources.
- Consortium launches study to create a consolidated hub for recycled plastics 5/22
- Eni strengthens its global LNG strategy with long-term supply agreements in Indonesia 5/22
- Breakthrough shows how electricity could replace heat to turn CO₂ into useful chemicals 5/22
- bp's Whiting Refinery offers revised proposal to union in ongoing talks 5/22
- Plains oil pipeline partly shut down after rupture in East Los Angeles (U.S.), could disrupt supplies to refineries 5/22
- Vitol moves to open Mexico fuel terminal years after bribery scandal 5/22
