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Refining

Refinery watch: Planned and unplanned US outages

Citgo Petroleum said a compressor at its refinery in Lemont lll. The work, under way wasn't expected to affect production levels. Phillips 66 said a process leak on a hydrocracker unit at its Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Illinois, resulted in an 11.5 hour release of hydrogen sulfide and flaring.

Technip wins work for UAE coke calcination project

This new unit is part of the carbon black and delayed coker project being implemented adjacent to Takreer’s existing Ruwais refinery located in the United Arab Emirates. The unit will consist of two trains and is designed to process 700,000 tpy of superior-quality anode green petroleum coke.

Tesoro to pay record US penalty for environmental violations at refineries

Tesoro, an independent US refiner, didn't comply with recordkeeping, reporting, sampling and testing requirements at four refineries producing conventional gasoline, in violation of the Clean Air Act, the EPA said. The agency said the penalty was the largest ever issued for violations like these.

Kinder Morgan cancels California oil pipeline plan as refiners opt for rail

Efforts to woo Valero Energy, Tesoro and other West Coast refiners to take oil from the proposed 277,000-bpd Freedom pipeline ultimately failed after refiners decided taking crude via railcar gave them more flexibility. Kinder Morgan will switch its focus to crude-by-rail projects in Texas and California.

PKN Czech refinery to be shut for 10 days due to cracking problems

The company decided late Wednesday to halt all operations at its Kralupy refinery for 10 days due to problems with the cracking unit. "The unplanned shutdown results from a lack of storage capacity for the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit feedstock," Unipetrol said in a statement.

Hindustan revives plan for new South India refining complex

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

Hindustan Petroleum has revived a plan to build a large refinery and petrochemical complex at Visakhapattanam. The proposed project will have a capacity of 300,000 bpd.

EU slaps anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imported from Argentina, Indonesia

EU biodiesel makers have long complained that subsidies and incentives for biodiesel makers in Argentina and Indonesia give them an unfair advantage. Argentina's Foreign Ministry denounced the duties as an attempt to shield EU companies from more competitive Argentine producers.

Egypt looks for fuel supplies from Arab producers to ease local shortage

Egypt is still talking with some Arab oil and gas producers to secure fuel supplies to ease its shortages. The negotiations with Qatar, Iraq, and Libya, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are still ongoing in order to secure the best formula to serve the interest of Egypt.

US monthly oil demand inches higher despite sharp decline in gasoline use

Gains in demand for distillate fuel [diesel/heating oil] and catch-all other oils, which include feedstocks for petrochemical plants, offset the fall in gasoline use to nudge total demand higher.

Valero targets more North American crude supply for Quebec refinery

Valero plans to invest between $106 million and $192 million to overhaul its handling capacity at the Quebec refinery, including increased tankage and new crude carrying ships, in order to increase access to North American crude. That will provide it with a competitive advantage.