Americas
US district court dismisses lawsuit against Flotek
HOUSTON -- Flotek Industries Inc. announced that the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas has granted Flotek's motion to dismiss the securities class action that had been filed against the company in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Brazil's black market pipeline: Gangs hijack Petrobras' oil, fuel
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -- In September, police investigating a wave of killings in the northern Rio de Janeiro suburbs followed a tip to the isolated scrubland near the massive Duque de Caxias oil refinery.
US East Coast refiners profit on winter gasoline at expense of summer stocks
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The US East Coast gasoline market looks set to begin the summer driving season with fewer barrels in storage than last year, as refiners have been profiting by producing winter grade gasoline longer than usual, trading sources said.
ChemChina, IPP team to supply turn-key chlor-alkali plants
PRINCETON JUNCTION, New Jersey and BEIJING -- International Process Plants (IPP) and ChemChina's Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Company, Ltd. (BCMC) announce a partnership for IPP to provide new chlorine alkali plants designed and built by BCMC to industries around the world.
BP, DuPont JV Butamax announces acquisition of ethanol facility in Kansas
Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, a 50/50 JV between BP and DuPont, combining expertise in fuels with industrial biotechnology, announced the acquisition of Nesika Energy, LLC and its ethanol facility in Scandia, Kansas. Butamax will now start the engineering work to add bio-isobutanol capacity to the facility, while continuing to produce ethanol before and after adding this capacity.
Brazil's Braskem must face US lawsuit over Petrobras scandal
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem SA must face the main part of a shareholder lawsuit over its role in a massive bribery scandal that engulfed Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras SA, a US judge has ruled.
China to import first SGC, Thunderhorse oil from US in April
SINGAPORE/HOUSTON (Reuters) -- China will import Southern Green Canyon (SGC) and Thunderhorse crude oil from the Gulf Coast of the United States for the first time when a supertanker carrying 2 MM barrels arrives in April, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Business Trends: Standardized modularization—Drivers, challenges and perspectives in the oil and gas industry
Modularization is an alternative way of performing engineering aimed to reduce the number of interfaces, the total installed cost (TIC) and overall schedule length of a project, while optimizing the return on investment (ROI) and allowing standardization for similar future projects.
Industry Perspectives: What is the solution to comply with the IMO’s Global Sulfur Cap regulation?
In October 2016, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced that it will implement a new regulation that calls for the sulfur content in marine fuels to be reduced from 3.5% to 0.5%.
Viewpoint: Operational excellence—The path to world-class performance
Why is operational excellence (OE) increasingly being recognized as the path to world-class performance?

- CNOOC completes construction on $2.9-B, 1.8-MMtpy integrated complex in east China 8/22
- bp's Whiting refinery (U.S.) continues to flare days after severe thunderstorm 8/22
- Bachmann introduces latest version M-Target for Simulink 8/22
- U.S. to rule on biofuel waivers, but big oil refiners may need to wait 8/22
- Chinese independent refiner Hongrun buys Canadian, Brazilian crude 8/22
- Ukrainian attack suspends Russian oil flows to Hungary, Slovakia 8/22