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Americas

Brazilian fuel sales show year-on-year decline

C-grade gasoline sales rose to 23,440 bbl from 21,400 bbl in March 2015, while diesel sales fell to 29,840 bbl in March from 31,540 bbl a year earlier, according to petroleum regulator ANP.

Refinery outages, stock draw boost US gasoline

Traders said the rise, which spread throughout the oil complex, stemmed largely from a report by energy intelligence firm Genscape of a 600,000-bbl draw in East Coast gasoline stocks last week.

Death toll from Mexican chemical blast rises to 32

The massive explosion took place on Wednesday afternoon at the facility's chlorinate 3 plant in the Gulf state of Veracruz, sending a black cloud of smoke hundreds of meters into the air and giving off a powerful smell of ammonia.

Pemex petrochemical plant explosion kills dozens, injures hundreds

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

At least 32 people died and 136 were injured after a leak caused a deadly explosion at the plant, and the death toll could still rise further, according to the CEO of oil giant Pemex.

WR Grace to acquire global polyolefin catalyts business from BASF

BASF’s polyolefin catalysts business includes its LYNX high-activity PE catalyst technologies that are utilized commercially in slurry processes for the production of high-density PE resins.

Compact Membrane Systems plans pilot at PBF’s Delaware refinery

While most olefin-paraffin separations are performed using capital- and energy-intensive distillation processes, membrane systems can provide less energy- and capital-intensive alternatives.

US distillate fuel inventories post surprisingly huge drawdown

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

"Distillates are the standout bullish element of the report, and gasoline is the disappointment," said Matt Smith, commodity research director at energy data provider ClipperData.

US Senate passes bill to speed up permitting on LNG export projects

The Energy Policy and Modernization Act, the first wide-ranging energy bill passed by the Senate since George W. Bush was president, would increase US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), eventually helping to give European consumers alternatives to relying mainly on Russia for gas.

Petroecuador restarts Esmeraldas refinery after weekend earthquake

"After suspending operations for 57 hours to allow for technical inspections and find possible damage to industrial structure, yesterday at 9 p.m. ECT (0200 GMT) the start-up process of the Esmeraldas refinery's different processing units began," Petroecuador said in a statement.

Petroecuador halts Esmeraldas refinery on quake

Petroecuador said it would assess when to restart operations during the day after verifying that no infrastructure was damaged by the 7.8 magnitude quake which struck off the country's Pacific coast.