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Americas

Global fuel demand growth slows as 2016 begins

The US transportation sector continues to send mixed signals about the strength of fuel demand at the end of 2015 and heading into 2016.

Valero reports gas emissions at Corpus refinery

The refinery cited a "compressor malfunction" as the cause of the emissions, according to an environmental filing. The plant said it "routed gas to authorized control device."

US refiner Marathon beats profit expectations as crack spread rises

Marathon Petroleum, which was spun off from Marathon Oil, said the crack spread increased to $6.65/bbl in the fourth quarter from $5.43/bbl a year ago.

US oil, gasoline inventories swell to record highs

US crude imports rose 647,000 bpd while refinery crude runs fell 24,000 bpd, as utilization rates fell by 0.8 percentage point to 86.6% of capacity.

Colombia questions cost overruns at Ecopetrol’s Cartagena refinery

The refinery, which opened in October amid fanfare and a visit by President Santos, has been the target of public wrath after the Comptroller's office found that costs rose to $8 billion, double the initial estimate, on contracts to vendors, project managers and a three-year delay in getting the refinery online.

Dow Chemical posts better-than-expected profit as lower costs lift margins

The cost-cuts helped Dow's operating margin increase by 406 basis points to 20.9% in the three months ended Dec. 31. Cost of sales fell 24% to $8.81 billion.

Iowa Caucus results seen as setback for ethanol

Ted Cruz, the conservative senator from Texas and outspoken opponent of the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, upset Republican front-runner Donald Trump in the Iowa caucuses.

Dow unveils new job cuts, planned CEO retirement as DuPont merger nears

DuPont CEO Edward Breen is set to head the combined company after the merger, while Liveris will be the executive chairman after the deal closes in the second half of 2016.

Primus makes 100-octane gasoline at GTL demo

With the production of 100-octane zero-sulfur, zero-benzene, zero-lead gasoline, Primus says it could address fuels that meet EU and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) specifications.

Industry Perspectives: Downstream disputes breaking the 10% ‘blend wall’ for US ethanol

US refiners are set to break the 10% “blend wall” for using ethanol in gasoline, but downstream professionals are certainly not happy about it.