Americas
Study: Global methanol demand to rise by 80% in decade, led by China
China will be the major driver of the demand increase, while at the same time, the methanol market in North America market is undergoing a renaissance of new projects.
Methanex warns of reduced gas feedstock supply to plants in Trinidad
Methanex is the operator of two plants in Trinidad, Titan and Atlas. The company holds 100% and 63.1% interests in the two facilities for a combined proportional share of about 2 million tons of methanol.
BP confirms explosion, fire at Whiting refinery as production continues
BP said operations at the 413,500 bpd Whiting refinery "were minimally impacted as a result of the incident and the refinery continues to produce products for customers".
MarkWest expands Marcellus Shale processing
MarkWest announced a major expansion of NGL processing infrastructure at its Keystone complex in Butler County, Pennsylvania, to help support growing rich-gas production.
Cyanco completes expansion of Nevada sodium cyanide solution plant
Cyanco announced the ramp up of the latest capacity expansion of its sodium cyanide solution plant in Winnemucca, Nevada, bringing capacity from 93,000 to 110,000 tpy.
LyondellBasell to build new propylene oxide, TBA plant on US Gulf Coast
"While we have not finalized the exact location of the plant, the abundant natural gas liquids associated with shale gas make the US Gulf Coast an advantaged feedstock region," an executive said.
Air Products licenses liquid nitrogen technology to ARS for cryo-machining
The technology license agreement gives ARS extensive rights to Air Products' patented ICEFLY cryogenic machining technology, which has been applied broadly to the machining of metals and polymer materials.
INEOS, Sasol award EPC contract to KBR for new Texas polyethylene plant
The new facility is designed to produce 470,000 tpy of bimodal HDPE using Innovene S process technology licensed from INEOS Technologies. The new, single-train facility will include new polymerization, pelletization, and railcar load-out facilities, plus upgrades to existing infrastructure.
Reliance unveils new project to source US ethane to feed crackers in India
Reliance is planning to upgrade its crackers to maximize the cracking of ethane and also to have maximum operational flexibility to optimize feedstocks with complete control of the supply chain.
Loose pipe fittings blamed for sulfuric acid spill at Tesoro refinery in California
The technical report from the CSB concluded that a February 2014 spill at Tesoro's Martinez refinery resulted from insufficient tightening between a tube and a compression joint.

- Argentina raises biofuel prices for domestic market 7/14
- Technip Energies' develops low-emission furnace design to reduce the carbon footprint of ethylene production 7/14
- Biofuel demand to soak up more than half of U.S. soyoil production next year, USDA says 7/14
- Russia's June seaborne oil product exports down 3.4% m/m 7/14
- Serbia seeks fifth U.S. sanctions waiver for Russian-owned oil firm NIS 7/14
- EIA: U.S. hydrocarbon production supported by export growth in long-term projections 7/14