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Americas

Foster Wheeler wins top safety award by US forum of engineers, contractors

Foster Wheeler's initiative to achieve a safety culture step-change by balancing observable and measureable safety tools with a personal commitment to safety led to the company receiving the 2013 Award for Excellence from the Rice Global Engineering & Construction Forum (RGF) in Houston.

Korea National Oil to shop Newfoundland refinery

Korea National Oil Corp., which inherited the 115,000-bpd Come By Chance refinery when it bought Harvest Energy in 2009, has hired Deutsche Bank to sell the facility, according to people familiar with the matter. It is unclear how much, if anything, the refinery could fetch from a buyer.

Brazil to allow Petrobras to raise gasoline prices

The price increase of about 8% for gasoline at the refinery gate would help shore up Petrobras's finances ahead of the sale of Brazil's largest offshore oil discovery under new production-sharing deals.

Fluor agrees to design major gas-to-methanol project in Louisiana

HP Editorial Staff: HP News

Fluor was awarded an engineering and design services contract by South Louisiana Methanol for a potential 5,000 tpd methanol project. It would be built in St. James Parish.

Shale boom not cutting US polyethylene user costs

Despite the shale boom, the price of polyethylene in the US has generally risen over the past few years. The type most used typically costs around 75 cents/lb, up from an average of 64 cents in 2010.

Crude oil in Quebec rail disaster was mislabeled

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said its tests showed the oil had a much lower flash point -- the temperature at which a fire can ignite -- than originally indicated on tank-car signage and was more dangerous than identified on the railcars that plowed into Lac-Megantic on July 6.

Emerson to supply automation for new Lubrizol additives plant in China

At Zhuhai, Emerson’s role includes collaborating with the Lubrizol team to engineer, project-manage, install and commission a complete automation solution for the new additives plant. The Emerson solution is based on a FEED study done previously at Lubrizol’s facility in Deer Park, Texas.

US to bypass Russia in liquid fuels production

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

The US is set to bypass Russia in the production of liquid fuels such as crude and ethanol this quarter, the IEA said, as global demand for oil is rising faster than expected.

Praxair starts up new hydrogen plant at Valero refinery in Louisiana

Praxair’s steam methane reformer (SMR) in St. Charles, Louisiana, will supply hydrogen and up to 450,000 lb/hour of steam to Valero’s new 60,000 bpd hydrocracker. The hydrocracker produces 1.2 bbl of high-value, low-sulfur products for each barrel of high-sulfur feedstock.

US conditionally approves Dominion to export Cove Point LNG

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

Construction at the existing Maryland terminal is scheduled to begin in 2014, pending receipt of final approval and environmental permits, with an in-service date of 2017.