Americas
Venezuela refinery explosion boosts prospects for US Gulf refiners
Whether the Amuay refinery can return to normal rates with a reduced storage capacity is in doubt, analysts said, adding that “the outage has reportedly forced” state-owned PdVSA to buy products from US refiners.
Explosion at Amuay refinery in Venezuela kills 41; fire still burning
Crews battling the fire, which broke out early Saturday following a likely gas leak explosion that killed 41 people and injured over 80 more, were dealt a setback by shifting winds overnight. The government has a stance that the plant could resume operations in just a couple days.
Olin buys caustic soda group KA Steel Chemicals
KA Steel, headquartered in Lemont, Illinois, is one of the largest distributors of caustic soda in North America and one of the leading bleach manufacturers in the Midwest. The purchase price for Olin was $328 million.
Iracore to supply lined pipe, fittings to Shell Canada for Alberta oil sands use
The agreement covers three years and provides Shell access to a number of Iracore’s proprietary products and services for use at the Muskeg River and Jackpine oil sands mining projects. Iracore has provided lined pipe solutions to major oil sands mine developers in northern Alberta for over a decade.
Sempra opens new underground gas storage facility in US
Sempra US Gas & Power LLC, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, will commence operations at a second underground natural gas storage facility in Simpson County, Mississippi. The capacity addition of 7.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) increases the storage cavern's total storage capacity to 15 Bcf.
US company announces first CNG delivery contracts
Compressed natural gas (CNG) trucking and delivery firm NG Advantage LLC today announced that it has secured multi-year contracts for delivery of CNG, starting in early 2013. NG Advantage believes this is the first announcement of contracts for CNG delivered to enterprises beyond the pipeline in the US.
US chemical production flat, trending downward
According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the US Chemical Production Regional Index (US CPRI) slipped by 0.1% in July, following flat growth in June.
ConocoPhillips: Four workers injured in Wyoming gas processing plant fire
The fire extinguished itself immediately and the four contract employees have been transported to receive medical attention, according to a statement. The maintenance operation has been suspended.
Petrobras picks Foster Wheeler for engineering on Brazil gas-to-chemicals project
Foster Wheeler will act as integrator for the entire complex. The project is expected to produce in excess of 1 million tpy of ammonia and urea fertilizers, methanol, acetic acid, plus formic acid and melamine, helping to reduce Brazil's imports of these products. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Flint Hills plans Corpus refinery upgrade in Texas
Flint Hills says Corpus Christi is the most advantaged location to process new supply. "To be able to process more Texas crude, we need new processing capabilities," said refining manager Phil Gaarder.
- Indonesia's Pertamina to merge refinery, shipping and retail operations 9/12
- BlackRock-led group in talks to raise around $10.3 billion for Aramco deal 9/12
- ABS approves blue ammonia FPSO concept from SBM Offshore 9/12
- Pakistan's top refiner Cnergyico to boost fuel oil exports as domestic sales plummet 9/12
- E20 fuel safe but curbs vehicle performance, Mahindra executive says 9/12
- Canada may drop oil emissions cap as part of new climate plan 9/12
