Recently-privatized U.S. automaker Chrysler announced recently it is creating ENVI, an organization tasked with commercializing electric-drive vehicles and related advanced propulsion technologies.

State oil company Qatar Petroleum and Occidental Midstream Projects have hired Foster Wheeler to perform studies on the refinery the companies plan to build in Panama, Business News Americas reported.

Russian oil company Lukoil and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA could partner to build a refinery in Venezuela that would process oil from the Faja de Orinoco region.

Motiva Enterprises, the Houston-based joint venture between Dutch oil major Shell and Saudi Aramco, announced recently it will go forward with its previously announced plan to expand its 275,000 b/d Port Arthur, Texas, refinery to 600,000 b/d.

An analysis by the Mexican government has found that as much as 25% of the liquid fuels sold in the country are adulterated, state news agency Notimex reported recently.

Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA have reaffirmed their prior agreement to jointly build a refinery Abreu e Lima in Brazil’s Pernambuco state, Latin America News Digest reported.

Turkey’s Petrol Ofisi said recently it will likely soon make a decision on whether to build its planned refinery with Austria’s OMV, Turkish Daily News reported.

Kuwait does not want Dutch oil major Shell to partner in a refinery Chinese state oil company Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum (KPC) plan to build in Guangzhou in the Guangdong province in southern China, Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA reported.

Malaysian holding company Global PLB and China’s Qingdao TopOil recently signed an agreement to create a joint venture 200,000 b/d refinery in Pulau Carey in Malaysia’s Selangor state, Malaysian national news agency Bernama reported.

South Korean oil company S-Oil will not take another look at a planned refinery it recently put on hold for a couple of years, the company’s CEO said, Reuters reported.

Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC) will take a 20% stake in Japan’s Cosmo Oil, becoming the company’s largest shareholder, Cosmo announced.

Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan and Japan Energy plan to begin talks on whether to increase their cooperation in refinery operations, Dow Jones reported.

The companies already partner on a crude receiving terminal at Ise Bay, which serves Idemitsu’s 160,000 b/d Aichi refinery and Japan Energy’s Chita refinery.

The CEO of Vietnamese tissue paper maker Hapaco said the company will begin construction of the 20,000 b/d oil refinery it plans to build with German consulting firm Evagor in December, Reuters reported, citing Vietnamese state magazine Dau Tu Chung Khoan.

Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said has issued a decree merging the country’s Sohar Refinery Co. with its Oman Oil Refinery Co., Times of Oman reported.

Norway’s Statoil announced recently it has purchased ConocoPhillips’ Jet-branded retail stations in Scandinavia.

BP CEO Tony Hayward told employees to expect the company’s third quarter performance to be “dreadful.”

Hayward made the remarks at a staff meeting in Houston and circulated them in a confidential note, Financial Times reported.

Austrian oil company OMV yesterday made a hostile offer for Hungary’s MOL of HUF 32,000 (U.S. $180.47) per share.

OMV is engaging MOL’s independent shareholders due to resistance to an OMV takeover by MOL management.

Fluor announced recently it has signed an agreement with Russian oil company Tatneft to provide project management consulting services for Tatneft’s planned refinery in Tatarstan, Russia.

Dutch oil major Shell is offering Russian state oil company Rosneft a stake in the Miro Mineraleolraffinerie Oberrhein refinery in Germany, Vedomosti reported.

European Petroleum Industry Association (Europia) stated recently its concerns about the European Commission’s Fuel Quality Directive, released last January.

Specifically, Europia took issue with Article 7a of the Directive, which deals with the regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from liquid transportation fuels.

Brazilian state oil company Petrobras and Norwegian oil company Statoil announced recently they have signed a long-term biofuels, exploration and production strategic collaboration agreement.

CDTech announced recently that BP’s Rotterdam refinery has started producing biofuels after CDTech modified an MTBE unit to produce ETBE.

China’s state oil company CNPC has reached an agreement to build an oil refinery in Chad, in what would be the first in the country.