Dallas-based Holly Energy Partners will purchase pipeline and tankage assets from its parent Holly Corp. for $180 million, the companies announced recently.

Holly Energy will pay $171 million in cash and $9 million in Holly Energy common units.

Canada’s Irving Oil plan for a 300,000 b/d refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, took a step forward recently when the company submitted its draft terms of reference to the governing provincial authority.

The draft terms of reference are in response to the provincial environmental impact assessment guidelines and the federal environmental assessment track report.

State oil company Petroperu has qualified consultancy Walsh Peru to implement the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the company’s planned $1 billion project at its Talara refinery, Business News Americas reported.

Tracinda Corp. said recently it has withdrawn its cash offer of $64/share to purchase as much as 16% of U.S. independent refiner Tesoro after the refiner set up a poison pill adoption of rights plan.

“While Tracinda had been encouraged by management’s execution of Tesoro’s strategic plan and expression of interest to Tracinda in enhancing shareholder value, Tracinda is unwilling to become a substantial investor in a company in which the shareholders do not come first,” Tracinda said.

U.S. EPA announced recently that it has notified BP Products North America of alleged Clean Air Act violations at the company’s Whiting, Ind., refinery.

Suncor Energy announced recently a three year project that resulted in nearly C$1 billion invested in its Sarnia, Ontario, refinery is close to completion.

A shutdown of some units during the past three months to tie-in the new facilities is done and the refinery is ramping up to full production.

Engineering, procurement and construction company CB&I announced it has been awarded a contract by Refineria de Cartagena S.A. for a refinery expansion project in Cartagena, Colombia.

ExxonMobil Chemical and Tonen Chemical, ExxonMobil’s Japanese affiliate, said recently they have developed new film technologies for lithium ion batteries.

A survey by the United Steelworkers (USW) union, which represents the workers at BP’s Texas City, Texas, refinery, said recently that the problems at that refinery prior to the deadly March 2005 explosion there are “widespread” at U.S. refineries.

USW conducted a survey at 71 USW-represented refineries nine months after the Texas City explosion, which killed 15 people and injured more than 170.

Having earlier been slammed by Brazilian state governments for “tardy” introduction of ULSD fuel, Petrobras last week confirmed that it will offer limited amounts of 50-ppm sulfur diesel (Euro-4 ULSD) in major cities by early 2009.

But Petrobras also complained that Brazil’s automakers have failed to confirm plans to introduce Euro-4 diesel vehicles by 2009, which require ULSD fuel.

Brazilian state oil company Petrobras reported recently a 9% increase in its consolidated net income for the third quarter 2007.

The third quarter consolidated net operating revenues also increased by 18%, compared to the third quarter 2006.

Fitch Ratings predicted recently that a slowing U.S. economy will hurt U.S. auto sales in 2008, particularly those of Detroit’s Big 3: General Motors (GM), Ford and Chrysler.

ConocoPhillips has decided not to go forward with a project to upgrade its 17,000 b/d Kuparuk refinery in Alaska to produce ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel, ConocoPhillips confirmed to GRFR.

Indonesian state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina will join a local company, Wahana Universal, to build an oil refinery in East Java costing $20 million, the Jakarta Post reported.

Oil Refineries, Israel’s largest oil refinery, announced their 2007 third quarter net income was NIS 178 million (U.S. $45.8 million), a massive 642% increase from the same period last year.

The third quarter refining margin was $5.70/bbl, compared to $7.30/bbl for the third quarter 2006.

Canadian electric battery maker Electrovaya and Indian-based Electrotherm signed a memorandum of understanding to manufacture lithium ion polymer batteries in India, India News reported recently.

The government of Vietnam’s Phu Yen province has licensed a 4 million ton per year refinery to be built by a joint venture of U.K company Techno Star Management and Russia’s Telloil.

India’s Reliance Industries said recently it has sold 18.04 crore equity shares in its Reliance Petroleum subsidiary, about 4% of the company.

WorleyParsons is close to signing a contract with Saudi Aramco to help it build an $8 billion refinery in eastern Saudi Arabia, according to a Dow Jones report.

Under the contract, WorleyParsons will be responsible for project management and early engineering on the planned 400,000-barrel-a-day refinery, which will process Saudi heavy crude oil and supply to the local market.

Emerson Process Management, a global technology and engineering company, received a contract for $19 million to supply metering systems to Reliance Petroleum.

U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips will not sell its 71,000 b/d Whitegate refinery in Ireland, the company said recently.

On the same day that India News reported that Electrotherm and Electrovaya had plans to build a battery plant, Reuters UK reported that British vehicle company Ricardo and technology company QinetiQ will be jointly developing advanced lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles.

The EU is close to meeting its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol, but proposed additional actions need to be taken in order to meet them, the European Commission’s annual Kyoto progress report found.

Austrian oil trader Petromaxx Energy Group issued a statement recently denying recent reports that it has decided to drop out of a Bulgarian refinery project, instead saying it is considering “all options.”

Finland’s Neste Oil said recently that its planned short maintenance turnaround on its new diesel line at its Porvoo refinery is taking longer than expected, negatively affecting the company’s earnings in the current quarter.

KBR, a global engineering, construction and services company, announced recently that it has been awarded a contract by PetroSA to conduct the pre-feasibility study to build a $6 billion crude oil refinery in Coega, Port Elizabeth.