Murphy Oil officials announced July 22 that they’ve approved a plan to exit the refining business, including the refineries at Superior, Wis., Meraux, La., and Milford Haven, Wales as well as the company’s U.K. retail fuel business.

A July 23 conference call hosted by Murphy Oil Corp. yielded strategic information on its plan to retain upstream operations and U.S. retailing while divesting three refineries and overseas retail gas stations. According to management, the three refineries and overseas gas stations in 2009 contributed only US$4.2 million to net income, or just 0.05%. The explanatory power of those statistical gems, coupled with insights from recent company financial disclosures and analyst meetings, highlight a new ‘disintegrated’ strategy for the U.S.-based oil company.

Seeing the impossibility of garnering the required 60 votes, U.S. Senate Democrats July 22 announced that they’ve given up on trying to pass “greenhouse gas” legislation this summer, likely killing any chance of passage in 2010.

ConocoPhillips (CoP) officials announced July 22 that they’ve decided to cancel proposed upgrades to their Wilhelmshaven refinery in Germany.

Mitsubishi officials announced last week that they’ve obtained long-term lithium supplies from Australia’s Galaxy Resources, in a move to assure critical battery supplies for their rollout of electric vehicles (EVs).

The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee July 20 voted 19-4 to approve legislation that would provide billions of dollars of subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs) and recharge infrastructure.

The Cherry Point refinery owned and operated by BP is expected to undergo a 2 year, $300 million construction effort to boost clean diesel production, according to a July 19 report by Knight Ridder / Tribune. The permitting process has already begun for the diesel/hydrogen unit at the refinery, according to company spokesman Mike Abendhoff who is referenced in the report.

Data for 2009 released by the International Energy Agency peg China as the largest energy user in the world, following its 2007 status as “largest” carbon emitter.

A Chinese official is reportedly disputing energy use statistics as “unreliable,” referring to data compiled by the International Energy Agency showing it became the world’s largest energy consumer in 2009 as reported by the Associated Press on July 20. But Hart Energy found that data within the BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2010 also shows that China’s energy use surpassed that of the U.S.A. by 86 basis points in 2009.

BP officials announced July 15 that they’re buying Verenium’s cellulosic biofuels business including plants in Louisiana and California for US$98.3 million.

Picking up on a theme featured in the July 15 issue of Hart Energy’s Refinery Tracker, we see further evidence of a broad-based secular upswing in the petroleum marketing segment of the downstream industry. A new study of domestic U.S. petroleum marketing presents data showing “retail gasoline operators enjoyed their best January-to-June period for gross margins in this century,” according to a report by VerticalNews.com covering the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) study. And the report notes a number of interested private equity buyers and acquisitive retail marketers that want in on the action along with several operators likely to benefit from the current trends.

GE officials July 13 unveiled a 240-Watt “WattStation” electric vehicle (EV) recharging system that “significantly decreases time needed for vehicle charging and, using smart grid technology, allows utility companies to manage the impact of EVs on the local and regional grids.”

One year after announcing their partnership to pursue next generation biofuels from photosynthetic algae, ExxonMobil Corp. and Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI) on July 14 announced the opening of a greenhouse facility as part of the next step in research and testing in their algae biofuels program.

The end of price controls in India’s domestic retail fuel markets may lead to a boon in investment overseas, according to a July 15 Bloomberg report. Freed from the requirement to subsidize domestic fuel users, Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) has renewed its plans to invest up to US$1 billion in productive assets overseas, according to the report. On the shopping list are producers of crude oil in Africa, and retail marketing stations in Indonesia, according to the report.

General Motors officials announced July 14 that they’ll include a standard eight-year, 100,000-miles warranty on the lithium-ion battery system for the upcoming Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

Despite a new government regulation freeing gasoline prices and partially deregulating diesel prices, India’s three state-owned refiner/retailers will collaborate monthly on price changes, according to a report from RTT news service (India).

China Integrated Energy, Inc., a leading non-state-owned integrated energy company in China, announced July 7 that it is progressing on its goal of doubling its biodiesel production capacity to 200,000 metric tons (MT) in 2010 through both internal expansion and an acquisition.

Officials with Alaska Airlines, Boeing, Portland International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Spokane International Airport and Washington State University July 12 announced a strategic initiative to promote aviation biofuel development in the Pacific Northwest.

These charts show biweekly activity of the ICE Brent Futures and ICE Gas Oil Futures from July 14 to July 28.

Algae-based biodiesel can be four times worse on net carbon dioxide emissions than petroleum diesel, according to a new study at University of Cambridge (U.K.).

In the second quarter of 2010, US$7.7 billion in deal flow by venture investors were tracked by Dow Jones VentureSource. Energy deals figured prominently.

Unitel Technologies Inc. announced July 9 that the company has filed a patent application for a new technology for making biofuels from microalgae. The process involves minimal dewatering and completely bypasses the energy intensive drying and oil extraction steps.