Officials at BP-Husky Refining LLC announced Jan. 14 a major equipment upgrade at the BP-Husky Toledo Refinery in Oregon, Ohio.

Infineum International Ltd. has made a number of changes to its senior leadership team that will become effective Feb.1.

Brazil’s government this week decided to slash the mandatory blending of anhydrous ethanol in gasoline from 25% to 20% starting Feb. 1, undercutting soaring sugar-cane prices.

Valero Renewable Fuels Company, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation, announced Jan.14 that it has closed on its purchase of two ethanol plants from ASA Ethanol Holdings, LLC.

U.S. Dept. of Energy Sec. Steven Chu announced Jan. 13 the investment of nearly US$80 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for advanced biofuels research and fueling infrastructure that will help support the development of a clean sustainable transportation sector.

Chevron Corp. Jan. 11 reported in its interim update that earnings for the fourth quarter 2009 are expected to be lower than in the third quarter 2009.

Ford Motor Co. officials announced Jan. 11 that the company will invest an additional US$450 million in its aggressive electric vehicle plan, paving the way to build a next-generation hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicle in Michigan beginning in 2012 and creating 1,000 new jobs.

Reliance net profits improved in the latest quarter, thanks to higher gas production and better refinery and petrochemical margins. Overall refinery utilization rates exceeded 100% capacity.

CNOOC – third behind Sinopec and PetroChina among oil producers and refiners – has boosted diesel supply to fast-growing eastern Guangdong province by 71% in the last month, according to a report from the official Xinhua news service.

Representatives of Chinese-backed Hybrid Kinetic Motors Corp. (HK) inked a deal with Italdesign Giugiaro Jan. 18 on engineering and design plans for a line of hybrids that are slated to be produced in Alabama starting in 2013, according to The Birmingham News (Alabama).

The new 80,000-bareel-per-day hydrocracker at China National Offshore Oil Corp.’s Huizhou refinery was successfully started up in late 2009. In addition to the production of transportation fuels, the unit will also produce feedstock for the ethylene cracker in the Nanhai petrochemical complex.

Sasol and Tata Steel officials announced Jan. 18 they want to build a 3.6-million-ton-year (80,000-barrel-day) coal-to-liquids plant in Orissa, India.

China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) officials are citing predictions that domestic car sales will hit 15 million units this year, up 10% from the record-breaking 13.64 million unit sales in 2009, which were up 46.2% over 2008.

The Indian Finance Ministry is offering less than half of the compensation sought by the Oil Ministry to cover some US$6 billion in state-owned refiner losses on price-controlled LPG and kerosene sales, according to a Press Trust of India report.

India’s Essar Group and South Africa’s Sasol Ltd. are among foreign companies competing to acquire a majority stake in Zambia’s state-owned Indeni Petroleum Refinery, according to The Post (Zambia).

The Shell/Saudi Aramco Sasref joint-venture refinery will commence exports of ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) by end-January, according to a Reuters report quoting Sasref Executive Vice President Raja Ahmad Murad Bin Raja Bahrin.

Italy-based Eni officials announced Jan. 21 that they’ve signed a deal to buy the downstream assets of Mobil Oil Austria, including 135 retail fuel stations, ExxonMobil-Austria’s industrial and wholesale business (with 36 additional Esso branded retail service stations owned by resellers), and the aviation fuel business at the Vienna and Linz airports.

Compressor trains awarded to Elliott Company for SATORP’s Jubail refinery in Saudi Arabia will serve a variety of applications. Compressor loads will include sour service, hydrogen service and refrigeration.

Italy is set to build an oil refinery in Uganda, according to the Web site, New Vision (Uganda).

Officials with Qatar Airways, Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) and Qatar Petroleum (QP) announced Jan. 10 that they will jointly carry out engineering, economic analysis and move into the development of sustainable bio jet fuel that will also look into ways for production and supply, with the support of Airbus.

Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Co. (SASREF) has recently completed a major upgrade of obsolete automation systems, involving distributed control system, field devices, central control rooms and integration of safeguarding systems with control systems. The export oriented SASREF refinery processes more than 300,000 barrels per day of Arabian Light crude.

London-based Davy Process Technology officials announced last week they’ve entered into contracts with China-based power producer Datang Energy Chemical Co. Ltd. for a plant to produce synthetic natural gas from coal gasification.