The Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) recognized Dr.Moinuddin Sarker, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Natural State Research (NSR), with its 2010 Renewable Energy Innovator-of-the-Year award.

Selling gasoline through internet social media sites? Murphy Oil Corp. (MOC) has an “app” for that, according to a July 19 post online at the Advertising Age website. Over 1000 of MOC’s gasoline retail stations are co-located within Walmart store parking lots, according to the report. Ipad, Iphone, and Android users can now subscribe to the application to receive coupons for gasoline, receive warnings about imminent price increases, and even win $50 in free gasoline.

State officials in Zanfara, Nigeria are disclosing plans by builders for a 200,000 barrel-per-day (b/d) refinery representing US$1.94 billion in capital cost, according to a July 20 Dow Jones Newswire report. Groundbreaking is said to occur next month, according to State Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi, who was cited in the report.

Officials with Bixby Energy Systems, through their China strategic partner, Global Partners United, LLC (GPU), announced July 20 they’ve received two additional orders for the company’s patent-pending coal-to-gas devolitization units. The company’s “Bixby Process” is an energy conversion system that creates natural gas by superheating coal without burning it.

Without disclosing the exact numbers, a Shell Canada spokesperson told Platts on July 20 that the company’s retail gasoline sites across Alberta had nothing at the pumps for buyers to buy, with Calgary sites in particular "saw the most issues." Tight inventories and high demand were cited in the report as driving the regionally pervasive “dry-outs.”

Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) is said to be evaluating sites on the west coast for a grassroots refinery with the capacity of up to 15 million tons per year (300,000 barrels per day), according to a July 21 report by BS Reporter. Capital expenditures for the plant, yet to be sited, are reported to be up to US$4.24 billion.

An April 2012 target start date may still be achievable for the gas cracker at Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL), but that will take some “catch-up,” according to company officials quoted in a July 17 report in India Blooms News Service. A shortage of skilled labor and a “reluctance” for licensors to quote on certain small capacity units are cited in the report as putting the project about six months behind schedule.

Austria-based OMV officials July 20 announced in a “trading statement” that refining margins (especially for middle distillates) have improved during second quarter 2010 versus Q1 2010.

Air Products officials July 20 announced a proposed 49 megaWatts gasification-based waste-to-energy (WTE) project at Teesside, U.K.

Committee members of an investigatory Canadian parliamentary hearing heard representatives of potential buyer, Delek Group, state “The deal is dead. We are ready to go back to the table on a new deal,” according to a July 20 Reuters report. Jim Boles, head of the Delek Group’s business development team, was referring to its once prior and apparently future offer for the purchase of the Shell Montreal East refinery which reportedly would require a turnaround in spring 2011 prior to continued safe operation.

Esso officials announced this month that they’ve approved a US$394 million investment to upgrade their refinery in Thailand to produce Euro-4 (50 parts per million sulfur) diesel and gasoline by the Jan. 1, 2012, government deadline.