- Key Market Prices
- WTI Settles Slightly Lower
- Public Policy
- Delek Hit With ‘Hot Fuel’ Claim
- Margins & Economics
- Western Refining Restructures Credit Agreement
- Delek Restructures Revolving Credit Facility
- U.S. Crude, Distillate Stocks Expected Down
- WTI Closes Lower on Light Trading
- Fuels & Processing
- HPCL, Mittal See 4Q 2011 Start-up for New Bathinda Refinery
- Petrobras Contracts for Comperj Hydrotreater, Plans Inauguration at Suape Refinery
- UAE’s Fujairah May Host a Mitsubishi Oil and PetChem Terminal
- Bangledesh Receives New Debt for Chittagong Refinery Revamp
- Rompetrol and Total May Partner on French Refined Products Terminal
Fuels & Processing
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HPCL, Mittal See 4Q 2011 Start-up for New Bathinda Refinery
Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) and Mittal Energy Investment Ltd. announced December 28 that their joint venture, 9 million tons/year Bathinda refinery in Punjab, India, would start commissioning in fourth-quarter 2011.
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Petrobras Contracts for Comperj Hydrotreater, Plans Inauguration at Suape Refinery
Petrobras is said to have awarded contracts for the design and construction of certain processing units at the Comperj refinery, and an inauguration will occur this week at the recently selected site of the forthcoming Suape Refinery, according to a Platts report of December 28.
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UAE’s Fujairah May Host a Mitsubishi Oil and PetChem Terminal
Emirates News Agency (WAM) announced on December 26 that Fujairah is in the running for a new storage terminal to handle petrochemicals and petroleum.
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Bangledesh Receives New Debt for Chittagong Refinery Revamp
Bangledesh receives US$105 million loan to revamp its sole refinery from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), according to a December 26 report by Reuters, citing comments by a senior government official.
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Rompetrol and Total May Partner on French Refined Products Terminal
Rompetrol Group and Total may join together to construct a new oil products storage terminal in France, according to a December 27 report from Romania’s Ziarul Financiar news source. The two companies were reported to be in talks on the project which is expected to cost an estimated US$25 million to build the new replacement terminal near Perpignan and Port la Nouvelle, France.
Feature
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Saudi Electric Co. Capacity Expansion Represents Sizable Oil and Gas Demand
Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) said this week that its 2011 budget has been approved by state authorities to include nearly 13 gigawatts (GW) of new power plant capacity starting up between 2012 and 2016, according to a December 27 Reuters report. That new power plant capacity will burn rising amounts of locally produced natural gas, refined oil products and even crude oil, according to a Hart Energy analysis.
Key Market Prices
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WTI Settles Slightly Lower
Transportation & Logistics
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‘Volt’ PHEV Commercial Launch: Product of Hard Lessons
General Motors Corp. announced December 23 that the commercial launch of its Chevrolet “Volt” plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is generating a far more enthusiastic customer reception compared with what happened with its “EV1” pure battery-electric vehicle launch years ago.
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Hyundai Launching Diesel Engine Plant in India
Hyundai announced December 27 that for the India passenger car market it will build a diesel engine plant in India with initial capacity of 150,000 units/year by second-half 2013.
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Honda Expands EV Fleet-Testing Programs
Honda announced December 24 that it’s expanding fleet-test programs of several types of electric vehicles (EVs) in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.
Margins & Economics
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Western Refining Restructures Credit Agreement
Western Refining on December 28 announced it had restructured terms of its US$800 million revolving credit agreement. The transaction extended maturities and amended interest rates, according to the release.
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Delek Restructures Revolving Credit Facility
Delek US Holdings, Inc., a diversified independent energy company with assets in the petroleum refining, marketing, supply and retail industries, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, MAPCO Express, Inc., has entered into a five-year, US$200 million revolving credit facility (facility).
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U.S. Crude, Distillate Stocks Expected Down
Preliminary forecasts predicted a decline in U.S. crude and distillate inventories and an increase in gasoline stockpiles in the week ended December 24.
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WTI Closes Lower on Light Trading
NYMEX light sweet crude for February delivery finished slightly lower at US$91.12 per barrel (/bbl), down 37¢ on December 29.
Public Policy
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Delek Hit With ‘Hot Fuel’ Claim
Israel-based refiner-marketer Delek Group announced December 27 that it received a “request for approval” of a class-action lawsuit claiming that an Israeli retail affiliate wrongly sold motor fuel at ambient (warmer) temperatures without compensating for the normal expansion of relatively cool fuel typically delivered into retail station storage tanks.
