- Key Market Prices
- Key Market Prices
- Public Policy
- Industry Execs to Meet on Senate Climate Bill at U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- India to Complete Euro-3 Switch by October
- Sierra Club Slams ‘Dirtiest Oil in World’ Pipeline
- Margins & Economics
- Crude Futures End Day Lower; Other Prices Mixed
- ConocoPhillips Sells Its Syncrude Stake to Sinopec for US$4.65 Billion
- Reduced Production of Benzene Causes Price Increase
Fuels & Processing
-
Valero Restarts FCC Unit at Quebec City Refinery
Valero Energy Corp.'s refinery in Quebec City restarted a key gasoline-making unit over the weekend that had been shut since early February due to a fire, a company spokesman said April 12, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
-
Union Claims Refiners Fail to Learn from Past Disasters
Representatives of the United Steelworkers (USW) said April 12 that the refining industry has failed to learn from past disasters and that the USW’s 2007 report, Beyond Texas City: The State of Process Safety in the Unionized U.S. Oil Refining Industry is more relevant than ever in light of the April 2 Tesoro explosion and fire that killed five workers and critically injured two others.
-
AltAir Wins State Grant for Bio-Jet-Fuel Project at Tesoro Refinery
Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) announced this month that AltAir Fuels LLC won a US$2 million grant to produce bio-jet-fuel from Camelina oil at the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington.
-
Marsulex Receives Awards from NPRA
Officials with Toronto-based refining services company Marsulex Inc. announced April 12 that the company has received two Contractor Merit Safety Awards from the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA) for performance at the ExxonMobil Baytown Refinery and the Tesoro Los Angeles Refinery.
Feature
-
-
Pennsylvania OKs Air Permit for Future Power IGCC Project
Future Power PA Inc. (FPPI) officials announced April 5 that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued an air permit for the FPPI’s proposed 150-megaWatt integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant in Good Spring, Pennsylvania.
Key Market Prices
-
Key Market Prices
Transportation & Logistics
-
Navistar Boosts FY 2010 Earnings Outlook
.U.S.-based Navistar officials announced April 8 that they’re boosting the outlook for fiscal 2010 earnings ending Oct. 31, 2010. The company makes diesel engines and vehicles for various heavy-duty markets, including trucks and buses.
-
Ford to Launch Three More EcoBoost Engines by Year’s End
Ford Motor Co. officials announced April 12 that three more engines with the company’s patented EcoBoost fuel-saving technology are scheduled to be launched by the end of the year. By 2013 Ford expects to be producing approximately 1.5 million EcoBoost engines globally, about 200,000 more than originally expected. The three new engines will increase the number of global nameplates available with EcoBoost to 11.
-
GM Doubles Size of its U.S. Battery Lab, Invests US$8 Million
General Motors (GM) officials said April 12 that the company is making a US$8 million investment to expedite the development of battery technology. According to GM, the investment will improve on-site testing of all current and new battery cell, module and pack technologies by doubling the size of the Global Battery Systems Lab on the GM Technical Center campus in Warren, Mich., from 30,000 sq. ft. to 63,000 sq. ft.
-
Chevy, GMC Unveil 2001 Diesel Pickup Pricing for N. America
General Motors officials last week announced a US$27,965 starting price for the 2011 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra diesel pickup trucks, while the GMC Denali heavy-duty diesel pickup will start at $45,865.
Margins & Economics
-
Crude Futures End Day Lower; Other Prices Mixed
Crude oil futures were lower April 12. The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for May delivery fell 58¢ settling at US$84.34 per barrel (/bbl), and Brent crude for May delivery lost 6¢ to close at $84.77/bbl.
-
ConocoPhillips Sells Its Syncrude Stake to Sinopec for US$4.65 Billion
ConocoPhillips officials announced April 12 that the company has entered into definitive agreements with subsidiaries of Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (SIPC) to sell its 9.03% interest in Syncrude for US$4.65 billion. The transaction is anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2010 once Canadian and Chinese government approvals are obtained.
-
Reduced Production of Benzene Causes Price Increase
Representatives of Frbiz.com, one of China's leading B2B search platforms, reported April 9 on the benzene price soar. According to Frbiz.com, from December 2009 to January, Benzene prices suddenly rose by 21%. Frbiz.com analyzes that this price rise reflects the decline in the U.S. production of benzene, the strong demand for downstream benzene products in Asia and the reduced import volume of benzene.
Public Policy
-
Industry Execs to Meet on Senate Climate Bill at U.S. Chamber of Commerce
About two dozen top industry officials are scheduled to meet April 13 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce office to discuss the emerging Senate energy and climate bill, according to Greenwire.
-
India to Complete Euro-3 Switch by October
While 13 “mega-cities” in India earlier this month switched to Euro-4 (50 parts per million sulfur) diesel fuel, the rest of the country won’t complete a move to Euro-3 (350-ppm sulfur fuel) until October 1, according to an Economic Times (India) report last week.
-
Sierra Club Slams ‘Dirtiest Oil in World’ Pipeline
The Sierra Club on April 9 denounced the U.S. Department of State’s issuance of a draft environmental impact statement (EIA) for the Keystone pipeline, which would bring Canadian oil-sands crude oil from Alberta to U.S. oil refiners.
