Interest in the marketing segment of the oil industry value chain seems to us to be on an upswing. In the last issue of Refinery Tracker, we noted Sunoco’s strategic intent to focus on expanding its retail fuel outlets in the Northeastern United States in order to push at least all of its refinery fuel production through these channels. To keep our readers in the flow, we are grouping a number of upbeat reports from marketing sector news makers together as this issue’s feature story.

Demand for petroleum will grow in 2011, yet that growth will be slower than in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Further into the future, officials released their out year expectations in a recent July 1 report detailing how Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations seem headed for an “oil-less” economic recovery “ in which our economies return to positive growth without a notable pick-up in oil demand,” said Nobuo Tanaka, IEA executive director.

Calpers, the California Public Employees Retirement System, is turning up the heat on BP, according to a report from Dow Jones news service. The U.S. public pension fund giant is reportedly taking action after seeing its sizable stake in the company decline substantially since the U.S. Gulf Coast oil-spill disaster.

PetroChina is shopping for refining assets in Europe, according to a July 2 report from Argus Media. Said to be on the company's shopping list are the refineries presently being marketed around by Shell and Total.

On July 2, the Boulogne, France based Colas Group announced a strategic acquisition of Société de la Raffinerie de Dunkerque a boutique refinery producer of bitumen, base oil, and paraffin products. The acquisition of SRD represents progress along the Colas Group strategy for vertical integration along its value chain. Exxon Mobil France and Total Lubrifiants are the sellers, who under terms of the sale, will provide technical personnel and provide feedstock and take 40% of SRD output for a period of years.

American International Industries (AMIN) has announced its intent to acquire Norcorom Industies Srl (Norcorom) in a cash-for-stock deal subject to due diligence and terms of the Letter of Intent. In a press release dated July 6, AMIN relayed that its subsidiary, American International Refineries, Inc., has entered into a Letter of Intent to purchase all outstanding shares of privately held Norcorom, thereby becoming owner of the refinery and its assets in the Houston region.

Officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a conference call July 6 to announce a new proposed rule to reduce power plant air emissions transported among 31 states east of the Rocky Mountains. The yet to be published rule appears to apply to electric generators above 25 megawatt in capacity, based on EPA documents released on July 6. We asked the EPA later in the day for further clarification as to whether cogenerators, renewable and waste-to-energy power generators in industrial plants could come under the proposed rule. The general answer is “yes,” according to a July 7 e-mail response, although certain exemptions will be included in the final rules.

Over one hundred diverse industrial and utility operators in Texas received a blow when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rejected their so-called ‘flexible’ plant-wide air permits granted by the state. We at Hart Energy take great interest in these developments because the move affects a broad swathe of Texas industries. Of note for Refinery Tracker readers, Texas hosts more than one-quarter of the nation’s refinery capacity, according to figures maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy. The outcome is anything but certain as proposals, reviews, and comments continue.

Trade Minister Masayuki Naoshima is expecting Japan’s refiners to boost their runs of heavy residual oil, according to a July 6 report from Bloomberg. One analyst is quoted suggesting that nearly 800,000 barrels per day of refinery capacity may be shuttered rather than reconfigured with billions of dollars in new capital equipment to meet the new rules. That’s as much as 17% of the nation’s capacity, according to the report.

Nigeria attracts three projects with a Chinese partner while Egypt Refining Co. expands for Euro5 ULSD production.

News on eight Asia and Pacific area refinery projects in India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Oman, and New Zealand.

Rosneft dials down their planned refinery expansion by half while Incom-Invest plans to build refinery in Tomsk.

Dutch embassy in Mexico City reaches out to Pemex for Caribbean refinery modernizations, and Costa Rica’s SORESCO venture mulls a Moin Refinery expansion there.

‘World’s Largest’ refinery and petrochemicals plant to be relocated?

Project news for the Shell Montreal Refinery To Terminal (RTT) Conversion, the new re-refinery for used oil coming to Indiana by 2013, and the expanded Hunt Oil Refinery in Tuscaloosa which should be fully operational by year end.