Valero Energy has received an offer of US$350 million for its idled Aruba refinery, and PetroChina is being described as an interested party, according to a recent Dow Jones report. San Antonio-based Valero has not confirmed the name of the potential buyer.

A consortium including Australian investment bank Macquarie Group plans to build a 10 million-barrel oil storage terminal in Louisiana – a US$600-million bet on both rising North American crude production and increasing exports of refined petroleum products, according to a May 9 Dow Jones report.

Global oil consumption is expected to rise by 0.8 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2012, to 90 million b/d, according to the latest International Energy Agency (IEA) monthly Oil Market Report (released May 11).

An analysis on trends in the U.S. gasoline market is offered in a new report by Terrence Higgins, executive director of refining and special projects for Hart Energy.

The abundance of natural gas from U.S. shale plays is a tremendous resource, but low prices are frustrating gas producers. New ideas for promoting demand, and thus raising prices, are key issues, according to a group of panelists speaking at Hart Energy’s recently held Developing Unconventional Gas Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Global funding for carbon-capture and storage (CCS) technology stalled at US$23.5 billion in 2011 compared with 2010, according to a new report from the U.S.-based Worldwatch Institute.

Two popular gasoline engines in recent-model cars showed mechanical damage from a fuel blend of unleaded gasoline and 15% ethanol, according to a study by a nonprofit research group backed by the petroleum and auto industries.

The April 29 resignation of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional administrator Al Armendariz is a classic tale of business regulation colliding with the interests of oil and gas – but with a contemporary twist.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) recently released an analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new regulations to allow higher amounts of ethanol in gasoline.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told an April 24 U.S. House subcommittee hearing that it won’t support a proposed fuel-sulfur-averaging scheme for marine diesel “emissions-control area” (ECA) regulation scheduled to take effect in 2015.

The European Commission is undertaking a new economic and environmental impact assessment on the relative “carbon intensity” of various crude oils including Canadian oil-sands crude, with the result that the Commission’s proposed “fuel-quality directive” amendments would be delayed by a year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on April 30 hit Houston-based Green Diesel LLC with a “notice of violation” (NOV) for allegedly generating and selling more than 60 million “invalid” renewable identification number (RIN) biodiesel trading credits under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) “without producing any qualifying renewable fuel.”

Caltex, a leading supplier and distributor of transportation fuels in Australia with a market share of nearly 30%, is likely to close its Kurnell refinery, according to a formal address during the company’s 2012 annual general meeting with shareholders.

Trader Gunvor Group Ltd. is in the process of starting up units at its 115,000 barrel-per-day Independent Belgian Refinery in Antwerp, following the completion of its purchase of the plant from insolvent Petroplus on May 3.

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) announced May 3 that Texas-based engineering contractor Fluor won a project management services contract for refining, petrochemicals and petcoke gasification projects at RIL’s 1.2 million barrels/day complex at Jamnagar, India.

Delta Air Lines, Inc. hopes to reopen an oil refinery outside Philadelphia by the end of the summer, offering hope to about 400 workers who have been out of work since the 185,000 barrel-per-day plant was idled months ago, according to a May 1 Associated Press (AP) report.