- Operations
- Enbridge’s Michigan Pipeline Rupture Mixed Bag for Refining
- Indiana Pipeline Leaks BP Refined Products in Residential Area
- CNET: Computer Virus Could Overtake Automated Plant Controls
- Technology
- Grace, Albemarle Raise Prices For Catalysts, Additives
- Shell Launches ‘Centera’ ULSD Catalyst in Asia-Pacific
- Compliance Issues
- Environmentalists Seek to Side with EPA in Texas Permit Battle
- TransCanada: Keystone Pipeline Expansion Includes Environmental Justice Analysis
- New York Mayor Signs Heating Oil Cleanup Bill
- U.S. EPA Boiler Rule Draws Heavy Criticism
- GHG Suit Targets Refineries in Washington State
- Project Updates
- Africa
- Asia
- Latin America
- Middle East
Operations
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Enbridge’s Michigan Pipeline Rupture Mixed Bag for Refining
North American refiners that depend on the 290,000 barrels per day of crude that until recently had come into the upper U.S. Midwest from Canada have scrambled for alternate sources of supply. Some were lucky enough to be located along alternate Enbridge or other crude pipeline routes. Others were not so lucky. Yet others were luckier still in that they could take advantage of stranded crude supplies stored upstream of the pipeline rupture.
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Indiana Pipeline Leaks BP Refined Products in Residential Area
Officials within the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) responded to numerous local reports about a petroleum pipeline leaking within the city limits of Hammond, Indiana. A BP plc. oil products pipeline was found to be the cause. This pipeline is undergoing repairs and tests to enable it to return to service carrying refined fuels from the BP refinery in adjacent Whiting, Indiana, to a terminal in nearby Manhattan, Illinois.
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CNET: Computer Virus Could Overtake Automated Plant Controls
Alarms are ringing after CNET published an August 13 report that a computer virus has exposed computerized industrial control systems in Iran, India, and even the U.S. to a potential hijack by hackers. The worm virus infects a computer and does more than simply stealing data, according to the report which said it “leaves a back door that could be used to remotely and secretly control plant operations.”
Technology
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Grace, Albemarle Raise Prices For Catalysts, Additives
Albemarle officials announced August 30 that they’re hiking FCC catalyst prices 10% globally effective Oct. 1, 2010, “or as contracts allow.” Just days before, Grace Division officials announced August 25 that they’re imposing a rare-earth surcharge for their fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts and additives, expected to be in the range of 5% to 7%.
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Shell Launches ‘Centera’ ULSD Catalyst in Asia-Pacific
Shell officials announced this month that they’ve launched marketing of “Centera” catalyst for Euro-5 (10 parts per million sulfur) ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) production by Asia-Pacific refiners.
Q&A
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Q&A: Valero Energy Corporation Mixes Ethanol into Its Operating Portfolio
Valero Energy’s Bill Day, Director of Corporate Communications, helps us learn more about the strategy of North America’s largest independent refinery to produce ethanol in an operating portfolio that now encompassing 10 state-of-the-art ethanol plants.
Feature
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Downstream Deal Pipeline - Good Things Come In Pairs
From initial public offerings to secondary offerings, from consolidations to partnerships, the dealflow pipeline in the downstream refining space is quite robust. In the month of August, a number of deals were announced in the refining, marketing and ethanol spaces.
Market Focus
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China Seeks to Slow Energy Growth After 2020
“China is determined to force a peak in its demand growth by 2020,” said Fereidun Fesharaki of FACTS Global Energy, according to an August 18 report from Bloomberg. He added that this plan to decelerate growth at that time will produce “major implications” on crude and refinery economics.
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Essar Industries Appoints New CFO
Essar Energy plc announced the appointment of P Sampath as chief financial officer (CFO) on August 19 following the decision by Gerry Bacon to leave the company and return to academia at the end of September.
Compliance Issues
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Environmentalists Seek to Side with EPA in Texas Permit Battle
Two private environmental activist groups announced on August 30 that they are seeking to join the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as defendant in the skirmish with the state of Texas over 126 so-called flexible air permits granted by the state. And the EPA itself added another missive, announcing August 31 that it has disapproved “components” of the Texas permitting plan.
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TransCanada: Keystone Pipeline Expansion Includes Environmental Justice Analysis
In a letter to the Houston Chronicle, TransCanada’s Robert Jones the executive responsible for the Keystone XL Pipeline expansion from Canada’s tar-sands regions to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, criticized recent news stories about the project.
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New York Mayor Signs Heating Oil Cleanup Bill
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on August 16 signed legislation requiring at least 2% biodiesel content in heating oil (gasoil) starting October 1, 2012.
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U.S. EPA Boiler Rule Draws Heavy Criticism
Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed tighter emission levels for boilers, heaters and processors in response to a clean air lawsuit filed by three separate environmental groups. But companies and lawmakers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest said they fear that proposed new air pollution limits could undermine their renewable energy initiatives, according to a report from an Oregon news agency.
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GHG Suit Targets Refineries in Washington State
Two environmental groups said they plan to sue the Washington Department of Ecology and two clean air agencies for not limiting global warming pollution from oil refineries, according to an Aug. 25 Associated Press article.
Project Updates
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Africa
Angola to Start Construction on Lobito Refinery
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Asia
Pact May Expand Pertamina’s Balongan Refinery, China opens massive Dailan Port, and Bangladesh’s Chittagong Refinery Expansion sees multiple interested parties.
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Latin America
Valero’s Aruba Refinery Not Starting Up Just Yet, and Petrobras invests in Bagasse-to-Ethanol
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Middle East
Saudi Arabia’s Jizan Refinery May Move Along With Port
