ConocoPhillips announced September 27 that it is seeking a buyer for its 185,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, and associated pipelines and terminals.

Canada’s Enbridge, Inc. and Houston-based Enterprise Product Partners L.P. plan to design, construct and operate the new “Wrangler” pipeline to transport up to 800,000 barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil from the oversupplied hub at Cushing, Okla., to the Texas Gulf Coast refining complex, according to September 29 company announcements.

A new study sponsored by the Diesel Technology Forum (DTF) reveals the enormous impact of diesel fuel and diesel equipment on the U.S. economy.

Austria’s OMV in late September announced the results of a strategy review aimed at developing a new focus on the company’s upstream operations and integrated gas space and “a restructured oil downstream business in order to increase firm-wide profitability and competitiveness.”

Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P. (Nasdaq: CLMT) announced October 3 that it completed the previously announced acquisition of the Superior, Wisc., refinery and associated operating assets and inventories.

Valero Energy Corp. announced October 1 that it completed its buyout of the 135,000 barrel-per-day Meraux, La., refinery from Murphy Oil, for US$325 million plus inventories valued at about $265 million.

Houston-based Targa Resources announced October 3 that it acquired two refined petroleum product and crude oil storage and terminalling facilities in deals worth a combined US$127 million.

Uruguay will need to import roughly US$600 million in fuels from other refining nations to compensate for lost production from the country’s only refinery, according to a Reuters report citing an official with Ancap, Uruguay’s national energy company.

If diesel and gasoline retail prices in India were to be calculated on a “purchasing power-parity” (PPP) basis – comparing the average Indian consumer income against average incomes in other nations – then the PPP-adjusted fuel prices would be among the highest in the world.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on September 19 released its International Energy Outlook 2011 (IEO2011), which includes updated projections for world energy markets through 2035.

Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA), is proceeding with the next stage of an expansion at the partnership’s St. James, La., terminal facility, according to a September 22 company announcement.

Recent EU legislative proposals on energy efficiency pose “a substantial risk of leaving many regions and probably countries without indigenous refineries,” warns a new report published by Europia, the European petroleum industry association.

On September 19, the third anniversary of the U.S. State Department’s consideration of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said this should be among the shovel-ready projects the President Obama considers as part of his jobs program.

In early September, the California Energy Commission (CEC) unanimously adopted the state’s third annual transportation energy-investment plan to help change the types of vehicles Californians drive and the fuels they use.

The cumulative compliance costs of federal air-pollution rules will represent “a tiny sliver” of the overall economy, with compliance costs estimated at less than 0.1% of U.S. gross domestic product, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) briefing paper finds.

Brazil’s Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) on September 12 submitted draft specifications requiring a switch from 50 parts-per-million (ppm) sulfur to 10-ppm sulfur in ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) in areas requiring ULSD by Jan. 1, 2013.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) on September 20 unveiled a new technology “roadmap” for slashing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial sources – including oil refining.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on September 23 approved ExxonMobil Corp.’s plan to restart its Silvertip oil pipeline, which had ruptured and leaked about 1,000 barrels of crude oil into Montana’s Yellowstone River in July, according to a Dow Jones report.

Two refinery projects make news in Africa.

The Asian region is among the most active in refining project news, as reported in this issue of Refinery Tracker.

A mixed bag of expansion and grassroots refinery projects, economic idlings, and even Refinery-to-Terminal conversion projects are in the news from the Europe and CIS region.

Projects in Argentina and Brazil light up the refining news map in Latin America.

Rising demand for capital, talent, crude and natural gas is apparent in the strong project news flow coming from the Middle East.

A processing unit that supports heavy crude runs on the U.S. East Coast is in the process of restarting, while new lubes plant construction and olefins capacity expansion plans on the U.S. Gulf Coast adds cross-commodity gravitas for this issue’s project updates for North America.