World oil demand will grow at a slower pace in 2012 than previously projected, but consumption is expected to pick up steam next year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on January 11.

Europe’s largest independent oil refiner, Petroplus Holdings AG has reached a temporary agreement with its lenders under a revolving credit facility designed to provide the financial resources necessary to maintain safe, ongoing refinery operations at Coryton in the U.K. and Ingolstadt in Germany.

The Indian government is set to reimburse Rs.22,000 crore (US$4.1 billion) to state-owned oil refiners in January for their losses on government price-controlled sales of diesel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The closing of three refineries in southeast Pennsylvania and a rule requiring special gasoline in the Pittsburgh region during the summer driving season could result in sharply higher gasoline prices and potential fuel shortages in the western part of the state, a forthcoming study commissioned by the Pennsylvania Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association (PPMCSA) shows.

San Antonio-based Tesoro Corp. announced January 10 its intent to sell its Hawaii operations, including the 94,000 barrel-per-day (b/d) Kapolei refinery, operations at 32 retail stations and all associated logistical assets.

ExxonMobil Corp. is reportedly in talks with its majority-controlled Japanese unit, TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK about possibly “restructuring” its nearly US$3-billion stake in the company, according to a January 4 Dow Jones (DJ) report.

Sunoco, Inc. on January 17 completed the spin out distribution to its shareholders of 56,660,000 shares of common stock of SunCoke Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SXC) which had been owned by Sunoco, according to a company announcement.

In a rare show of bipartisanship, a group of U.S. senators joined together on January 17 to send a letter to Lisa Jackson, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, expressing concern that the EPA’s Tier-3 standards will greatly increase the cost of gasoline and put jobs at risk at a time when Americans are struggling to make ends meet in a weak economy.

Howard Feldman, American Petroleum Institute (API) director of regulatory and scientific affairs has called on the Obama administration to reconsider its greenhouse-gas (GHG) regulations for refineries in light of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data released January 11.

India’s government announced December 30 that Euro-3 (350 parts-per-million [ppm] sulfur) diesel and gasoline fuels will be replace with Euro-4 (50-ppm sulfur) fuels in seven more cities by March 31.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) announced January 3 that it and several local “green” groups filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the EPA’s alleged negligence in measuring and then stopping air pollution caused by gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles along Los Angeles highways.

Although a U.S. District Court in California recently ruled that California Air Resources Board (CARB) low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) rules illegally restrict interstate commerce, CARB nevertheless continues its work on the LCFS.

Multiple projects in the still-burgeoning Asia Pacific region are progressing, as outlined in this issue’s project updates..

This issue’s refining Project Updates in the Europe and CIS region show an optimization project on the one hand and an economic run cut announcement on the other.

Latin American refined product demand is not strong enough to overcome higher light sweet crude prices, as we learn from Valero in this issue’s Project Update.

North American project update reports have yielded a mixed bag of fundamental industry perspectives.