Asia/Pacific
Chinese customs seizes $13 MM worth of smuggled fuel
BEIJING (Reuters) — Chinese customs in Nanjing city has seized 12 Mt of smuggled fuel worth $12.98 MM, state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday.
Idemitsu, Showa Shell see around $70 MM in cost savings by March
TOKYO (Reuters) — Japanese refiners Idemitsu Kosan and Showa Shell Sekiyu said on Friday they expect to cost cuts by $71 MM in the first year of their business alliance that started last April.
Oil dips from highs but OPEC cuts still support market
SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) — Oil prices dipped on Friday but stayed near their highest levels since 2015 on pledges from OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia that any exit from crude output cuts would be gradual.
Fluor completes work on BASF auto coatings plant
IRVING, Texas — Fluor Corporation announced that BASF’s Coatings division has opened a new automotive coatings plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing, Shanghai, China. An opening ceremony was held recently to commemorate the milestone.
Indian refiner BPCL prepared to integrate with GAIL, Oil India
NEW DELHI (Reuters) — State refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp has written to the oil ministry for integration with GAIL (India) Ltd and Oil India Ltd as option 1 and 2, said oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday.
Idemitsu, Showa Shell to merge key operations next spring
TOKYO (Reuters) — Japanese refiners Idemitsu Kosan and Showa Shell Sekiyu will combine management of their key businesses, an Idemitsu spokesman said on Tuesday, pursuing a merger bitterly opposed by a core investor—Idemitsu's founding family.
S.Korea refiner buys rare Canadian crude cargo for February
SEOUL/SINGAPORE (Reuters) — South Korean refiner GS Caltex Corp has bought a rare cargo of Cold Lake crude, the company’s first purchase in more than two decades of this Canadian oil grade, a company spokesman said on Monday.
Russian oil exports to China via Skovorodino seen jumping 57% in 1Q
MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russian ESPO Blend oil exports to China via the Skovorodino-Mohe pipeline are expected to jump by 57% to 6.7 MMt in the first quarter of 2018 compared with the previous three months, sources familiar with the loading schedule told Reuters on Friday.
India increases petcoke import tax in blow to US refiners
NEW DELHI (Reuters) — India has raised the effective import duty on petroleum coke to 10% from 2.5%, according to a government order, days after the government told a court it was in favor of curbing the use of the dirty-burning fuel.
S.Korea's Nov Iran crude oil imports fall to 5-month low
SEOUL (Reuters) — South Korea's Iranian crude oil imports in November dropped to the lowest level since June, due to reduced shipments from the Middle Eastern country to Asia affected by its production issues.
- Aramco signs MoU with Microsoft to help advance industrial AI and digital talent transformation 2/23
- Chandra Asri's chlor alkali-ethylene dichloride project reaches 50% completion 2/23
- Solvay to reduce production at Torrelavega soda ash plant due to market conditions 2/23
- Zeon Corp. holds groundbreaking for new cyclo-olefin polymers plant 2/23
- Honeywell adjusts acquisition agreement for Johnson Matthey's Catalyst Technologies business down to £1.325 billion 2/23
- Indorama Ventures and AMB Spa introduce industrial-scale breakthrough for recyclable multilayer trays 2/23

