Refining
Fuel oil margins rise to five-year high, potential boon for simple refiners
SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Fuel oil profit margins have surged to their highest in more than 5 yr on lower supplies and rising demand from electric power generators, which may push some refiners to increase their runs.
EIA: US refineries are running at record-high levels
Gross inputs to US petroleum refineries, also referred to as refinery runs, averaged a record high 17.7 MMbpd for the week ending May 26, before dropping slightly to 17.5 MMbpd for the week ending June 2 and 17.6 MMbpd for the week ending June 9. Product supplied to the US market as well as inventories and exports are also at relatively high levels.
Finnish refiner Neste faces strike over proposed government stake sale
HELSINKI (Reuters) — Employee groups at Finnish refiner Neste plan to halt fuel distribution from its domestic refineries for more than six days in protest against government plans to reduce state ownership in the company.
Propane dehydrogenation plant in Korea reaches record production rate
CB&I and SK Advanced Co. Ltd. are celebrating the record production rates and outstanding operation of a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in Seoul, South Korea.
China's 2017 crude oil quotas exceed last year's, teapots take a cut
BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) — China last week issued a second batch of crude oil import quotas under the so-called "non-state trade" that is higher than for all of the allowances in 2016, but allotments to independent refineries were lower than a year earlier.
Fire at Mexico's Salina Cruz refinery has been put out
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) — A fire that completely shut down Mexico's Salina Cruz oil refinery has been put out but operations have yet to be restarted, state-owned petroleum company Pemex said on Friday.
MMEX Resources announces plans for initial 10 Mbpd Permian Basin refinery
AUSTIN, TEXAS — MMEX Resources Corp., a development-stage company focusing on the acquisition, development and financing of oil, gas, refining and infrastructure projects in Texas and South America, announced an agreement with Crown Bridge Partners, LLC for an issuance of up to $3 MM of equity securities, as well as plans to build a 10,000 bpd crude distillation unit near Fort Stockton, Texas as an initial unit for the $450 MM, 50,000 bpd Pecos County refinery project announced by MMEX earlier this year.
S.Korea's May Iranian crude oil imports fall to 8-mth low
SEOUL (Reuters) — South Korea's Iranian crude oil imports dropped in May to their lowest in eight months as refiners bought less of the Middle Eastern nation's condensate, while Tehran struggled to maintain shipment volumes after exhausting stocks stored on tankers.
Fire breaks out at Mexico's top refinery, 9 people hurt
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) — A major fire broke out at Mexican state oil producer Pemex's Salina Cruz refinery on Wednesday after a crude spill, injuring nine people and extending the shutdown of the plant into a second day, the company said.
Dangote awards DuPont contracts for new oil refinery in Nigeria
WILMINGTON, Del. — DuPont Clean Technologies announced that Dangote Oil Refinery Company Ltd has commissioned a range of advanced proprietary equipment from DuPont for the construction of a new refinery in Lekki, near Nigeria’s capital, Lagos. The new refinery is set to become the largest single-train refinery in the world and the complex will include a petrochemical plant, a fertilizer plant and a subsea pipeline project.

- AFPM response to U.S. EPA actions on RFS small refinery waiver backlog 8/25
- Indonesia urges EU to remove biodiesel import curbs after WTO ruling 8/25
- Canada's Alberta eyes investment in Japan's refining to boost oil exports 8/25
- U.S. EPA approves biofuel waivers for small refiners, stirring concerns over demand 8/25
- Update: Russian oil supplies to Slovakia may resume as soon as today 8/25
- Liquid Sun launches eSAF production pilot with ABB, Finnair, Fortum and Finavia 8/25