Refining
Royal Dutch Shell appoints van Beurden next CEO
The Board of Royal Dutch Shell has announced that Ben van Beurden will succeed Peter Voser as CEO, effective January 1, 2014. Mr. Van Beurden, 55, has been Shell’s downstream director since January 2013.
Vivergo Fuels opens major, wheat-fed bioethanol plant in UK
The greenfield biorefinery from Vivergo Fuels, operating on UK feed wheat, is highly energy efficient with distillation, dehydration and evaporation integrated uniquely, reducing energy consumption. The plant adheres to EU sustainability criteria for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) savings.
IRPC ’13: Indian Oil shows off Panipat complex
The fourth annual International Refining and Petrochemical Conference kicked off Tuesday with a tour of Indian Oil's integrated complex near Panipat in northern India.
Refinery watch: Planned and unplanned US outages
Valero reported the fluid catalytic cracking unit at its Benicia refinery is back at planned rates after a brief outage June 29. Tesoro reported a major unit startup at its Martinez, Calif. refinery July 2. Scheduled maintenance on a unit at ExxonMobil's Torrance, Calif. refinery could cause flaring, Exxon said July 1.
Japan looks to tighten gasoline market by lowering future refinery runs
"We want to tighten the gasoline market by keeping runs a little lower than last year," said Akitsugu Takahashi, senior vice president of JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp., Japan's largest refiner by capacity. "Gasoline margins (in the domestic market) have been very slim because of oversupply."
Brazil's Petrobras sets new company record for refinery production
The record volume was volume is 30,000 bbl more than the previous record. This strong performance has enabled a reduction in oil product imports and reflects the high level of operational efficiency at its refineries and in the integrated management of downstream operations.
China's Cnooc considers investment in Uganda refinery, pipeline plan
Cnooc has expressed interest in investing in Uganda's oil refinery and a crude export pipeline. The Chinese company reportedly expressed interest in two projects following a meeting between company chairman Wang Yilin and Uganda's prime minister Amama Mbabazi.
REG starts up new biorefinery in Northeast Texas
The largest US biodiesel producer hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of major upgrades at the New Boston biorefinery, located about 150 miles east of Dallas. REG acquired the 15 million gal/year refinery in November 2012 after it had been shut down for nearly four years.
South Sudan resumes crude exports from Sudan
Landlocked South Sudan has resumed crude oil shipments from Port Sudan for the first time in 18 months, as the two former civil war foes make renewed efforts to diffuse the latest spat over the use of transit oil facilities, the main obstacle for the newly independent nation's oil exports.
Asia: Future challenges and opportunities for refining sector
Securing the right quality of crude oil, increasing refinery competitiveness and adapting to fast-changing inter-regional trade dynamics are some of the area's key challenges.
- NAPCOR releases 2024 PET recycling report highlighting system efficiency gains and continued strength of PET circularity 12/12
- OQ courts other partners for petrochemical complex in Oman as SABIC drops out 12/12
- Brazil's BNDES approves $71 MM for carbon storage project 12/12
- Cuba on edge as U.S. seizure of oil tanker puts supply at risk 12/12
- China oil demand to plateau between 2025 and 2030 12/12
- Germany's PCK refinery says no impact from pipeline leak 12/12
