Oil Blog

Refinery News 5/22/06

Nations to Expand Gas Refinery Capacity
Houston Chronicle - United States
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan and Russia have agreed to jointly expand the capacity of a Russian natural gas refinery to allow it to process gas from the ...

Total, Aramco to set up $6bn refinery
newratings.com - USA
... Aramco is also expected to sign an agreement in the near future with US-based ConocoPhilips (COP) to set up another refinery of similar capacity in the Red Sea ...

Report digs into gas price variables
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscription) - Milwaukee,WI,USA
... by market forces of supply and demand alone, and in fact are being spurred by oil-company mergers, deliberately restricted refinery capacity and volatile ...

Fire hits Valero's St. Charles refinery
San Antonio Business Journal - San Antonio,TX,USA
... The 250,000-barrel-per-day refinery is located 15 miles from New Orleans and has the capacity of producing gasoline, diesel and heating oil. ...

FTC gasoline price probe finds nothing
Boston Globe - United States
... Before Katrina struck, Congress asked the FTC to examine if refinery capacity or some form of market manipulation was behind rising gasoline prices. ...

UPDATE 1-Shell in talks over stake in CNOOC Huizhou refinery
Reuters - USA
... Nanhai naphtha cracker in Guangdong province, next to the planned refinery, from where it ... early this year though Tan declined to say at what capacity it is now ...

Oil firms blamed in report
The Capital Times - Madison,WI,USA
... Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager says that huge profits made by big oil companies are the result of industry actions to limit refinery capacity and keep ...

Gas pains: Building more refineries won't lower fuel costs
Scripps Howard News Service - Washington,DC,USA
... Wallin said about 2 million barrels a day, or 10 percent of US refinery capacity, was offline immediately following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. ...

Local oil prices set higher than usual, says vocal senator
Thai News Agency MCOT - Bangkok,Thailand
... He pointed out the country’s refinery capacity totals around 1 million liters per day at current while the local demand is 700,000 liters per day with the ...

Come By Chance refinery needs upgrades
Reuters Canada - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
... in the near term, but the demand/supply balance could change if the new owner changes the product slate of the refinery and increase its capacity, traders said ...

Refinery News 5/17/06

Weighing the Alternatives in Energy
TheStreet.com (subscription) - New York,NY,USA
... we are running tremendous risks due to the instability of the countries that supply us with crude oil and the fact that 40% of our refinery capacity is in two ...

Oil Prices Fall After Inventory Data
TheStreet.com - USA
... Wednesday's report showed a lower-than-expected reading on refinery capacity use last week, suggesting that gasoline demand remains relatively muted. ...

Two bauxite firms exploring US$1.5-b plant in Jamaica
Jamaica Observer - Kingston,Jamaica
... industry standards, it cost US$1,000 per metric tonne to build an alumina refinery. Therefore, the cost to build the plant of the capacity being contemplated ...

Gas prices may ease, but is it too late?
Inside Bay Area - Oakland,CA,USA
... He also said refinery capacity is strained and can't keep up with world demand, including China and India using more petroleum. ...

MUD FOR THE MIND
Buffalo Alt Press Online - NY, United states
... Others blamed Katrina and lack of refinery capacity, while some others blamed China and India for demanding their fair share of world oil and driving the ...

Sino-Saudi Symbiosis
TCS Daily - Washington,DC,USA
... won natural gas exploration rights in the Rub al-Khali Basin in 2004, while Saudi Arabia has agreed to help China upgrade its refinery capacity with the ...

Refinery News 5/11/06

Oil Rises as Foreigner Attacked in Nigeria, Refinery Output Cut
Bloomberg - USA
... Bayway refinery, which has capacity of 263,000 barrels a day, has cut output because of malfunctions in its gasoline-making unit, according to Tilley. ...

IPO funding set to boost refinery
Bangkok Post - Thailand
... industry and the PTT Plc-owned oil refinery, according to Chainoi Puankkosom, the president of RRC. RRC has decided to expand production capacity with the ...

Alon USA: Good Now, Better Later?
Motley Fool - USA
... for a significant part of the quarter. Because of that expansion project, refinery capacity is higher this year than last year. ...

Ag experts explain high fuel prices, share advice on dealing with ...
The Prairie Star - Great Falls,MT,USA
... Also, the refinery capacity we have was built for Texas sweet crude oil, and much of the oil produced today is thicker than that. ...

ASA announces biodiesel priorities for next energy bill
Southeast Farm Press - USA
... "Each gallon of domestically produced biodiesel represents an expansion of distillate supplies, additional refinery capacity and is a direct replacement for ...

Refinery News 5/9/06

Saudi minister predicts stabilization of petroleum prices
Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow,UK
... He pointed out that Saudi Aramco is working to increase its refinery capacity within the next five years by about two million barrel per day. ...

Hawaii Suspends Gasoline-Price Caps
Wall Street Journal - New York,NY,USA
The effort was closely watched amid rising gas prices across the nation due to rising crude-oil prices, tight refinery capacity and continued growing demand. ...

Pakistan, Kuwait to enhance petroleum cooperation during Amir ...
Kuwait News Agency - Kuwait
... The refinery to be commissioned by 2010 would have a maximum refining capacity of 13 million tons of petroleum products which would be higher than the ...

Saudi to increase oil supply to RP
Philippine Star - Manila,Philippines
... Lotilla said the Philippines’ crude oil sourced from Saudi Arabia passes through Petron, which has a refinery capacity of 180,000 barrels per day. ...

Bono Votes to Provide Relief from Rising Gas Prices; Criticizes ...
California Chronicle - Beverly Hills,CA,USA
... We simply do not have enough refining capacity to meet demand, and there has been no action to build a new domestic refinery in years. ...

Refinery News 5/8/06

IOC scouts for refineries in Africa, Europe
Rediff - India
... "Otherwise, we have ample domestic refinery capacity," he added. ... The refinery will have a capacity of 15 million tonne per annum. ...

House Dems say rights violated: Counter campaign
In-Forum (subscription) - Fargo,ND,USA
... for oil refinery construction, the National Republican Campaign Committee put out a scathing statement that he’d voted against adding refinery capacity. ...

Open access for informed electorate
Toledo Blade - Toledo,OH,USA
... How can drilling new oil in Alaska be a solution when there isn't, according to the oil companies, enough refinery capacity already? ...

Valero Energy is considering purchase of Houston refinery
MSNBC - USA
... Klesse says the refinery's capacity of 268,000 barrels per day meets one of the requirements Valero officials have for purchasing a refinery. ...

Rising oil prices may cause real woes
Regina Leader-Post - Regina,Saskatchewan,Canada
... disruptions. Adding to this situation is the lack of refinery capacity because the last new refinery in North America was built in 1984. ...

Pain at the Pump: What Can Be Done?
National Ledger - Apache Junction,AZ,USA
... Continued recovery from hurricane damage, federally mandated changes to fuel specifications, limitations on US oil-refinery capacity, and restrictions on new ...

Oil supplies set to decline
ABC Online - Australia
... We used up every scrap of wellhead capacity, refinery capacity, refining capacity, tanker capacity, rig capacity, so now we are really stuck in a jam. ...

Refinery News 5/2/06

Imperial Oil announces first-quarter financial and operating ...
Canada NewsWire (press release) - Canada
... petroleum products sales 85.7 88.2 ----- TOTAL REFINERY THROUGHPUT (millions of litres a day) 77.3 76.5 REFINERY CAPACITY UTILIZATION (percent) 97 ...

What pushes gas prices up?
Ada Evening News - Ada,OK,USA
... The only way supply could be influenced domestically is if new lands were opened for crude oil exploration and there was increased refinery capacity. ...

$100 check for gas idea really dumb
York Dispatch - York,PA,USA
... to begin development of alternate fuels while weaning the nation from its oil addiction, and yes, an increase in the nation's long-neglected refinery capacity. ...

GOP drops tax plan that upset oil firms
San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA
... tax provision and the rebate, the GOP energy package includes new price-gouging protections, incentives to expand domestic oil refinery capacity, support for ...

Saudi, Pertamina mull new plant
Trade Arabia - Manama,Bahrain
... years, while separate talks are proceeding with China's Sinopec Corp to build an oil refinery in the East Java province with a daily capacity of 150,000 barrels ...

Mandan Refinery
KXMA - Dickinson,ND,USA
... At full capacity, the Mandan refinery is designed to process up to 58-thousand barrels of crude oil a day. Its products include gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

In Washington, Capitalism for All but Oil
Washington Post - United States
... on oil profits would raise a pittance for government coffers while reducing a company's incentive to invest in exploration, refinery capacity and alternative ...

Energy debates lead to wrong answers
Town Hall - Washington,DC,USA
... to the demands and desires of the market, and much of those "obscene" profits go into looking for more oil, expanding refinery capacity and encouraging ...

Republicans drop energy tax proposal
CNN International - USA
... the tax provision and the rebate, the measure includes new protections against price gouging, incentives to expand domestic oil refinery capacity, support for ...

House GOP's Boehner: Gas-tax rebate 'insulting'
MarketWatch - USA
... "They thought it was stupid," Boehner said. The House this week will take up separate bills to define price gouging and to expand refinery capacity.

Refinery News 5/1/06

Saudis eye refinery deals
The Standard - Hong Kong
... The investment would include US$3 billion to US$4 billion to double the capacity of a refinery in South Korea, funds to integrate a refinery in the Philippines ...

Oil prices buoyant as Iran remains defiant
The Standard - Hong Kong
... "The problem with sufficient refinery capacity to produce gasoline still presents an issue, at least within the US," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of ...

Tesoro plans partial shutdown of Mandan refinery for maintenance
Grand Forks Herald - Grand Forks,ND,USA
... "Once the maintenance work is completed, the refinery is expected to return to full operational capacity for the summer driving season and to meet agricultural ...

Maine delegation seeks to roll back big oil tax breaks
Bangor Daily News - Bangor,ME,USA
... from short-term help for consumers, such as a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax, to long-term efforts to bolster production and refinery capacity. ...

Working out gas prices
Foreign Policy (subscription) - USA
... We also are falling short on refinery capacity. To flesh the more forward-looking part of this answer, I'll need another post...

Alon USA To More-than Double Refining Capacity Through Paramount ...
Trading Markets - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... refinery would add 90,000 barrels per day (BPD | charts | news | PowerRating) of refined capacity to the existing 70,000 bpd sour crude refinery in Big Spring ...

Higher gas prices most likely result of supply, demand
Centralia Chronicle - Centralia,WA,USA
... Add in the fact that this nation’s refinery capacity has not fully recovered from last year’s hurricanes, refinery maintenance shutdowns, and that no new ...

President's Letter to Metalline Mining Company Shareholders
Business Wire (press release) - San Francisco,CA,USA
... Smelter and refinery capacity are approximately equal with demand, but a deficit is being created because mines are not supplying sufficient concentrate to the ...

Refinery News 4/26/06

TAX BIG OIL?
Patriot-News - Harrisburg,PA,USA
... Rather, it is a direct result of already tight supplies, a changeover in the mix of reformulated gasoline, limited refinery capacity, rising worldwide demand ...

G7 pressures China over currency reforms
TMCnet - USA
... The G8 also urged "investment in exploration, production, energy infrastructure and refinery capacity". Describing this necessary ...

Relaxed rules to help local refiners
Corpus Christi Caller Times - Corpus Christi,TX,USA
... "They're having to clean out the tanks with MTBE in order to replace it with ethanol," Barnard said. "Refinery capacity is being stretched to the limit.". ...

Bush proposes ways to stem gas prices
Kansas City Star - MO,USA
... Moreover, the lack of any slack in refinery capacity means any serious problems such as refinery outages during hurricane season could cause prices to spike ...

Bush Calls for Gas Price Investigation, Lifts Clean Gas Rules
Environment News Service - USA
... Refinery capacity in the United States has dropped by some 50 percent in the past two decades and existing facilities are currently operating at close to 100 ...

Energy Business Dept's chief downplays concern on fuel shortage
TMCnet - USA
... General Panich Pongpirodom shrugged off a concern over possible shortage of fuel in the country, affirming that the overall refinery capacity this year still ...

Refinery News 4/25/06

Reliance Petroleum prices IPO at mid-range despite colossal demand
FinanceAsia - Hong Kong
... “And because it will be completed in just three years, it will start production at a time when there will still be a global shortage of refinery capacity.”. ...

Bush orders agencies to investigate US gasoline prices
Oil & Gas Journal - Houston,TX,USA
... as ExxonMobil Corp.'s chief executive, Barton added, "It troubles me that a CEO receives a $400 million retirement package while refinery capacity continues to ...

Petrochina and Kuwait to build refinery in Pearl River Delta
Macauhub - Macau,China
... The refinery planned by Kuwait will have the capacity to process 400,000 barrels of oil pr day, the Kuwait News Agency reported in December, citing al-Sabah. ...

Pump prices stuck on 'up'
San Diego Union Tribune - United States
... measure, Joe Sparano, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, blamed pump prices on taxes, business costs, limited refinery capacity and the ...

Energy Business Dept's chief downplays concern on fuel shortage
Thai News Agency MCOT - Bangkok,Thailand
... General Panich Pongpirodom on Monday shrugged off a concern over possible shortage of fuel in the country, affirming the overall refinery capacity this year ...

Refinery News 4/20/06

World energy talks seek to bring down oil prices
INQ7.net - Philippines
... A global shortage of refinery capacity for transport fuels that must meet tighter environmental regulations and lower supply from Nigeria, Iraq and Venezuela ...

Reliance Petroleum IPO Oversubscribed, Gets Bids Worth $30 Bln
Bloomberg - USA
... Reliance's new refinery will be ready in time to benefit from higher earnings from processing of oil into fuels, given the shortage of refining capacity. ...

Gas prices soar - again
Sacramento Bee - CA, USA
... Yet while there's oil available, the nation lacks the refinery capacity to turn it into gasoline, analysts said. Gas inventories ...

Indian refiners process 9.4 pct more crude in March
NDTV.com - New Delhi,India
... 19.4 million tonnes. Exports are expected to rise in June, when IOC hopes to double its Panipat refinery capacity to 240,000 bpd.