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Oil Refinery News

29 Jan 2024

Russian Oil Facilities Hit by Drone Attacks, Fires

© evannovostro / Adobe Stock

Russia energy infrastructure has been hit by drone attacks and fires in the past month, adding to uncertainty in global oil and gas markets already rocked by the conflict in the Middle East.Russia and Ukraine have targeted each other's energy infrastructure in strikes designed to disrupt supply lines and logistics and to demoralise their opponent as they try to get the edge in a nearly two-year-old war that shows no sign of ending.Following are recent major incidents at Russian oil facilities in the past month:* A Russian appointed official said on Jan.

25 Oct 2022

Idled St. Croix Refinery Risks Explosion, 'Catastrophic' Releases

Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5

Equipment corrosion at an oil refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands presents a risk of fire, explosion or other "catastrophic" releases of hazardous substances, U.S. environmental regulators said on Tuesday, after performing an inspection last month.The idled St. Croix refinery, formerly called Limetree Bay, was shut down by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in May 2021 after a series of chemical releases into the environment sickened neighboring residents. The refinery was sold in December 2021 for $62 million to West Indies Petroleum and Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation…

17 Oct 2022

Guyana Launches Tender for Its First Oil Refinery

©TTstudio

Guyana has called for proposals to design, finance and build a 30,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) oil refinery, the first for the South American country as it becomes a force in crude oil production. Construction work on the facility, to be located on public land near the Berbice river, is expected to begin by the first half of 2023 with project completion two years after. Requests are due in mid-December. An Exxon Mobil-led consortium has ramped up oil and gas output to almost 400,000 bpd this year, a rapid increase for a country that only inaugurated crude production in 2019.

03 Oct 2022

Norway Posts Soldiers at Oil, Gas Plants after Nord Stream Leaks

Credit; Norway Armed Forces

Norway's military said on Monday it had posted soldiers to help guard major onshore oil and gas processing plants, part of a wider effort to boost security amid suspicion that sabotage caused leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines last week.Russia's Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines burst on Sept. 26, draining gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden. Seismologists registered explosions in the area, and police in several countries have launched investigations.Norway…

23 Sep 2022

Shenghong Petrochemical Preps Terminal for Super Tankers

Copyright Fotos von Schiffen/AdobeStock

Chinese refiner Shenghong Petrochemical Corp, part of the listed Jiangsu Eastern Shenghong Co 000301.SZ, has readied a new terminal to receive Very Large Crude Carriers and boost the refiner's logistics efficiency, a company representative said. The Lianyungang terminal in Jiangsu province is able to dock super tankers with capacity of 300,000 tonnes deadweight.The refiner, which started trial operations at its 320,000 barrel per day crude distillation unit in May, is in the process of starting up secondary and petrochemical units…

04 Jul 2022

Fire Extinguished at Equinor's Largest Refinery

Mongstad/Photo: Equinor

  A fire that broke out at Equinor's Mongstad oil refinery on Norway's west coast early on Sunday was now extinguished, the company said, affecting the unit producing gasoline.The fire broke out in a part of the refinery that produces gasoline, Equinor said, adding that the main part of the refinery was still in operation."The fire is extinguished," said a company spokesperson.Mongstad is Equinor's largest refinery and has a crude oil and condensate distillation capacity of 226,000 barrels per day.The wider Mongstad area contains refinery operations, a terminal for crude oil exports as well as

17 May 2022

Seaborne Oil a Lifeline as German, Polish Refiners Swerve Russian Supply

© Horst Schmidt / Adobe Stock

Seaborne oil has thrown a lifeline to refiners in eastern Germany and Poland, with non-Russian deliveries into the Polish port of Gdansk hitting at least seven-year highs this month as they switch away from Russian supply.Imports booked for May into Gdansk from Egypt, the United States, Norway, Britain and West Africa had hit 8.4 million barrels by May 16, their highest level according to Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking data that goes back to 2015.At the same time, Russian crude booked for May into Gdansk and the port of Rostock stood at 700…

14 Jul 2021

Violence Disrupts Shipping at the Port of Durban

© donvictori0 / Adobe Stock

South Africa's Durban port has suffered major disruption after days of unrest, and operations have also been badly affected at the Richards Bay port and on a national freight rail line, logistics and freight companies said on Wednesday.The violence erupted last week in KwaZulu-Natal province, where Durban is located, after the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma but it has rapidly escalated in widespread looting and destruction in several other provinces.Durban has one of the busiest shipping terminals on the African continent…

18 May 2021

Cyclone Tauktae: Rescue Op Launched for 81 Offshore Oil Workers after Barge Sinks off Mumbai

Credit: Indian Navy Spokesperson Twiter / Screenshot

The Indian Navy mounted a massive air and sea rescue mission on Tuesday for 81 missing oil workers and crew whose barge sank in heavy seas following a powerful cyclone that tore up the west coast of the country.Around 180 of those on board the barge were rescued from the water as it sank off Mumbai. Efforts had started to move crew stuck on a second barge that was driven aground by the storm, the navy said."There are waves of 20 to 25 feet, the winds are high and the visibility is low," said navy spokesman Vivek Madhwal.

15 Sep 2020

Offshore Oil Wells, Ports Shut as Hurricane Sally Advances on U.S. Gulf

Hurricane Sally (Photo: NOAA)

Energy companies, ports and refiners raced on Monday to shut down as Hurricane Sally grew stronger while lumbering toward the central U.S. Gulf Coast, the second significant hurricane to shutter oil and gas activity over the last month.The hurricane is disrupting oil imports and exports as the nation's sole offshore terminal, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), stopped loading tanker ships on Sunday, while the port of New Orleans closed on Monday.The U.S. government said 21%…

31 Aug 2020

Alberta Oil Shipped Through Panama Canal to Atlantic Canada

On July 20, the tanker Cabo de Hornos delivered an estimated 450,000 barrels of crude oil to the Irving Oil refinery’s Canaport storage facilities in Saint John, N.B.What made Cabo de Hornos’s delivery different was that it was the first time crude oil had arrived in Saint John by ship from Alberta. It came via the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Westbridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C., and then through the Panama Canal.By the end of April next year, a second tanker will arrive at Canaport carrying 350,000 to one million barrels of Western Canadian crude oil. In this case, the oil will have come via pipeline from Alberta to a crude oil exporting terminal in Texas or Louisiana.For most of the Saint John refinery’s 50 years of operation…

27 Jun 2019

IMO 2020: Countdown to Cutting SOx Emissions

International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been preparing ahead of the implementation date. From 1 January 2020, under IMO's MARPOL convention for the prevention of pollution from ships.Accordingly, the sulfur content of fuel oil used by ships operating outside designated emission control areas shall not exceed 0.50% - representing an 80% cut from the current 3.50% limit. New requirements for ships to cut sulfur oxide emissions enter into effect on 1 January 2020, marking a sea change in fuel used by ships, globally, which will significantly reduce air pollution from ships with positive benefits for human health and the environment.At a roundtable industry meeting hosted by IMO at its London Headquarters (21 June)…

24 Jun 2019

Vitol Builds Refinery for New Ship's Fuel

Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader, has started building a small oil refinery at its storage terminal in Malaysia that will provide low-sulfur fuel for ships, a senior company official said on Monday.The project consists of a crude distillation unit that can process 30,000 barrels per day of crude and is located on the same site as Vitol's oil storage terminal at Tanjung Bin in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, Vitol Asia's President and Chief Executive Officer Kho Hui Meng said.A construction unit under China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) is handling the project which will involve moving a second-hand CDU from China to the site…

21 Jun 2019

Fire burns out of control at Philadelphia refinery

A fire was burning out of control at an oil refinery in Pennsylvania on Friday morning, a Philadelphia fire department official said, as local media reported a series of explosions on site.NBC Philadelphia said the "massive" blaze at the 335,000 barrels per day Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery was visible from miles away and triggered explosions that were felt as far away as South Jersey.The crude section at the Girard Point portion of the refinery was shut down due to the fire, intelligence provider Genscape said.There were no immediate reports of casualties at the complex, which the NBC affiliate said employs around 1,000 people.A company spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.Three fire stations and a hazardous materials response crew were mobilised, the fire depart

11 Jun 2019

India to Evacuate Thousands as Cyclone Nears West Coast

Indian authorities are preparing to evacuate 300,000 people along the western coast as a severe cyclone is expected to make landfall on Thursday morning in the state of Gujarat.Storm Vayu, which formed in the Arabian Sea, is likely to cross the Gujarat coast with gust speeds as high as 135 kmph (84 mph), the India Meteorological Department said in a statement.It also warned the cyclone could further delay the progress of the annual monsoon rains over the rest of India, as the storm was drawing rain clouds from over the sea.The arrival of the monsoons on the southern coast of Kerala was already about a week late this year.Gujarat Chief…

18 Apr 2019

Svitzer: 5 year Contract with Oil Refinery

Svitzer Caribbean Dominicana won a 5-year contract with Limetree Bay Refining, LLC, commencing June 15, 2019.The company expands its market coverage providing tugboat services to some of the key oil refineries and terminals in the region – South Riding Point Terminal in Bahamas, Nustar Terminal in Statia, Buckeye Terminal in St. Lucia and now Limetree Bay Refining in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.Svitzer Caribbean Dominicana adds this contract for two tugs to the company’s portfolio and believes Limetree Bay Refining will benefit from adding these young vessels to their operation, providing increased capabilities and overall service offerings.

15 Apr 2019

Hyundai Heavy Sells Oil Stake to Saudi Aramco

South Korean shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries sells its share of oil refinery Hyundai Oilbank to Saudi Arabian oil giant Saudi Aramco.According to a press release, Saudi Aramco’s subsidiary,  Aramco Overseas Company B.V (AOC) will purchase a 17% stake in South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank, a subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings.The investment is valued at approximately $ 1.25 billion, it said.AOC’s’s investment in South Korea’s Hyundai Oilbank will support Saudi Aramco’s crude oil placement strategy by providing a dedicated outlet for Arabian crude oil to South Korea.Abdulaziz Al-Judaimi, Saudi Aramco’s Senior Vice President of Downstream, said: “Saudi Aramco continues to strengthen its position in the downstream sector.

12 Mar 2019

IMO 2020: Shell, HES to Resurrect Refinery

Royal Dutch Shell has struck a deal with Dutch tank terminal firm HES International to partially restart a German oil refinery mothballed since 2011 in response to new restrictions on marine fuels, two trading sources told Reuters.A new cap set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that will cut the sulfur content in shipping fuel to 0.5 percent from 3.5 percent from next year is set to be one of the biggest fundamental events to hit oil markets in years.HES Wilhelmshaven Tank Terminal is in the process of reinstalling the vacuum distillation unit (VDU) at Wilhelmshaven to produce low-sulfur bunker fuels ahead of the implementation of the IMO rules…

16 Nov 2018

BP to Supply Crude to St. Croix Refinery

(Photo: BP)

BP Plc's trading arm on Friday entered a tolling agreement with the owners of an idled oil refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, cementing plans to bring the plant back online six years after it was idled by previous owners, the company said.Under BP's tolling agreement with Limetree Bay Refining LLC, owner of the idled Hovensa refinery, BP will supply the facility with crude and sell its products, low-sulfur fuels that will meet an International Maritime Organization mandate in 2020, it said in a statement.BP declined to comment further.

02 Nov 2018

TechnipFMC Wins EPC Contract with Egypt's MIDOR

Oil and gas industry company TechnipFMC has signed a major Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract by Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR) for the modernization and expansion of their existing complex near Alexandria, Egypt.Middle East Oil Refinery (Midor), considered to be Africa's most advanced refinery, is a unit of Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.This EPC contract covers the debottlenecking of existing units as well as the delivery of new units including a Crude Distillation Unit, a Vacuum Distillation Unit, a hydrogen production facility based on our steam reforming technology, as well as various process units…

24 Oct 2018

Petrofac Consortium Awarded USD 4bn Project in Thailand

Petrofac, the international oil and gas services provider, leading a consortium with Saipem  and Samsung Engineering, has received an award notification for Thai Oil Public Company Limited’s (Thai Oil) Clean Fuels Project on the East coast of Thailand.The overall project value is around US$4 billion, of which Petrofac’s share is around US$1.4 billion, and will be completed over a period of approximately four years.The project will transform the existing oil refinery in Sriracha, Chonburi, into an environmentally-friendly facility, which will produce higher quality transportation fuels. The project will also increase the refinery’s production capacity from 275…

03 Oct 2018

Exxon Mobil Eyes Major Investment at Singapore Refinery

© Igor Groshev / Adobe Stock

Exxon Mobil Corp is considering a multi-billion dollar investment at its Singapore refinery, the company's largest, ahead of new global shipping fuel regulations starting in 2020, a senior executive said on Wednesday."We are currently assessing a multi-billion project in our integrated manufacturing facility here in Singapore," Matt Bergeron, vice president of Asia Pacific Fuels Business at Exxon, said at a bunkering conference."Should the project proceed, we plan to implement…

22 Aug 2018

EnSolve Wins Patent for Ship Emission Scrubbing Tech

Photo: EnSolve Biosystems

EnSolve Biosystems said it earned a patent from the U.S Patent & Trade Office for its EnScrub technology. The technology addresses contaminants from the aqueous effluent of sulfur oxide (SOx) scrubber systems for ships and oil refineries.Jason Caplan, EnSolve’s CEO said: “This patent includes claims for both Maritime and land-based applications. In fact, we have successfully employed the EnScrub technology for SOx scrubber systems on ships as well as scrubbers at a major oil refinery in China.”When asked if EnSolve plans to commercialize the technology on its own or seek a strategic partner…

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