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BP Plc's Whiting, Indiana, refinery, whose partial closure nearly two weeks ago has roiled global oil markets, may restart a key crude oil unit weeks earlier than expected, according to sources and a published report. The plant may restart the 240,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Pipestill 12, the largest crude oil unit at Whiting, as soon as this weekend after it was able to make temporary repairs, industry publication Energy News Today reported. The unit shut on Aug. 8 after a leak in a heat exchanger, and early reports suggested it could remain offline for one or two months.

Lightning struck an electrical transformer at the Valero refinery in Texas City Thursday morning, causing a fire. Officials with Texas City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) told Houston's ABC affiliate Channel 13 that the lightning strike occurred just before 6:20 am CST this morning. Firefighters on the scene told local media that there is currently oil burning inside of a container at the facility. Derek Duckett, Texas City Emergency Management Coordinator, told the Houston Chronicle that firefighters can't douse the fire with water due to the potential danger from electrical shock. They are now containing the fire to the transformer...

We've reported frequently on the global upstream industry's "race to Iran" ahead of the lifting of western sanctions expected late this year or early 2016. But there's also a "downstream race" underway, with several IOCS attempting to bag lucrative contracts to repair and modernize the country's oil refineries once sanctions are eased. Uptick In Downstream Discussions Representatives of Iran's National Petrochemical Company, its state-run oil refining firm NIORDC, and the privately-owned Persian Oil and Gas are engaging in discussions with several global companies to secure projects to repair a petrochemical and refining sector that has been ailing since the imposition...

Prices at some gas stations spiked 50¢ overnight. Earlier this week, analysts proclaimed that $2 gas would be common once again around the U.S. Global oil prices are cratering, nearing $40 per barrel, and shrinking wholesale rates can only result in lower prices at the pump. Or so one would think. Despite plunging oil prices, drivers throughout the Midwest have been subjected to dramatic price spikes at gas stations this week. In Cincinnati, for instance, the price for a gallon of regular increased more than 40¢ overnight at some stations. Less than two weeks after analysts predicted average prices in...

Gross inputs to U.S. refineries exceeded 17 million barrels per day (b/d) in each of the past four weeks, a level that had not previously been reached or exceeded in any given week since EIA began publishing the data in 1990. The rolling four-week average of U.S. gross refinery inputs has been above the five-year range every week so far this year (Figure 1). The record high gross inputs reflect both higher refinery capacity and higher utilization rates. Lower crude oil prices and strong demand for petroleum products, primarily gasoline, both in the United States and globally have led to...

West Coast spot prices for conventional gasoline increased sharply last week, while falling slightly on the Gulf Coast and remaining flat on the East Coast. The Los Angeles, California, spot price for conventional gasoline increased nearly 90 cents per gallon (cents/gal) between July 6 and July 13, while San Francisco, California, and Portland, Oregon prices increased 24 cents/gal and 5 cents/gal, respectively (Figure 1). This most recent price rise results from a delay in receipts of waterborne imports of gasoline blending components and a decrease in total motor gasoline inventories within an already constrained supply chain. West Coast spot gasoline...

Refineries are expanding for the first time in years to soak up a wave of cheap crude unleashed by the U.S. shale boom, but their lack of in-house construction experience puts the projects at greater risk for cost overruns and delays, a new report finds. More than 30 refining expansions worth $14 billion total are under development across the United States as the industry hustles to take advantage of the oil glut, according to a new analysis by Petrochemical Update, which analyzes construction trends for the industry. Texas alone has three refining projects under construction, including Kinder Morgan Energy Partner’s...

U.S. operable atmospheric crude distillation (CDU) capacity increased by 0.2% in 2014, reaching 18.0 million barrels per calendar day (b/d) according to EIA's recently released annual Refinery Capacity Report (Figure 1). This was the second consecutive year of modest capacity growth following the 2.9% increase in 2012 that resulted from the restart of East Coast refineries that had closed in 2011. The capacities of secondary units that support heavy crude processing and production of ultra-low sulfur diesel and gasoline, including thermal cracking (coking), catalytic hydrocracking, and hydrotreating/desulfurization, also increased. The refinery capacity reported for the start of 2015 includes expansions...

EIA's energy mapping system is a data-intensive visual reference tool that includes several map layers defining energy infrastructure components across the United States. Using this series of maps, viewers can see crude oil, petroleum, natural gas, or hydrocarbon gas liquid pipelines, terminals, and ports in their area, as well as high voltage electric transmission lines. The mapping system combines information from many government agencies as well as public and private sources. Understanding infrastructure components is helpful as energy supply and consumption patterns change. These map layers can be presented over several base layers with geographic, topographic, street, or satellite image...

-Saudis, UAE to cut gasoline imports as refining capacity grows -Shrinking OECD refining capacity to replace some import demand -Asian demand pushes gasoline margins to over 6-year high ...Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will sharply cut or even halt costly gasoline imports next year after ramping up new refining capacities that put them a step closer to becoming exporters of the motor fuel. The estimated loss of at least 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) in shipments to Saudi Arabia and the UAE is expected to be mitigated by strong global demand that will help replace revenue lost by...

A Santa Barbara County official has rejected a proposal by Exxon Mobil to send a fleet of 6,720-gallon trucks on as many as 192 daily trips on U.S. 101 while the pipeline the company normally uses is out of commission after last month's oil spill. Dianne Black, assistant director of planning and development for Santa Barbara County, shot down the plan to use as many as eight trucks per hour, 24 hours a day, to transport oil from an Exxon facility near El Capitan State Beach to refineries as far away as San Luis Obispo County. Crude oil typically moves...

This Week in Petroleum has previously examined crude oil supply patterns on the West Coast, noting the increase in unaccounted-for supply, and then linking the increase to movements of crude by railroad. EIA’s recently launched crude-by-rail data enable a more detailed analysis of emerging crude oil supply patterns on the West Coast. The data indicate that most crude-by-rail deliveries into PADD 5 are destined for refineries in Washington state, and that despite recent delays in crude-by-rail projects in California, refineries in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas are not entirely without access to domestic crude oil from other regions....

Employees at Marathon’s Galveston Bay Refinery overwhelming rejected a contract offer late Monday night, said union spokeswoman Lynne Hancock. Details of the offer, which had been brokered through the help of a federal mediator, were not available. The 1,100 workers, who are represented by the United Steelworkers union, have been on strike since Feb. 1. They walked off the job as part of a nationwide work stoppage that eventually expanded to include 15 refineries, chemical plants and power generators. While nearly all the workers nationwide are back to work – with the exception of Marathon’s workers in Texas City and...

The U.S. military is helping Iraqi forces pushback ISIS at a vital oil refinery. The Baiji refinery is located between Kirkuk and Mosul, and it has been the target of ISIS militants since the extremist group first made major advances last summer. Baiji is Iraq’s largest oil refinery, and as such, is strategically important to the country for revenues and for domestic fuel supplies. “It actually also sits on a corridor that runs from the Tigris River valley to the Euphrates River valley. And so it's geographically significant as well as significant economically,” the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs...

Scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Utrecht University have identified key mechanisms of the aging process of catalyst particles that are used to refine crude oil into gasoline. This advance could lead to more efficient gasoline production. Their recent experiments studied so-called fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) particles that are used to break long-chain hydrocarbons in crude oil into smaller, more valuable hydrocarbons like gasoline. "A major problem is that these catalysts quickly age and lose their activity, so tons of fresh catalysts have to be added to a reactor system every day," said lead researcher...

The Whiting Refinery Modernization Project is the largest and most complex upgrading project in BP’s recent history. BP asked Mammoet to assist in the massive undertaking filled with logistical, constructional and meteorological challenges. Mammoet accepted the job, taking on the handling, management, transport and installation of a large number of components built in factories all over the U.S. For five years, Mammoet coordinated logistical activities on-and-off-site to safely complete the construction as efficiently as possible. Almost every processing unit in the refinery had to be modified to some degree. Carrying out the many individual jobs was relatively easy as compared...

The billowing canopies went up on a bare patch of the Texas City refinery grounds during a repair cycle last fall. Some workers saw the tents as just a place to eat lunch. Brian Ambrose saw a nightmare repeating itself. He is one of the few remaining employees who encountered the horrors of 2005, when the BP unit on the same patch of earth erupted in explosions, leaving a charred mass of twisted metal, pulverized office trailers and the remains of 15 people. Others, including many of the roughly 180 injured, have retired or moved elsewhere. Ambrose, who was assigned...

Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in its downstream business and developing captive markets to enter global oil market domination and counter the threat of U.S. tight oil. Saudi Arabia has been crafting the strategy for a few years, but it has come in sharp focus after the kingdom convinced other OPEC producers to maintain oil production at a meeting last November despite a collapse in crude prices. Oil prices have fallen 50% since June 2014, but Saudi officials have been unmoved as they see their strategy working. That suggests that the country has effectively handed over the role of swing...

The New Jersey Senate approved two measures on Monday contesting Gov. Chris Christie’s attempt to settle a pollution lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corporation for a fraction of the damages that the state had originally sought. By a vote of 24 to 0, the Senate approved a resolution urging a judge to reject a proposed $225 million settlement in the case. The state had sought $8.9 billion in damages for restoration and for loss of use of the land by the public because of contamination caused by refineries in Bayonne and Linden. The resolution urged the state to withdraw from the...

None of the workers on strike at 15 refineries and plants in seven states has yet returned to work. And it could be days before any do as the union and individual companies hammer out individual contracts. Last week, negotiators for Shell, which was representing the industry, and the union, agreed on a deal that provides a national framework for contracts. It outlined pay increases and an agreement to review safety and staffing levels, among other provisions. But local issues must be worked out and a contract ratified at each facility before employees return to work. The Steelworkers called the...