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In one of the rare recent increases for a late-summer week, U.S. retail gasoline prices unexpectedly rose in the week to August 22, by US$0.044 to US$ 2.193 per gallon, according to data by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Gasoline prices have dropped during this particular week in eight of the past ten years, and last week saw the biggest increase for this week since a US$0.062 rise in 2005. In the previous two August weeks, U.S. average gasoline prices had stood at US$2.150 in the week to August 8 and at US$2.149 in the week to August 15....

A lockdown is in effect at the ExxonMobile refinery in Baytown after a security breach. Company officials say around 7:30am, a person went inside the plant without permission. "We take matters of this nature very seriously and are working closely with Baytown Police Department," says Todd Spitler, spokesman for Exxon Mobil.

An enormous fire erupted an ExxonMobil refinery in Texas on Thursday. The Baytown refinery caught fire, leading to huge black plumes of smoke into the air, visible from downtown Houston. Almost as soon as the fire in the ExxonMobil refinery was extinguished, we got reports of a fire in a refinery belonging to LyondellBasell Industries. CNBC reported that the fire occured in the coker unit of the refinery that can process over 263.000 barrels per day.

Abdulrahman Al-Wuhaib, senior vice president, said in the Wednesday statement that.. Saudi Aramco will assumes Sole Ownership America's largest refinery. The Port Arthur Texas Complex includes 26 distribution terminals, and hold an exclusive license to use the Shell brand for gasoline and diesel sales in Texas, most of the Mississippi Valley, the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic markets. //Snipp// Jeff Eggemeyer ... The largest refinery in our country, being in sole ownership of the Saudi government, ... You need only look at the current "free market" strategy (mutilating currency reserves to destroy corporate and NOCC competitors) being employed by the Sauds, and...

Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco appear to be getting a divorce, breaking up their joint venture in U.S.-based refining assets. The two companies joined together to create Motiva Enterprises LLC in 1998, a 50-50 joint venture that operated three refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. But Shell and Saudi Aramco have seen their interests head in different directions. "It is now time for the partners to pursue their independent downstream goals," said Abdulrahman Al-Wuhaib, a senior vice president of Saudi Aramco’s downstream unit. Reuters reported that the relationship started to fray after Motiva announced a $10 billion expansion of...

Refineries use hydrogen to lower the sulfur content of diesel fuel. Refinery demand for hydrogen has increased as demand for diesel fuel has risen both domestically and internationally, and as sulfur-content regulations have become more stringent. EIA data show that much of the growth in hydrogen use at refineries is being met through hydrogen purchased from merchant suppliers rather than from increased hydrogen production on-site at the refinery. The increased use of purchased hydrogen has implications for the refining industry's use of natural gas as a feedstock. There are two forms of hydrogen production: on-purpose hydrogen production using steam methane...

Berkshire Hathaway is continuing this month string of Phillips 66 stock purchases, and Warren Buffett's conglomerate now controls 12.9 percent of the oil refiner. Berkshire filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that disclosed purchases of another 1.6 million Phillips 66 shares. Buffett's company has now bought nearly 7.5 million shares of Houston-based Phillips 66 this month....

With oil product stocks at moderate levels, Shandong's teapot refineries have kept refinery run rates relatively high, which is supporting demand for feedstock crudes, sources said this week. Regular importer Beifang Asphalt Fuel in northeastern Liaoning province plans to import around 500,000 mt/month of imported crudes over January and February, a refinery source said Thursday. This month, the refinery will take delivery of a 100,000-mt cargo of Russian's Sakhalin blend, 120,000-mt of Nemba crude from Angola, and 34,000-mt of Sarir crude from Libya. Other grades destined for this month arrival, include those Black Lion from Vietnam, Marlim and Roncador from...

Record US crude oil inventory levels in 2015 reminds us of a pig crossing paths with a python. The pig is consumed by the snake, bulging in the reptile's stomach as it goes through the digestive process, and is a handy parable for oil markets. In 2015 US refineries took unprecedented bites out of the US crude oil glut that was largely the result of higher domestic production levels. But while these python-like refineries have increasingly been built to take a more variable diet, the pigs are getting larger and possibly outgrowing the refineries' ability to digest the upcoming portions....

Russia has released footage which shows its fighter jets targeting oil trucks and a refinery, as Moscow confirmed it hit more than 200 targets in Syria in 127 sorties. On Tuesday alone, the day Russia confirmed a terrorist attack caused the downing of a passenger jet in Egypt, it hit 206 targets a defence ministry source told RT. France meanwhile said it had destroyed 35 targets since the terrorist attack. As well as flying from an airfield near Latakia, they also flew strategic bombers from Russian territory.

Old signage on an original structure still reads “Continental Oil Company” — the full name of Conoco — but Phillips 66’s 74-year-old Lake Charles Refinery in Louisiana now processes nearly 250,000 barrels of crude oil a day and more upgrades are on the way. Construction recently began for a new hydrotreater at the Lake Charles Refinery to meet federal Tier 3 standards for lower sulfur content in gasoline for the beginning of 2017. On a media tour, plant manager Steve Geiger said the project will be completed by late 2016. Phillips 66 also is considering building a new hydrocracker or...

Exxon Mobil Corp. said Wednesday it will sell its refinery in Torrance, California to PBF Energy, a New Jersey-based refining company, following an explosion at the facility in February. PBF said it will buy the refinery, a nearby lubricants distribution center and associated terminals and pipelines for a total of $537.5 million. Exxon Mobil said in its announcement that it expected the company, which has long admitted having an eye on moving into California, to take control of the refinery by mid-2016. PBF said it will finance the deal with a combination of cash, debt and equity. Exxon Mobil also...

The Iraqi army's failure to recapture the country's largest oil refinery from Islamic State after 15 months of fighting is calling into question the government's plans to retake the northern city of Mosul from the jihadists. Iraq's military has been trying to build momentum at the Baiji refinery and in Anbar province in the west before attempting to seize Mosul, the biggest prize in the war against the ultra-hardine Sunni group. Officials say the army should secure gains in those areas before setting its sights on Mosul, the largest city in the north. Advances in Anbar's vast desert terrain since...

A heavier-than-usual season of refinery maintenance will begin after a busy summer driving season ends this Labor Day weekend. The summer saw high gasoline demand and falling prices at the pump, but the coming months could see up to 1.3 million fewer barrels of crude oil a day processed into gasoline as some refineries are temporarily shut down, said analyst Brad Heffern of RBC Capital Markets. “Gasoline demand has been phenomenal and better than I ever thought,” Heffern said. Many refineries ran at higher capacities and for longer periods of time than usual partly because of demand, but also because...

Engineering and construction companies must finally embrace technology in order to meet the demand of petrochemical and manufacturing projects along the Gulf Coast, industry experts said. There are $147 billion in petrochemical and manufacturing projects underway or planned in the U.S. through 2023, according to the American Chemistry Council, and most of the companies that will construct the projects are still failing to utilize technological advances that could speed things up, said John Fish, director of project support services for Louisiana-based Ford, Bacon & Davis engineering and construction firm. “Our industry — I hate to say it — we’re living...

The potential ramp up of Exxon Mobil’s massive refinery in Torrance, California will be delayed after a state regulatory hearing on the matter was pushed back indefinitely. The South Coast Air Quality Management District said it delayed the hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning to further study the matter and ensure the health of residents living near the Torrance refinery is protected when the refinery increases production. No new date has been set. Partly because of the pinch on refining, California is coping with the highest gasoline prices in the nation at an average of $3.35 a gallon on Sunday, compared...

DELAWARE CITY, Del. (WPVI) -- A fire ripped through part of a refinery in Delaware City on Friday afternoon. The fire was reported shortly after 1 p.m. Friday at PBF Energy's Delaware City Refinery in the 4500 block of Wrangle Hill Road. Black smoke could be seen from several miles away. The view from Chopper 6 showed flames shooting out of a building with firefighters pouring water on the blaze. Refinery officials say all workers have been accounted for. No injuries have been reported. The fire was placed under control at 3:17 p.m. The fire was reported to be inside...

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...