Oil & Gas Refining

Sources familiar with the plant's operations on Thursday said that a fire-damaged hydrotreater will be closed at Marathon Petroleum Galveston Bay Refinery, Texas until September. All other units at the 631,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Texas City, Texas, are operating at or near full capacity following the June 14 fire at the 400 train hydrotreater, which is part of the 64,000-bpd Residual Hydrotreating Unit (RHU), the sources said. Sources who refused to identify themselves because the information was not publicly available did not quantify exactly the production impact. In an email sent Thursday night, Jamal Kheiry, the spokesperson for Marathon, declined...

Reliance Industries, owned by Indian billionaire MukeshAmbani, said it would spin off its consumer products unit to create a new company to attract additional investors to the business. Reliance has a consumer business that includes brands like Campa Cola which competes against Coca-Cola and Pepsi. There are also dozens of snacks and confectionery products, such as Mondelez Cadbury chocolates, who fight for shelf space. According to a June 25 order, which was reported for the first time by Indian media, India's National Company Law Tribunal approved the internal restructuring, under which Reliance would transfer its consumer business, from its retail...

According to a filing in court and a statement from the company, a U.S. court official overseeing the auction of PDV Holdings - the parent company of Venezuelan owned U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum - has recommended that Gold Reserve subsidiary Dalinar Energy submit a bid for $7.38 billion. Two sources familiar with the bid told us on Wednesday that a group led by commodities trading company Vitol submitted a bid in excess of $10 billion during the last hours of an auction organized by a U.S. federal court. In the second round of bidding for PDV, the court chose an...

At least three consortiums have submitted improved bids at the last minute in an auction of shares of Citgo Petroleum, the parent company of Venezuelan-owned Citgo Petroleum. This could increase the price of the refiner that is the seventh-largest in the United States. The Delaware court officer who oversees the auction will recommend a winner by Wednesday, unless he asks for more time to review the revised bids that were permitted through Tuesday. The auction was organized by the court in response to an eight-year old case Crystallex, a Canadian miner, filed against Venezuela in Delaware. Citgo Holding's parent company,...

By America Hernandez PARIS, 2 July - TotalEnergies West Shetland Offshore assets, which it sold to Prax Group in the past year, remain under French oil major ownership. They will therefore not be affected by liquidation proceedings that affect the British company. TotalEnergies EP UK stated that the transaction to sell the West of Shetland Asset to Prax is not yet complete and we are still the operators of the Shetland Gas Plant as well as the related fields. TotalEnergies agreed to transfer employees from TotalEnergies to Prax in exchange for a portfolio mature offshore fields that produce about 7,500...

The U.S. Senate budget bill, passed on Tuesday, reduces the amount of money that can be used to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve despite the fact that President Donald Trump promised on the first day of his second term in office to fill it to "the top". Joe Biden, former president, sold 180 million barrels of SPR, the highest amount ever, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. SPR was at its lowest point in 40 years when oil imports were more important to the U.S. The budget bill reduced the amount of money available for crude oil purchases in order...

A U.S. court judge ordered Argentina on Monday to give up 51% of its stake in the oil and gas company YPF to satisfy a $16.1-billion judgment against it. U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Preska, in Manhattan, said Argentina had to transfer its YPF share within 14 days into a BNY Mellon account and instruct this bank to transfer those shares to the plaintiffs within one business day. Argentina appealed Preska's decision of September 2023 to award $16.1 billion to Petersen Energia Inversora, Eton Park Capital Management and litigation funder Burford Capital. Preska's ruling came the same day Argentina requested...

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Exxon Mobil Corp.'s attempt to reverse a civil penalty of $14.25m that a court imposed as part of a long-running case over air pollution in its Baytown, Texas crude oil refinery. Exxon asked the Justices to review the case, after a lower-court in December upheld a penalty that was the highest ever imposed in a citizen's lawsuit seeking enforcement of protections against pollution in the air under the landmark Clean Air Act. The lawsuit was filed by the Environment Texas Citizen Lobby in 2010 and the Sierra Club. It focused on Exxon’s Baytown operation, the...

As part of an extensive review of the market rules, the Australian government announced on Monday that it would consider creating a reserve of gas on Australia's east coast. The Competition Regulator has warned about looming shortages on the east coast of the country. According to the most recent forecast, a gap will be created by 2028 if no new investments are made. The majority of reserves are in the remote north-west. The review will also aim to preserve Australia's reputation as an important reliable exporter of LNG. The market regulations are being reviewed. They include export controls, an east...

California's Energy Regulator on Friday suggested new rules that would encourage private investment in fuel imports, and put a hold on the refiner profit limit. The regulator hoped to prevent gasoline prices in California from soaring as the state prepares for the closing of two major refineries. California Energy Commission's recommendations came as a response to Governor Gavin Newsom's letter requesting changes in the state energy transition effort by July 1. California will face higher fuel prices due to the planned closures of Phillips 66's and Valero Energy's refineries. CEC Vice-Chair Siva Gunda admitted that the closure of refineries could...

According to the Department of Energy, scheduled crude oil deliveries into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be delayed until the end of this year because of maintenance. This is up to seven months behind schedule. From January to May, the administration of former President Joe Biden planned deliveries of 15.8 million barrels to the SPR. Only 8.8 million barrels of this total have been delivered so far in the current year. A spokesperson for the Energy Department said that due to maintenance on site, SPR rescheduled all crude oil from previous solicitations as well as any exchanges through December 2025....

Gold Reserve filed an urgent request to a Delaware court asking for clarification on a License Venezuela-owned U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum will pay its creditors even if a court auction is held, the company announced on Tuesday. The Delaware court has advanced to Complete the Auction Citgo Holdings, the parent company of Citgo, is offering shares to up to 15 creditors to compensate them for defaults on debts and expropriations. The winner of the bidding round is expected to be chosen by July 2. Gold Reserve Canada, one of the creditors participating in the auction, and also a buyer, has...

Origin Energy, Australia, downgraded its annual forecast on Monday due to the unseasonably warm temperatures in Britain during March and April, as well as one-off effects. This sent its shares to an almost one-month-low. The shares of the Sydney-based firm fell by around 4.4% at 0508 GMT after reaching their lowest level since the first of May earlier in the day. The benchmark ASX200 index was flat. Origin now expects to lose up to A$100m ($65.19m) on its annual earnings before taxes, interest and depreciation. Origin estimated that it could contribute up to A$100m, while the EBITDA was only A$55m...

The Italian tyremaker Pirelli announced on Wednesday that the talks to repair relations with Sinochem, its largest shareholder in China, ended without any breakthrough. Pirelli, and its second-largest shareholder, Italy's Camfin have claimed that Sinochem's stake in the company is hindering Pirelli's ambitions for expansion in the United States. Some lawmakers there are against projects backed by Chinese firms. Pirelli stated in April that Sinochem no longer controls the company because of the Italian government's decision to "golden power" the company by 2023. Sinochem, however, denied this claim. Pirelli announced on Wednesday that "the proposals extended to Sinochem by Pirelli...

Industry sources have confirmed that Abu Dhabi National Oil Company will begin replacing some of its liquefied gas supplies to India from June with cheaper U.S. cargoes, as U.S. China tariffs are reshaping global trade flows. ADNOC will be able to ship more LPG from its own production to China. Buyers in China are paying higher prices to replace U.S. supplies after Beijing raised tariffs on U.S. products. This move also reduces LPG costs for India. 2 importer. India imports more than 80% its LPG from the Middle East including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It also sources...

Industry sources have confirmed that Abu Dhabi National Oil Company will begin replacing some of its liquefied gas supplies to India from June with cheaper U.S. cargoes, as U.S. China tariffs are reshaping global trade flows. ADNOC will be able to ship more LPG from its own production to China. Buyers in China are paying a higher price to replace U.S. supplies after Beijing raised tariffs on U.S. products. This move will also reduce LPG prices for India, which is the No. 2 importer. India imports more than 80% its LPG from the Middle East including Saudi Arabia and the...

Sinopec, Asia’s largest refiner, has resumed its purchases of Russian crude oil following a short pause in last month to assess the risks posed by sanctions imposed on Russian entities by the United States, according to trade sources on Wednesday. Sources said that Unipec, a trading division of China's state run Sinopec, had purchased Russian Far East ESPO blend oil for May loading, after being absent from the March and April loading ESPO cargoes. Unipec's decision to resume purchases was not immediately apparent. Sinopec didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. Sources claim that the number of cargoes purchased...

Republican lawmakers who are working to extend President Donald Trump’s tax cut legislation face a clean-energy dilemma at home. Major clean energy investments are being made in their districts, but Trump’s skepticism about the industry is at odds. The Ways & Means committee of the House of Representatives, which is responsible for drafting the tax legislation to extend the 2017 tax cuts, has 11 Republicans who represent regions that have seen green energy investments of hundreds of millions or billions of dollars over the past few years. Clean energy investments boomed after former President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act passed...

On Monday, the price of Russia's ESPO blend oil fell below $60 per barrel Western cap for the first ever time as Brent international benchmark dropped to its lowest levels in many years. Calculations based on data from three trading sources showed this on Tuesday. Brent futures dropped $1.37 or 2.1%, to settle at $64.21 a barrel on Monday. This is the lowest price since April 2021. According to three traders who were involved in the market for ESPO blend oil, the price of the grade was a few dollars below $60 per barrel at the Kozmino port loading basis....

Seven & i Holdings, a Japanese retailer, is expected to report a 24% decline in its quarterly profit on March 28, as the underperformance of its convenience stores hampers its ability fend off a Canadian takeover bid by Alimentation CoucheTard. Seven & i will likely book an operating profit of 94.45 trillion yen (US$639.52 millions) for the period December-February. This is according to a LSEG average of eight analyst predictions. This compares to 124.23 bn yen for the same period last year. 7-Eleven's profits have fallen in recent quarters, as its domestic convenience stores underperformed their competitors. Its North American...

U.S. banks, oil companies, and tech giants all extended their losses on Friday, after Beijing responded with an additional 34% duty on U.S. products. This heightened investor concern over a escalating trade war, which has led to fears of a global recession. Beijing's tariffs will go into effect on April 10. Beijing also announced restrictions on the export of heavy and medium rare-earths and added 11 U.S. companies to its "unreliable entities" list. Tesla and Apple, two of the companies that have the most revenue exposure to China, both saw their shares plummet by more than 6%. Alphabet and Microsoft...

Maruzen Petrochemical in Japan, a subsidiary of Cosmo Energy Holdings will close its ethylene plant in Chiba during the fiscal year 2026/27 and consolidate its production at Keiyo Ethylene - its joint venture with Sumitomo Chemical - the companies announced on Tuesday. The three companies released a joint statement saying that the move is intended to improve the utilization rate of Keiyo Ethylene. Keiyo Ethylene is owned by Maruzen and Sumitomo, respectively. Low operating rates have plagued Japanese ethylene plants due to a global oversupply caused by China's large-scale capacity expansions, as well as a declining domestic market. Energy transportation...

At a Beijing business forum on Sunday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang called for countries to expand their markets in order to combat the "rising uncertainty and instability" as China prepares to face further U.S. trade tariffs. State media reported that Li said, "In an increasingly fragmented and uncertain world, with rising instabilities and uncertainties, it's more important for countries to open their markets and enterprise... to resist challenges and risks." He was speaking to dozens of visiting U.S. Republican senator Steve Daines and dozens other foreign CEOs at the China Development Forum. Sources previously said that foreign CEOs, including Tim...

Trade sources reported on Thursday that Saudi Arabia's crude shipments to China, its largest customer, will drop to the lowest level for more than a full year in April. This is partly due to maintenance programs at Sinopec-owned Chinese refineries. Data shows that the OPEC producer, Saudi Arabia, allocated 34 million barrels to its Chinese clients in April, down from 41 millions barrels the previous month. China's drop in demand for Saudi crude oil is despite the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) and its allies agreeing to continue with their plan to increase production in April. Sinopec intends...