Citgo plans gasoline unit restart
HOUSTON: Citgo Petroleum plans to restart the large gasoline unit in the East Plant of its 157,500 barrel per day (bpd) Corpus Christi, Texas refinery, according to a notice filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Sources had told Reuters that Citgo planned to restart the 69,000 bpd gasoline-producing Fluidic Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) 2 after completing a planned overhaul.
Marathon may begin shutdown
HOUSTON: Marathon Petroleum may begin the shutdown of the small gasoline unit at its 451,000 barrel per day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, according to a regulatory filing.
Sources have told Reuters that Marathon plans to permanently shut the 60,000 bpd fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCC) 1 by June 1 to comply with an agreement to cut pollution from the refinery reached with the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Niger ends sales monopoly of state
NIAMEY: Niger’s oil refinery, Soraz, can start selling petroleum products, ending a monopoly held since 2011 by state oil products company Sonidep, according to a government document. Soraz is a joint venture between the government and China National Petroleum, which owns 60 per cent. It processes some 12,000 to 16,000 barrels per day (bpd), offering Niger’s only large-scale means of transforming crude oil into petroleum products such as gasoline.
Petrobras picks Parente as CEO
RIO DE JANEIRO: The board of directors at state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro formally elected Pedro Pullen Parente as chief executive officer (CEO), a source with direct knowledge of the situation said. According to the source, who requested anonymity since the decision remains private, Parente will be sworn in officially. He replaces Aldemir Bendine, who earlier in the day tendered his resignation after 15 months serving as CEO of the company known as Petrobras.
Pemex refinery operating normally
MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s state oil company Pemex said that the processing plants at its Salamanca refinery in the central state of Guanajuato had been restarted. A Pemex spokesperson said that the plants had resumed operation only hours after they were suspended due to an interruption in its steam supply. The Salamanca refinery processes 220,000 barrels per day.
Phillips 66 reports flaring
NEW YORK: Phillips 66 reported unplanned flaring due to a breakdown at its 139,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Los Angeles-area refinery in Wilmington, California, according to a filing with state pollution regulators. The filing with the South Coast Air Quality Management District listed event start date as May. 30, 1:14 p.m.(local time) and event end date as May. 30, 2:15 p.m.(local time). The refinery has two linked facilities about five miles apart in Carson and Wilmington. The former processes crude oil while the latter upgrades the products. A refinery uses its safety flare when hydrocarbons cannot be processed normally due to a malfunction or planned work.
Puma Energy may go public
NEW YORK: Integrated midstream and downstream oil group Puma Energy is in talks with banks that could lead to a public listing valuing the company at more than $6 billion, Sky News reported.
Puma Energy, part-owned by Swiss-based commodity trading giant Trafigura and Angola’s national oil company, is lining up advisers to review its options for raising capital, Sky News said. The company could also bring in a strategic investor to raise capital as an alternative to a listing, Sky News said citing sources.
Sakhalin to curb exports in August
SINGAPORE/MOSCOW: Scheduled maintenance at Russia’s Sakhalin-1 oilfields, operated by ExxonMobil, is expected to reduce Sokol crude exports by more than half in August, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Maintenance work at the fields is expected to take about two-and-a-half weeks and cut exports by up to six 700,000-barrel cargoes, they said. Sokol exports each month are at about 7 million barrels or 10 cargoes. T
Sasol gas project unaffected
TEMANE: Mozambique’s debt crisis and lower oil prices will not affect Sasol’s $1.4 billion gas project because costs will be covered by the South African energy company and recouped through gas revenues, the company said. Mozambique missed a loan repayment deadline this month, plunging one of the world’s poorest countries into a debt crisis. Slowing growth and delays to the start of offshore gas production have added to Mozambique’s cashflow problems with ratings agency Fitch downgrading the war-scarred southern African nation’s credit rating, warning that a default was likely.
Shell reports restarting unit
NEW YORK: Royal Dutch Shell reported restarting an unspecified unit at its Scotford, Alberta, facility, according to a community information line. There may be intermittent flaring for the next 12 hours, the message added. The Scotford facility houses a 100,000-barrel-per-day refinery and a 255,000-barrel-per-day oil sands upgrader.
Valero HTU returns to production
HOUSTON: Valero Energy returned the 47,000 barrel per day (bpd) diesel gulfiner hydrotreater to production at its 335,000 bpd Port Arthur, Texas refinery, said sources familiar with plant operations. Repairs were continuing on the 30,000 bpd jet fuel hydrotreater, the sources said. The work is expected to finish by early next week.
