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PetroChina on prowl offshore
SYDNEY: China’s PetroChina Co has agreed to pay $1.63 billion for a minority stake in a controversial Australian liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, as it steps up efforts to source more of its energy in foreign countries.
Mining and energy giant BHP Billiton said it would sell PetroChina its share of the Browse LNG project, estimated to cost $30 billion to build, after deeming it a “non-strategic” asset.
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Chevron unit shut down
NEW YORK: Chevron reported the shutdown of a unit at its 245,000 barrel-per-day Richmond, California, refinery that led to flaring, according to a notice filed with the Contra Costa Health Department Hazardous Materials Programme. There was no offsite impact anticipated from the flaring, the notice said.
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Petronas awards contract
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas has awarded a contract for a partnership including ConocoPhillips Sabah Gas and Shell Energy to extract natural gas from a block in its eastern state of Sabah on Borneo island.
A partnership comprised of the two firms and Petronas’ upstream unit will operate a block measuring 1,046 sq km located near key discoveries such as Kebabangan, Kinarut and Erb West, the company said. ConocoPhillips will operate and own 40 per cent of the block, while Shell Energy Asia and Petronas Carigali will own 30 per cent each. Petronas, which concluded a $5.3 billion takeover of Canada’s Progress Energy Resources, has seen earnings fall as production declines due to natural field depletion and operational challenges.
Al Ghurair rules out stake sale
DUBAI: Prominent UAE group Al Ghurair said it had no intention yet of selling its half ownership of Ras Lanuf, Libya’s biggest refinery, but also had not decided whether to go ahead with investing another $2 billion.
“We are committed to our investment,” vice chairman Essa Al Ghurair said. Before Libya’s civil war, his company had planned to invest an additional $2 billion to upgrade Ras Lanuf, which accounts for almost two-thirds of Libya’s oil refining capacity. Given the continuing instability in Libya, it is too early to revive those plans, Essa Al Ghurair said.
Shell hit by power failure
HOUSTON: Royal Dutch Shell reported a release of materials to a flare due to power failure at its chemical facility at Norco, Louisiana, according to a filing with regulators.
The company had earlier said a unit at the manufacturing complex experienced a power loss and the company was working to restore power supply.
The company houses a 233,500 barrel-per-day refinery in the Norco complex.
BP to expand Brazil cane mill
SAO PAULO: BP Biocombustiveis, a unit of oil company BP, said that it will invest 716 million reais ($348 million) to double capacity at Tropical, its Brazilian sugar cane mill in Edèia in Goiàs state.
Expansion will likely start in 2013 and Tropical should be operating at full capacity, crushing 5 million tonnes of cane per year, by 2014 or 2015, the president of BP Biocombustiveis in Brazil, Mario Lindenhayn, said in a statement.
After the expansion, Tropical will have the capacity to produce 480 million liters of ethanol per year, Lindenhayn said. BP Biocombustiveis in Brazil also runs the Itumbiara mill, also in Goiàs, and the Ituiutaba mill, in the city of the same name in Minas Gerais.
CVR reports ongoing flaring
HOUSTON: CVR Energy reported ongoing emissions of hydrogen sulfide during start-up of units at its 70,000-barrels-per-day refinery in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, according to a filing with the US National Response Center.
The company was starting up on all sweet crude and had a reduced production rate, the filing said.
The company has been reporting release of materials to the flare stack due to start-up activities at the refinery.
Exxon Pegasus pipeline down
NEW YORK: ExxonMobil is conducting planned maintenance along its Pegasus Southern Pipeline system, which carries crude from the US Midwest to the Gulf Coast, a company spokesperson said.
The US oil major will keep shippers apprised of the length of the maintenance on pipeline, the spokesperson said, without giving further details as to the timeline for resuming normal operations.
Alon reports FCCU snag
NEW YORK: Alon USA Energy reported an upset at the gasoline-making fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its 67,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Big Spring, Texas, according to a filing with state pollution regulators.
The snag occurred after a blower started having surge problems in the FCCU that led to emissions being routed via the carbon monoxide boiler bypass stack, the filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said. “The carbon monoxide boiler seal was dumped so as to route the emissions via bypass stack to keep it from shutting down and potentially affecting other units in the refinery,” the filing said.
Kearl oil sands project delayed
TORONTO: The start-up of Imperial Oil’s 110,000 barrel per day (bpd) Kearl oil sands mine is being hampered by bitter winter weather in northern Alberta and is production is unlikely until January, the company’s chief executive said.
Speaking to reporters after a presentation to an investment conference, Bruce March said the new mine, jointly owned with Exxon Corp, was unlikely to start operations by month’s end as scheduled.
Sempra applies for permit
NEW YORK: Sempra Energy said it applied to receive US government approval to construct export facilities at an existing gas import terminal in Louisiana.
If it received approval it would be the second such project to receive federal approval to export domestic US gas supplies.
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permit would allow the company to begin construction at its Cameron liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana.
Sempra plans to build three “trains” to liquefy natural gas and send it abroad with a total export capacity of 12 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), or about 1.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd).
The company needs other permits and approvals before it can complete building and begin exporting gas, it said in a news release. It expects to start delivery of gas to global markets by 2017.
Valero’s Scot unit trips
NEW YORK: Valero Energy reported a Scot (Shell Claus Off-Gas Treating) Unit 4 tail gas unit inline heater tripped at its 290,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, according to a filing with state pollution regulators. The company was working to restart the unit, said the filing, made with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The filing listed a sulphur recovery unit as a source of emissions.
YPF talks to Statoil on shale
NEW YORK: Argentine state-controlled energy company YPF is in talks to form a partnership with Norway’s Statoil to develop YPF’s shale reserves, the Financial Times reported.
YPF says it needs to invest over $30 billion in the next five years, $4.5 billion of which is to come from strategic partners, to help pay to develop Argentina’s huge shale oil and gas resources.
The company is looking to raise cash – working to also finalise deals with US oil major Chevron and Argentina’s Bridas Holding – after Argentina’s left-leaning government seized a majority stake in the company from Spanish oil firm Repsol. A YPF spokesman told Reuters the company’s chief executive, Miguel Galuccio, would meet Statoil executives in Europe, but he would not disclose details.
BP warns of flaring at Carson
NEW YORK: BP warned of planned flaring at its 265,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Los Angeles-area refinery in Carson, California, according to a filing with state pollution regulators. Flaring usually indicates refinery operations are interrupted by planned maintenance or a breakdown.
Marathon Oil COO steps down
NEW YORK: Marathon Oil said its chief operating officer, Dave Roberts, is leaving the company, and its shares slid more than 3 per cent. Allen Good, oil analyst for Morningstar, said Roberts was the company’s “voice” for the Eagle Ford shale, assets that are a big growth engine for the oil and gas company. “The fact that he’s leaving, people may take that as a negative,” Good said. A spokeswoman for Marathon declined to provide additional details about Roberts’ departure.
Phillips 66 reports process upset
NEW YORK: Phillips 66 reported a process upset and emissions from a gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking (FCC) unit at its 146,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Borger, Texas, according to a notice filed with state pollution regulators.
The emissions due to the incident were minimised, the filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said. The refinery, which is managed by Phillips, is a 50-50 joint venture between Phillips and Cenovus Energy.
Tesoro completes maintenance
NEW YORK: Tesoro said it completed a brief planned maintenance at its 166,000-barrel-per-day Golden Eagle refinery in Martinez, California, and operations were currently running as normal.
“This maintenance did not have any impact on our ability to meet product supply commitments,” a company spokeswoman said in an email.
Kipce held in Kuwait
KUWAIT: The fourth edition of the Kuwait International Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (Kipce)was held under the theme “People and innovative technologies to unleash challenging hydrocarbon resources.”
The three-day event combined a multi-disciplinary technical conference with a cutting-edge exhibition, bringing together regional and international professionals from all sectors of the oil and gas industry, said the organisers. The event, co-organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and Kuwait University, was held under the patronage of Hani A Hussain, Minister of Oil and chairman of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).
Petrofac wins EPC contracts
RIYADH: Leading oil and gas service provider Petrofac said it has won two engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts worth around $1.4 billion from Saudi Aramco for its Jazan Refinery and Terminal project.
When complete, the refinery will produce around 400,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and have associated terminal facilities on the Red Sea near Jazan in the south west of Saudi Arabia, said a statement from the British company.
Petrofac said its Saudi office will lead the project management delivery of the work which covers tank farms in the north and south areas of the development.
These are some of the first major awards made by Saudi Aramco under its In-Kingdom EPC programme and both packages are scheduled to be undertaken within three years. Commenting on the win, Marwan Chedid, the chief executive of Petrofac’s Engineering, Construction, Operations & Maintenance (ECOM) division, said, “These EPC contracts will serve to reinforce the relationships and experience we have developed through our recent involvement on the Karan project as well as our ongoing Petro Rabigh projects for Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical.”
Fluor wins PMC deals
TEXAS (US): US-based Fluor Corporation said it has won a $200 million contract from Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) to provide project management consulting (PMC) services for its Umm Wu’al greenfield phosphate project and related facilities in northern Saudi Arabia. The companies signed the contract on December 1 in the presence of Fluor chairman and chief executive officer David Seato.
Iran exports lowest
TOKYO: Iran’s crude exports are set to drop by about a quarter in December from the preceding month to the lowest since tough sanctions were applied this year, shipping sources said.
Oil shipments by Iran have more than halved in 2012 due to US and European sanctions on its oil trade, straining Tehran’s finances, pressuring its currency and igniting inflation.
Safco to raise capital
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Company (Safco) will raise its capital by 33.3 per cent using retained earnings in order to finance expansion plans, it said in a bourse statement. The board of directors at Saudi Arabia’s second-largest chemical company, a unit of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), approved a capital increase to raise the firm’s capital to SR3.3 billion ($888.8 million) from SR2.5 billion through a rights issue, distributing a bonus share for every three shares held.
