August 17, 2012:

The Group Executive Director, Refinery and Petro-Chemical of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Tony Ogbuigwe said yesterday in Asaba that NNPC was ready to strengthen and carry out aggressive maintenance of Warri refinery in its effort to double production of crude oil in the country. Ogbuigwe who was on a courtesy visit to the Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan also disclosed that his organization was ready to stimulate local capacity and generate 120,000, noting that NNPC has a master-plan to establish a Petro-chemical industry in Koko as well as develop the Koko port to decongest the Lagos ports.   He therefore appealed to the State government to partner with the Corporation in achieving its set goals.

Responding, Governor Uduaghan said “we are building a State that would look beyond oil for sustenance and since investment in the gas sector was viable, we shall partner with NNPC to ensure the successful take-off of the Gas, Petrochemical and Fertilizer plants in our State”. The governor however enjoined NNPC to work closely with oil producing states in order to eliminate unnecessary frictions.  “Always liaise with the state government when involving groups and communities in the production activities of your organization so that we can guide you properly to avoid conflicts and disruptions”, governor Uduaghan advised. In a related development, Governor  Uduaghan, had  while receiving the  General Officer Commanding 2nd Division, GOC, Major-General M. Abubakar on Tuesday on a courtesy visit also commended the Army for assisting in crime control.

According to him, “I want to commend the Nigeria Army for its contribution towards the reduction of crime in the state. For now, there is great reduction in piracy, kidnapping, illegal oil bunkering, armed robbery, among others. I attribute this to the army and other security operatives in the State”.

By Vanguard

August 17, 2012:

RICHMOND, Calif. -- LAWSUIT FILED: Nine people have sued Chevron Corp. over a California refinery fire that sent thousands to hospitals with respiratory issues and contributed to higher gasoline prices on the West Coast. NEGLIGENCE CLAIM: The lawsuit claims Chevron was grossly negligent in its handling of refinery maintenance as well as emergency response to the blaze in Richmond, near San Francisco.

MORE PLAINTIFFS: The suit was filed Wednesday in Contra Costa County Superior Court on behalf of the nine people, including three children. The attorneys expect more plaintiffs to join the case and said a class-action suit is likely against Chevron.

By Kansascity.com

August 17, 2012:

Royal Dutch Shell Plc's 156,400-barrel-per-day Martinez, California, refinery restarted a flexicoker unit on Wednesday, according to notices filed with the Contra Costa Health Department Hazardous Materials Program. A pressure relief valve failed on the debutanizer column on the flexicoker, which is a type of coking unit, on Tuesday, according to filings with the Contra Costa County Hazardous Materials Program. A coking unit increases the amount of refinabale material in a barrel of oil and converts residual crude to petroleum coke, a coal substitute.  The pressure valve failure released mercaptin and hydrogen sulfide off-site.

Mercaptin is the foul-smelling substance placed in natural gas before it is sent to retail customers to make it possible to easily detect leaks. In its original state, natural gas is odorless. A fire at the refinery on Monday was caused by a leak of lubricating oil from a compressor on the hydrocracking unit, according to the filings. The compressor involved in the fire was in normal operation at the time the fire started, according to a report filed with Contra Costa County by the refinery. When the fire was discovered, workers were evacuated from the area, firefighters began suppressing the blaze and the unit was shut down, according to the report.

The hydrocracker blaze was the second at an area refinery in two weeks. On August 6 a six-hour blaze shut the crude distillation unit at Chevron Corp's 245,000 bpd Richmond, California, refinery, located 22 miles west of the Shell Martinez refinery. The Chevron fire has triggered widespread concern about refinery reliability and safety among residents in the San Francisco Bay area.

By Reuters

August 17, 2012:

A British Columbia newspaper publisher is proposing a C$13 billion ($13.2 billion) refinery on Canada's West Coast to process all of the oil-sands-derived crude that would flow through Enbridge Inc's contentious Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta. Enbridge, however, had little to say about the ambitious pitch by David Black, owner of Black Press Ltd, as the pipeline company prepared for the start of the formal part of the Northern Gateway regulatory hearings next month. Black said on Friday that the huge plant would process up to 550,000 barrels a day of crude at a site near Kitimat, British Columbia, the terminus of the proposed C$6 billion Northern Gateway. That would make it the biggest refinery in the country.

It would allow British Columbia to share more of the economic benefits of Northern Gateway by creating 3,000 full-time jobs and 6,000 construction jobs, said Black, who acknowledged he is no refining expert but has mulled such a proposal for seven years. Black Press runs 150 newspapers in Canada and the United States, including the Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio; the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and the Advocate in Red Deer, Alberta. British Columbia Premier Christy Clark caused a stir last month by saying her government will not support the pipeline that would cross the mountainous province unless British Columbians can get more money to compensate for the environmental risk.

Besides offering economic benefits, Black said a refinery targeting Asian markets would remove any threat of a heavy crude spill on Canada's West Coast, a major worry among environmentalists and native groups opposed to Northern Gateway. Enbridge declined to comment other than to say it remains committed to the regulatory process for reviewing Northern Gateway, which would move 525,000 barrels a day over the 1,177-km (731-mile) route. Black's plan is the latest twist in the Northern Gateway saga that has pit governments against each other, riled many aboriginal communities in British Columbia and dominated headlines in Canada. Under current plans, tankers would take the diluted bitumen from an oil port at Kitimat and ship it to California and across the Pacific.

The oil industry and governments of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Alberta Premier Alison Redford see opening Asia to tar-sands-derived oil as key to diversifying markets and boosting economic returns, which are held back by a glut of supplies in traditional U.S. Midwest destinations for the crude. Black's new company, Kitimat Clean Ltd, has briefed governments on the plan and will submit an environmental assessment application, he said. The plant would produce 240,000 barrels a day of diesel, 100,000 of gasoline and 50,000 of kerosene or aviation fuel. Construction would start in 2014 and take six years. He said he has analyzed his proposal with investment bankers and concluded that projected revenues and profit would be large enough to enable equity and debt financing.

The petroleum products would be marketed throughout the Pacific Rim, with China being a main target, Black said in remarks posted on the company's website. The company would offer investment opportunities to Chinese buyers. "If China is not interested there will be other buyers. A Kitimat refinery will be a compelling opportunity for any country that has to import oil," he said. "It will offer a guaranteed long-term refined fuel supply at a competitive price from a new diversified source." The last refinery built in Canada was Royal Dutch Shell's Scotford plant in Alberta in 1984. ($1=$0.98 Canadian).

By Reuters

August 17, 2012:

A contractor who received burns and other injuries in Regina's refinery explosion last fall and has been battling stress since then says he'll never forget what happened that day. On October 6, 2011, Shawn Farrell was just metres from the blast site in a section of the refinery that processes diesel fuel. Investigators say the cause of the explosion was accidental, resulting from a corroded pipe that leaked flammable gas. A spark, possibly static electricity, ignited the flammable material, setting off the fire and explosion that injured 36 workers and caused $100 million worth of damage. "We heard the equipment and the pipes start rattling ... it started to get really, really loud," he said. "All of a sudden, it was like a dull orange. Right away I knew what was happening. I knew we were coming into something that was really serious."

Seconds later, there was a "terrifying, whooshing noise" and a fireball, and Farrell lost consciousness. "When I woke up, I couldn't see three feet in any direction around me," Farrell said. "I was covered in flames laying face down on the concrete. I could smell my own hair and my flesh and everything burning. I managed to crawl out of there after a while, after taking refuge behind a garbage can." Thirteen people, including Farrell, went to hospital. He recalled seeing hair melting off the head of a female co-worker and the sheer chaos unfolding around him in the minutes after the blast. Some breathed in superheated air and burned their lungs, not realizing how severe their injuries were.

Farrell received burns to his face and ears, and suffered hearing loss — he wears hearing aids now — fractured disks and numbness in his legs. Farrell said he has also been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Originally from Harbour Grace, Nfld., Farrell is currently in Edmonton, living on Worker's Compensation. "The trauma, I don't think I'll ever get over it," he said. "When we go to work in the morning and kiss our loved ones goodbye," he said. "We don't expect to go in and say goodbye for the rest of our lives."

By CBCnews