June 22, 2012:

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on Thursday approved the transfer of pipelines connected with the ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer, removing an obstacle to the refinery's sale to Delta Air Lines Inc. The PUC approved the late-hour request on a fast track after the companies involved in the sale realized that some pipelines came under the jurisdiction of the utility commission, and that regulatory approval was required. The application was filed on May 25. Commission chairman Robert F. Powelson extolled the PUC's contribution to efforts to assist in the Delaware County refinery's sale, which is being supported with $30 million in grants from the Corbett administration. Powelson called the commission's role "an excellent example of how government can aid in economic development while still protecting the public interest."  The $180 million sale, announced in April, is expected to close this month, according to the application with the PUC.

The refinery, which will operate under the name Monroe Energy L.L.C., is scheduled to restart operations in September, after Delta spends about $100 million to upgrade it to optimize jet-fuel production. The plant halted operations in September 2011. Delta spokesman Eric Torbenson declined to comment until the transaction closes. The logistics network was a critical attraction to Delta, which wants to produce its own fuel to cut the cost of its biggest expense. The Trainer refinery is tied into the Harbor Pipeline, which runs 80 miles in New Jersey, from Woodbury to Linden, and is a major route for fuel produced in the Philadelphia area to reach New York markets. Delta operates hubs at New York's LaGuardia and JFK Airports.

The pipeline network also ties into oil terminals in Chelsea (Upper Chichester Township), Woodbury, and on G Street in Philadelphia's Juniata Park neighborhood. Those terminals are convenient places for buyers of the refinery's gasoline, diesel, and heating oil to collect the fuel. Though ConocoPhillips' intrastate pipelines in Pennsylvania carried mostly crude oil and fuel produced by the refinery, they are public utilities available for use by other companies, so their rates are regulated by the PUC. The rate structure is unaffected by the sale.

By Philly.com

June 22, 2012:

THE Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited yesterday received close to Sh21 billion (US$250 million) to help it transform into an oil merchant. The cash injection from Standard Chartered Bank Plc will see the refinery transforming from its current status of processing oil for oil marketers to buying its own crude oil and then selling it to marketers. "This facility will be utilised for our working capital requirements. We will now be able to buy oil, process it and sell the petroleum products to marketing companies," said KPRL chief executive officer Brij Mohan Bansal during the signing of the financing agreement. The agreement was signed between KPRL and Standard Chartered Plc regional head of origination and client coverage Robin Bairstow and witnessed by Patrick Nyoike, the Permanent Secretary, ministry of Energy. Following the agreement KPRL will now be able to source for more economical crude oils or crude oil blends from other non-traditional sources.

The refinery currently produces 1.6 million metric tons per annum. With the upgrade, it would not only process the Murban crude from Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, but it will also be capable of handling crude oil from cheaper sources. "We are doing the best for the consumer. They will be benefiting from this enhanced efficiency because we would be able to buy from the best-suited crude oil suppliers," Bansal said. He said they will focus on serving the Kenyan market first. Meanwhile the refinery said it expects to commission its own 9.2 megawatt power plant in September, a date which is later than the March 2012 announced late last year. KPRL last year signed a Sh1.25 billion ($13.5 million) financing deal with Barclays Bank of Kenya for the construction of the power plant in Mombasa. The power plant will eliminate the frequent power interruptions that result into fuel supply distortion in the country. KPRL which spends an estimated Sh50 million on power bills every month is also hoping to reduce this cost with its own plant.

By Allafrica.com

June 22, 2012:

Russia's biggest crude oil producer Rosneft on Thursday unveiled plans to build a new refinery with annual capacity of 12 million tonnes in the Moscow region as it looks to tighten its grip on the downstream sector. Rosneft's President Igor Sechin - the former Energy Minister - told reporters that the company had signed the agreement with Moscow region's authorities and secured a 100 billion rouble ($3.07 billion) credit line from Russia's second-largest lender VTB. "We agreed that we will build a plant with capacity of up to 12 million tonnes ... We will start working on engineering this year," he said without adding further details. Rosneft's combined domestic refining capacity stands at over 50 million tonnes a year. It also owns a stake in four Ruhr Oel refineries in Germany.

Russian refineries were mostly built between the 1940s and 1970s and the government has encouraged companies to increase and upgrade refining capacity. Russia has built only one crude refinery since the fall of the Soviet Union, Tatneft's Taneco, which has an annual capacity of 7 million tonnes. ($1 = 32.5245 Russian roubles).

By Reuters

June 22, 2012:

Ecuador's largest refinery was knocked out of service Thursday due to a power cut, state-owned Petroecuador said. Operations at the 110,000-barrel-per-day Esmeraldas plant - where a power failure in April had resulted in a week-long shutdown - were suspended around 9:00 a.m., a Petroecuador spokesperson told Efe. Technicians were still analyzing where the power cut occurred and therefore it remains unclear when operations will resume, the spokesperson said, adding that the shutdown will not affect domestic consumption because Petroecuador has sufficient reserves to meet demand. Ecuador consumes 60,000 barrels of gasoline daily, the CEO of the state-owned firm, Marco Calvopiña, said Thursday. The country also has two other smaller refineries: La Libertad in the southwestern coastal region and Amazonas in the northeast. Ecuador's crude output currently stands at 500,000 barrels per day and oil is the country's main export product.

By Fox News

June 22, 2012:

LONDON - U.S. oil major Exxon said there were currently no works affecting units at its UK Fawley plant on Friday. A spokesman for the company said earlier work had been completed and the refinery was fully operational.

By Reuters