June 13, 2012:

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Tom Corbett says he's heard that Ohio and West Virginia are still trying to lure away a petrochemical refinery planned for western Pennsylvania as he presses lawmakers to approve a tax credit targeted for it. Corbett reiterated Tuesday that the Shell Oil facility is not a done deal for Pennsylvania.  The legislation for the $1.7 billion tax credit hasn't been introduced yet. Corbett says he's barred by a confidentiality agreement from saying whether it is crucial that it get done this month before lawmakers take their traditional summer break from Harrisburg in July and August. Meanwhile, most of Corbett's other end-of-session priorities are moving slowly and lawmakers are resisting his efforts to reduce spending and put more money in reserve.

By The Associated Press

June 12, 2012:

In a written reply to a parliamentary question, tabled on Tuesday, she said the country's refineries were not able to meet the demand for such products. "The importation of petroleum products to South Africa is increasing annually. The country is a net importer and therefore relies on foreign refineries to meet local demand." Local refineries were currently operating at 80 to 90 percent of their capacity. "However, even if they were operating at optimal levels, they will still not be able to meet local demand for petroleum... which has exceeded domestic supply," Peters said. According to a table included in the reply, the volume of imported petrol has increased from 2.09 billion litres in 2010, to 2.42 billion last year.

Diesel imports rose to 3.75 billion litres last year, from 2.57 billion litres the year before. Liquified petroleum gas (LPG) imports rose from 3.75 million kilograms in 2010, to 19.67 million kilograms last year. Peters said building a proposed new refinery at the Coega Industrial Development Zone in the Eastern Cape would reduce the country's dependence on imports. "The development of the Mthombo Project, PetroSA's new oil refinery initiative, is aimed, among other things, to reduce reliance on foreign refineries, to meet local demand," she said.

By TimesLive

June 12, 2012:

California-blend gasoline in San Francisco and Los Angeles fell after Tesoro Corp. (TSO) completed planned maintenance June 8 at its refinery near Los Angeles. Tina Barbee, a San Antonio-based spokeswoman for the company, said in an e-mailed statement that maintenance on unspecified units had finished after beginning June 5 at the 97,000-barrel-a-day plant in Wilmington, California. Carbob gasoline in Los Angeles fell 2.5 cents to a discount of 6 cents a gallon against futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 4:40 p.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The premium of California-blend diesel to New York heating oil futures narrowed 0.25 cent to 4.5 cents a gallon.

Gasoline in San Francisco fell 3.75 cents to a discount of 2 cents a gallon. California-blend diesel in San Francisco remained unchanged at a premium of 6.5 cents. The discount for conventional, 87-octane gasoline in Portland, Oregon, was unchanged at 5 cents. Low-sulfur diesel in Portland weakened 7 cents to a premium of 3 cents.

By Reuters

June 12, 2012:

PURFLEET, England- Workers from Britain's Coryton oil refinery on Monday disrupted the supply of fuel heading to some petrol stations in the southeast of the country to protest against the plant's closure and demand the government intervene to save 900 jobs. The protests are unlikely to lead to widespread fuel shortages across Britain, which has seven other functioning refineries, but they are an unwelcome distraction for the government less than two months before the start of the Olympic Games in London. The likely closure of Coryton, formerly owned by the now-bankrupt Swiss-based company Petroplus, will add to the gloom in the UK jobs market, where unemployment rates are hovering above 8 percent in the recession-hit economy.

'This action needs to be stepped up. The government needs to recognise they still have an important part to play in saving Coryton,' said Russ Ball, a regional representative for the Unite union, as workers from Coryton marched on a nearby fuel terminal, owned by firm Vopak, to disrupt supplies. Union officials said they would aim to disrupt supplies of fuel from terminals in the region, including those in the London area, for a few hours every day and that the action would continue as long as needed. Drivers with logistics firm DHL, who transport fuel to supermarkets, have refused to drive past the demonstration on health and safety grounds as some 30 protestors blocked the terminal on the banks of the Thames.

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Petroplus fell victim to a rapid debt-fueled expansion and a collapse in oil refining profitability in Europe amid a large surplus of processing capacity. However, its four other refineries in Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium have found buyers or suppliers and will therefore remain operational. Coryton's administrator PwC has indicated it is unlikely to find a buyer to keep the plant running. 'It will split up the family. My husband will have to move overseas. And we can't move because my daughter is disabled. So it will leave me alone looking after her,' said the wife of a Coryton employee, who gave her name as Sue, wiping tears from her face.

Sue, who declined to give her real name to avoid possible recriminations for her husband, was collecting signatures outside a local supermarket in nearby Corringham, for a petition asking the government to intervene to save the plant. Britain slipped back into recession at the beginning of 2012, stoking fears that more people will become unemployed at a time when the government is relying on private firms to make up for the estimated 700,000 jobs it is shedding in the public sector as part of its austerity plan. According to the latest data, the number of people without a job in the UK edged down by 45,000 in the three months to March to 2.625 million with the jobless rate inching down to 8.2 percent.

Although businesses in Britain intend to increase their workforces in the coming year, it is likely that employment growth will continue to be driven by increasing numbers of part-time jobs and below-inflation pay rises. Besides Coryton, there are seven operating refineries in Britain, according to the UK Petroleum Industry Association, and the country can also easily import fuel from neighbouring countries which also have excess refining capacity. Like the rest of Europe, Britain is well supplied with fuel, meaning that any impact from fuel shortages will be concentrated on the region of Essex in the East of England where the plant is located.

By Reuters

June 12, 2012:

The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum, Downstream, has advised the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to shut down the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, WRPC, due to the dangerous emission of carbon black soot on the environment. The Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum, Downstream, Hon. Dakuku Peterside, made the call in a statement after a meeting with stakeholders over the lingering crisis between the refinery and the Ekpan community. The call followed a petition written to the committee, entitled, “A Save Our Soul Appeal” written by Ajomata/Awhakpor Landlords Association of Ekpan, dated May 24. In the petition to the committee were urged to sanction NNPC over the life-threatening carbon black soot being emitted into their environment. According to the landlords, “This appeal was necessitated by the reckless emissions of dangerous carbon black soot/chemicals into our environment on a daily basis without due care and keeping to international best practices. “Our continuous appeals in writing and physical visitation to the management of the said company and their supervising Ministry of Petroleum over the years have been ignored, as they have never replied any of our letters nor stopped the life-threatening nuisance that their emissions have become.” The landlords alleged that whenever the carbon black soot is released, within a few minutes, all persons, water, air, land, clothes and even pets and domestic animals in the Ajomata/Awhakpor area would be soaked in carbon black soot. According to them, people could hardly stay outside their homes for 10 minutes without getting their clothes soaked with carbon black soot. They also claimed their children were the most affected as they are always in and out of hospital for sundry ailments such as respiratory infections, heart diseases and asthma attacks. They recalled that in 2006, fishes in the pond of one Sir Elijah Atomatofa all died from pollution from the carbon black soot, adding that many of the indigenes were forced to relocate from the locality thereafter. After a comprehensive meeting with all the relevant stakeholders which included the people of Ajomata/Awhakpor community; NNPC; the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR; Ministry of the Environment; National Environmental Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency, NESREA; the Environmental Rights Action, ERA, and the committee leaders, the lawmakers called for the suspension of operations at the plant. Speaking on behalf of members, Peterside, called on the NNPC to shut down the plant as a matter of urgency. According to him, WRPC will further be endangering human life if it continues any form of production. Peterside also condemned the obvious lack of cooperation among government agencies, which played out in the course of the meeting, and warned that nobody including NNPC is above the law.

By Vanguard