June 11, 2012:

About 100 workers at Coryton Oil Refinery in Essex are protesting over its looming closure.  The refinery on the Thames Estuary went into administration in January after its parent company, Swiss-based Petroplus, collapsed. About 850 jobs are at risk after no buyer was found. Administrators PwC, now running Coryton, have said that operations were being wound down. Workers protested at the site earlier, then headed to Corringham town centre.

By BBC.CO.UK

June 11, 2012:

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.

CRY FOR HELP

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 11, 2012:

Gulf Coast gasoline strengthened as Motiva Enterprises LLC was said to be shutting a new crude unit for as long as five months at the Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, for repairs.  The refinery is assessing damage to the 325,000-barrel-a- day unit, a person with knowledge of operations said. The startup was abandoned over the weekend after the crude unit developed leaks, cracks in pipes, and a fire in a heater, according to the person, who declined to be identified because he’s not authorized to speak for the company. The discount for conventional, 87-octane gasoline in the Gulf Coast narrowed 2 cents to 10 cents a gallon versus futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:53 a.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Motiva crude unit, shut since June 3, is part of a $10 billion expansion that pushed the Texas refinery’s capacity to close to 600,000 barrels a day of crude, making it the largest in the U.S. Valero Energy Corp. (VLO)’s Corpus Christi West refinery in Texas was flaring gases because of maintenance in a hydrocracker, according to a filing with state regulators. The emissions at the plant occurred because of a small leak in an LPG line to the hydrocracker, Bill Day, a company spokesman, said in an e-mail statement. “There was no material impact to production.” Conventional, 87-octane gasoline in New York Harbor held at a discount of 1.25 cents a gallon.

By Bloomberg

June 11, 2012

HOUSTON - Output at the biggest U.S. refinery could be cut by more than half for up to five months after Motiva Enterprise's failed to restart a major new crude unit at the Port Arthur, Texas, plant over the weekend, sources familiar with operations said on Monday. Just two weeks after partners Saudi Arabia and Royal Dutch Shell cut the ribbon on the new 325,000 barrel per day crude distillation unit that pushed the plant's capacity to 600,000 bpd, jointly owned Motiva shut the unit to fix what was thought to be a leaking valve impairing production. After the CDU twice failed to restart over the weekend, the refinery found major issues that will take at least two months and potentially up to five months to repair, the two sources who have knowledge of the refinery's operations said.

Motiva said that an unspecified unit had been shut down due to a mechanical issue as the plant was moving toward full operations, adding an investigation was under way to understand the cause of the problem. "This unplanned unit shutdown is unfortunate, but we will resume normal operations as soon as it is appropriate to do so," the company said in a statement released late Monday. The news pushed up cash fuel prices and lent support to gasoline futures, traders said. It weighed on oil prices in expectations that other buyers in the United States -- which saw a spike in imports from Saudi Arabia this year -- would have to absorb additional supplies the kingdom had already booked into the market.

"The Saudi loadings to the U.S. had risen massively a few months ago, as they wanted to show they could put barrels in the market when requested -- and they were very vocal about it -- as well as starting to supply Motiva," said Katherine Spector, commodity strategist at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in New York. "The question now will be how much storage space at Motiva was already filled, and will they need to divert barrels to other customers."

The entire refinery has not been shut by the outage because the pre-expansion 285,000 bpd crude distillation unit, continues to operate. CDU units perform the initial refining of crude oil coming into the refinery and provide feedstock for all other production units. While it is not unusual for new refinery units to experience operational teething pains when they are first commissioned, a shutdown lasting months would be a major embarrassment for Motiva and its owners after a landmark $10 billion upgrade.

IMPORTS SURGE

The outage may also complicate Saudi Arabia's drive to push more crude into the market, as the Port Arthur plant was one of the biggest new outlets for increased production. U.S. imports from the kingdom jumped to 1.45 million barrels during the first five months of 2012, according to Reuters calculations based on monthly and weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the highest level for that period since 2008. Saudi Arabia pushed oil production to the highest level in decades in May, hitting 10.10 million barrels per day on average for the month according to a Reuters survey, helping to cushion the impact of Western sanctions against Iran's nuclear program, which have threatened Tehran's exports. Speaking ahead of an OPEC meeting this week, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi on Monday said the producer group should increase its oil output target, despite a recent slide in crude prices and comments by other members that high production had created a surplus in the market.

Gasoline prices in the Gulf Coast spot markets jumped more than 5 cents on the news, while RBOB gasoline traded slightly higher even. Oil prices dropped nearly $2 per barrel.

The CDU is the centerpiece of a $10 billion, five-year expansion project that more than doubled the refinery's capacity, and the shutdown comes after the unit's official startup at a May 31 ceremony attended by the chief executives of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Aramco. At the ceremony, Motiva Vice President Tom Purves, who oversaw the expansion project, said the refinery was near its 600,000 bpd capacity and would reach full production by the end of the second quarter, advancing the date the refinery would reach that milestone by a full three months.

By Reuters

June 11, 2012:

HOUSTON - Blue Dolphin Energy Company (otcqx:BDCO) ("Blue Dolphin"), an independent energy company with refining, midstream and upstream operations, today announced its purchase of a 180 day option to acquire an idled refinery located in Ingleside, Texas (the "Refinery") from Lazarus Energy Holdings, LLC ("LEH"), its largest shareholder. The Refinery is currently owned by Lazarus Texas Refinery I, LLC ("LTRI"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of LEH. The Refinery was constructed between 1978 and 1980 and was operated only intermittently thereafter. During its operating phase the Refinery had an operating capacity of approximately 40,000 barrels per day, producing naphtha, jet fuel, kerosene diesel and fuel oil. The Refinery consists of crude oil and condensate processing equipment, pipeline connections, trucking terminals and related storage, as well as a barge dock and receiving facility (the "Barge Dock"), which gives the Refinery access to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at Redfish Bay near Corpus Christi, Texas. An 8-inch active pipeline, approximately half a mile in length, connects the Refinery to the Barge Dock. Blue Dolphin also owns a refinery in Wilson County, Texas (the "Nixon Facility" or "Nixon"), located in the Eagle Ford Shale play, which is currently running approximately ten thousand (10,000) barrels per day of a light Eagle Ford crude oil (condensate).

"There is significant strategic value to the combined crude processing, transportation, as well as supply and distribution capabilities of the refineries at Nixon and Ingleside, Texas," said Jonathan Carroll, Blue Dolphin's Chief Executive Officer and President. The Refinery sits on over 100 acres of land, including approximately 87 acres surrounding the Refinery on FM 2725 and approximately 15 acres with the Barge Dock. The Refinery initially had 31 above ground storage tanks with a total capacity of 1,179,250 barrels. Currently, the Refinery has 210,000 barrels of storage capacity under a short term lease and another 475,000 barrels of storage capacity that is currently being refurbished and should be completed and available for lease over the next several months.

Historically, several pipeline systems connected the Refinery to other sites like the Harbor Island terminal, the former Bronco and Copano refinery properties and the Flint Hills Resource's ("FHR") waterborne terminal. FHR's waterborne terminal in Ingleside, Texas ties into the Koch Pipeline System which also traverses the Nixon Facility. "Access to the Barge Dock creates additional product marketing outlets for the Nixon Facility. We expect this water access to expand our midstream opportunities, also creating crude oil marketing opportunities for the Eagle Ford Shale producers near Nixon and other nearby locations. The storage, terminal, pipeline, barge, and processing aspects of the Refinery can be restarted and operated independently of each other depending on the business case. This flexibility is what makes this option so valuable to us," noted Mr. Carroll.

The Refinery requires refurbishment and re-commissioning similar to the work conducted by Blue Dolphin at Nixon. All of the Refinery's tanks, vessels, pumps, piping, wiring, instrumentation and equipment will require inspection, repair and/or replacement prior to operation. In addition, certain areas of the Refinery require additional environmental remediation prior to operation. Blue Dolphin, should it exercise the option, will be required to reimburse LEH or LTRI for the cost of any refurbishment, re-commissioning or environmental remediation associated with the Refinery. Blue Dolphin Energy Company (otcqx:BDCO) is engaged in crude oil and condensate processing, as well as the gathering and transportation and the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. For additional company information, visit Blue Dolphin's corporate website at http://www.blue-dolphin-energy.com .

Certain of the statements included in this press release, which express a belief, expectation or intention, as well as those regarding future financial performance or results, or which are not historical facts, are "forward-looking" statements as that term is defined in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and such statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including but not limited to: key supplier failure; loss of market share with or by a key customer; failure to comply with forbearance agreements relating to long-term indebtedness under which Blue Dolphin is in default; failure to realize anticipated benefits of acquired operations; volatility of refining margins; and the factors set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of Blue Dolphin's annual report on Form 10-K for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2011 and the heading "Risk Factors" in Part II, Item 1A of Blue Dolphin's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three month period ended March 31, 2012. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and outcomes may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Unless legally required, Blue Dolphin undertakes no obligation to republish revised forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

By Blue Dolphin Energy Company