June 3, 2012:

It will be the first time the two sides are sitting down together since the union went on strike on May 25 at the Husky Energy Inc. refinery in Lima. The Lima News reports (http://bit.ly/KPibjE) that negotiations are slated to resume on Wednesday. Some 240 employees went on strike over surrounding safety issues and working conditions. Production at the refinery is continuing during the strike, with salaried employees doing the jobs of union members. The refinery puts out 155,000 barrels of oil a day.

By NECN.COM

June 3, 2012:

Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation was working with the Bahrain’s Ministry of Energy and National Oil and Gas Authority to tap into $8 billion refinery expansion project. Mr Ahmad Bin Hamad Al Nuaimi GM and CEO of Apicorp said that talks were on with concerned authorities for possible participation of Apicorp in Bahrain’s refinery project. The Symposium titled ‘MENA Energy Investment in a Global Setting’ held at Ritz Carlton Hotel and Spa was addressed by Mr Roberto Sieber chief economist of HESS Energy Trading Company who made a presentation on Oil Market Outlook: Black Swans Turning White. The other speakers include Mr Bill Farren Price CEO Petroleum Policy Intelligence and Mr Ali Aissaoui senior Policy Consultant of Apicorp.

Mr Al Nuaimi said that “We are finalizing the modalities of Apicorp’s participation in Bahrain’s USD 8 billion refinery project including the option of providing debt financing. Apicorp joined hands with Chevron in 1978 to establish one of the most successful projects in Bahrain known as Bahrain National Gas. Banagas is one of the most successful projects carried out by Apicorp in Bahrain and we will continue to seek more participation in Bahrain’s oil and gas sectors.

He said that since its founding in 1975, Apicorp has pivotal role in fostering the development of the Arab oil and gas industry. Apicorp has invested in 17 JV in the oil and gas industry. It has also participated in direct and syndicated energy transactions worth an estimated USD 130 billion. Apicorp‘s aggregate commitments in these transactions, both equity and debt are valued in excess of USD 12 billion. While we look back with pride at our achievements, we also look forward to building on our track record to catalyse more value creation in the industry.

Mr Al Nuaimi said that the bank would continue to make greater contributions to the Arab economies by serving and promoting prosperity and empowering greater enterprise and progress. Most of the expansion work at Saudi Aramco were envisioned and carried by Apicorp setting a new benchmark of excellence. Talking about the bank’s performance he said around USD 1 billion of debt financing was offered by the bank across the MENA.

He said that as part of a new agreement with JP Morgan, from June, Apicorp will offer a complete range of trade finance products and services to its clients including letters of credit, collections and guarantees. By offering trade finance services Apicorp enters into a new era diversification of its business streams and help the bank to benefit from the Arab world’s energy sector.

By 24x7 News

June 3, 2012:

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Sometime this summer, already-scarce blends of pure gasoline will become rarer in western South Dakota. That’s because the largest refineries that supply the Plains Rocky Mountain Pipeline terminal in Rapid City, and therefore much of western South Dakota, soon will begin piping shipments of subgrade gasoline that will have to be blended with ethanol before it can be sold. Drivers who prefer not to burn ethanol because they see a drag in fuel mileage will have fewer nonethanol choices. Already, more than 95 percent of the motor vehicle fuel sold in the U.S. contains ethanol, according to estimates from the Renewable Fuels Association. Ethanol groups, for their part, worry that consumers who have engine problems after using the fuel will blame the ethanol rather than the low-grade gasoline with which it’s blended. Refiners claim the move is purely a business decision to lower the cost of complying with the Renewable Fuel Standard, a federal law that requires oil companies to blend biofuels into their products.

In any case, both the Sinclair Oil Co. refinery in Casper and the Exxon Mobil refinery in Billings, Mont., will begin shipping 82 octane gasoline to the Rapid City terminal this summer. The subgrade fuel then would be blended with ethanol to boost its octane content to 85. For years, that has been the minimum rating for fuel sold in mountain states and higher-elevation markets in western South Dakota. But in the wake of an ongoing investigation into mislabeled fuel in South Dakota, the Department of Public Safety and the Office of the Attorney General have determined that it is illegal to sell the 85 blend anywhere in the state.

87 or 85 octane?

Historically, anything east of Wall was supposed to have a minimum rating of 87, according to technical standards that have been incorporated into state law. The proposal that emerged from an April meeting between state officials and representatives of oil companies, wholesalers and fuel stations, however, would allow the sale of 85 octane gas statewide. This would expand the refiners’ market into the populous eastern side of the state and give supply-strapped wholesalers and retailers a new stock of fuel to tap. The Rapid City terminal is building storage capacity for 82 octane and should be ready to accept shipments of the low-grade blend this summer, according to an April letter to Gov. Dennis Daugaard from Jack Barger, vice president for marketing and supply at Sinclair.

“The fact that Rocky Mountain Pipeline is altering its Rapid City terminal to accept 82 octane gasoline shipments ... indicates other Rocky Mountain refiners believe this course is the most cost-efficient way to deliver to [sic] finished gasoline to consumers in western South Dakota,” Barger wrote. Mark Holm, an economist at Exxon’s Billings refinery, affirmed this. “It’s certainly the trend,” he said. He referred further comment to a company spokeswoman, who said the company does not discuss its commercial agreements. It’s unclear exactly how much pure gasoline will be available in the western third of South Dakota once refiners start shipping the 82 blend. Messages left with Plains Rocky Mountain Pipeline were not returned.

Sinclair ships 30 million gallons of fuel each year to Rapid City. The Exxon spokeswoman declined to say how much its Billings refinery ships. A refinery in Newcastle owned by Wyoming Refining Co. plans to continue shipping uncut 85-octane gasoline to Rapid City, but its capacity is one-half to one-third that of the larger refiners, vice president Bob Neufeld said at the governor’s meeting. “The Rapid City terminal, which is the main distribution point for western South Dakota, is a tiny little tail on a great big dog in the rest of the Rocky Mountain position,” Neufeld said. “And that tiny little tail is not going to wag that dog.” Because the big refiners already have committed to shipping 82 octane for larger customers in the mountain states, they say shipping batches of higher-octane fuel to South Dakota — a relatively small market — would require them to mix in premium blends, which would be prohibitively expensive. “We just don’t have the ability to sell a clear product without having to buy RINS,” said Tom Taylor, Sinclair’s regional manager in Denver, referring to the federal market for Renewable Identification Numbers.

The question also persists of how the refineries that supply East River terminals will react to this new subgrade blend flowing into Rapid City, especially if 85 octane fuel is allowed statewide. Ron Lamberty, senior vice president at the American Coalition for Ethanol, said the introduction of a cheap, low-grade fuel in Rapid City could nudge eastern terminals to lower their standards to compete. “There’s always the possibility that the suppliers out here see what’s happening at one terminal in the Black Hills, where the oil companies said, that’s all we’re going to make — take it or leave it,” said Lamberty, who owns a retail station in Sioux Falls and one in White. San Antonio-based Nustar, which owns a refined-products pipeline network with terminals in Aberdeen, Wolsey, Sioux Falls, Mitchell and Yankton, has no plans to lower its octane specifications, spokesman Greg Matula said. With the exception of its Jamestown North terminal in North Dakota, which sometimes takes deliveries of 84 blends, the company handles only 87 or 91 octane, he said. But Matula said Nustar would adjust its terminal specifications if its customers asked. “We don’t dictate fuel specs to our shippers,” he wrote in an email. “They ship whatever spec fuel is marketable in the region.”

Bruce Heine, a spokesman for Magellan Midstream Partners, which has fuel terminals in Sioux Falls and Aberdeen, said it has no plans to change its specifications, either, but company officials plan to be “an active participant in the upcoming (85 octane) rulemaking process.”

By trib.com

June 3, 2012:

There’s still much more left to do, but remediation of the grounds of the old Midwest/Standard oil refinery took a big step forward this week with the help of 16 hard working hands from the University of Wyoming Conservation Corps. Over three days, eight Conservation Corps crew members hauled away more than 16 truckloads of debris, ranging from old wood to broken glass, from the old site, which was purchased in late 2011 by the Laramie Rivers Conservation District, which plans to completely remediate the site over the next two-three years, Conservation District Director Tony Hoch said.

“We’re a very small organization,” Hoch said. “By having that group of eight young people out there for three days, it put us ahead weeks of what we could do ourselves. What they did would probably take us, with our staff, a month of using all of our free time.” Conservation Corps crew members also bring a wealth of useful knowledge and expertise to any project they’re involved in, Hoch said, making them an invaluable resource on projects like the cleanup on North Cedar. “There are dangerous things out there like lots of nails, so we want people who are trained to think in terms of safety,” he said. “We’ve tried to keep them outside, but if they’re working inside they know to use their dust masks, and they’re trained on chain saws and are extra-aware to take precautions.” For the crew members working on the site last week, the hard work also helped show the gravity of effects litter and abandonment can have on property. UW economics and finance student Nicole Filicetti said she enjoyed being educated on the real costs and long term goals of the remediation effort.

“This place is an eyesore, but we got to see the plans that they have, and just seeing what they’re going to do with this is amazing,” she said. Jason Koehler, a civil engineer student at UW, said that he hopes to use the knowledge he’s gained from working on the project on similar efforts in the future. “This is going to continue to be a problem, I think. Not just here, but nationwide, there are buildings getting old, decrepit and useless and something’s got to be done with them,” he said. Hoch said both the Conservation Corps and the Conservation District had worked together on projects in the future. Both organizations have very similar goals, which makes the partnership a perfect match, he added.

“The Conservation Corps is about doing projects on the ground, and the Conservation District is also about doing projects on the ground,” he said. Going forward, Hoch said the next step in remediation efforts will be to secure funding grants this fall to further clean the site and raze the buildings. “We’re kind of a slave to funding cycles, so we can’t apply for the big Environmental Protection Agency cleanup grant until fall, and we can’t apply for the Community Development Block Grant to raze the buildings until fall, so picking up debris around the site, getting tires out of there, that’s all we can do right now,” he said. “It’s one step at a time.” Depending on what happens with the site, Hoch said he sees more potential opportunities for the Conservation Corps to help out further.

“Once the property’s leveled and we have our environmental clearance, I could see them helping us building something, if that’s the direction we’re going to take,” he said.

By laramieboomerang.com

June 3, 2012:

THE only survivor of the Chevron explosion that claimed four lives a year ago has been undergoing treatment for post traumatic stress disorder. Dad-of-four Andrew Phillips, who was hailed a hero after the Pembrokeshire disaster on June 2 last year, is still haunted by the memory of the explosion at the refinery. Yesterday marked exactly one year since the tragic incident at the Valero (formerly Chevron) oil plant in Rhoscrowther. Mr Phillips, known to his friends as “Pansy”, has undergone a series of surgical operations at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, after suffering extensive burns to his shoulders, head, back and chest. He has also had gruelling skin grafts to his face. But for the oil worker, it is the emotional scars that are proving hardest to heal. He still tortures himself with thoughts of what might have been and is racked with guilt for being the only one to survive. His close colleagues Robert Broome, Andrew Jenkins, Dennis Riley and Julie Schmitz ( nee Jones) all died in the incident.

At his home, Mr Phillips said he still felt unable to talk about what happened but his wife made a statement on behalf of her husband. His wife Angela said the family were still uncomfortable talking about that day and that her husband found it difficult to recount the worst day of his life. She said her husband was racked with guilt for being the one who is still alive and it was difficult for him to talk about his survival, particularly when so many were still trying to come to terms with the fact their loved ones had died. In a statement made on behalf of her husband, she said:“ I am devastated for the loss of Julie and Andrew, Robert and Denny. There isn’t a day that passes that I don’t think of them or their families. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of them. It is all still too difficult to talk about at this time.”

A source close to the family said what Mr Phillips has been through is ‘unimaginable’. “He was very seriously injured and incredibly lucky to be alive at all. It is so sad that he feels any guilt because there is no doubt that there is little he could have done.” Andrew was said to have returned to help his colleagues when the final blast happened at the Chevron refinery on June 2. The four killed in the massive explosion included two grandparents and a father of young twins. The accident happened during routine maintenance of one of its storage tanks at the Pembroke refinery. Two employees of US oil giant Chevron have been questioned over gross negligence manslaughter. Dyfed-Powys Police said the questioning took place as part of the wider investigation, and “no conclusions should be drawn at this stage”.

Last night, Pastor Roy Hackett, of Cleddau Community Church, said the situation was, for some, still as raw as ever but that the community had pulled together in the wake of the disaster. “It was terrible tragedy that sent shock waves through our community,” he said. “To have lost four well-known people in such a terrible accident is something which will take a long time for people to come to terms with.” He said a special open air service today would be dedicated to those who lost their lives, to Andrew and to all of those affected by the disaster. “Andrew’s daughter Dawn is a member of our congregation and we have continued to pray for his ongoing recovery.”

By WalesOnline