February 8, 2019:

Officials say no one was hurt after a fire broke out at an oil refinery in southern Arkansas. According to the El Dorado News-Times , the fire was reported at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Delek refinery, which was formerly known as the Lion Oil refinery. The newspaper reports that the refinery has its own fire brigade, which had the blaze under control by about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday. Officials have not yet said what caused the fire but say nobody was injured. In 2011, Delek acquired Lion Oil Company, including the El Dorado refinery and other product terminals in Tennessee.

By Associated Press

February 8, 2019:

Nigeria and other African countries will soon heave a sigh of relief from the sloppy economic situation occasioned by price instability with the imminent completion of the Dangote Refinery and other modular refineries in Nigeria, the Dangote Group said yesterday. Already, the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, at a forum in Egypt, said his country was anxiously waiting for the readiness of the Dangote Refinery to save his government from economic distortion caused by massive importation of petroleum from Europe. The Technical Adviser on Refinery and Petrochemicals to the President of Dangote Group, Engr. Babajide Soyode, said the completion of the Dangote Refinery and other modular refinery projects in Nigeria would culminate in the integration of the downstream industries, lower cost of business and stabilise the prices of petroleum products across Africa. Engr. Soyode made this assertion during a panel session on “Refining, Transportation and Petrochemicals Forum” at the just concluded 2019 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja. He emphasised the need for the Federal Government to fully deregulate the downstream sector.

He said “by the time Dangote completes the largest single train-refinery, in addition to what other investors are doing, Nigeria will have more than enough petrol for domestic use and for export.”

By www.dailytrust.com.ng

January 23, 2019:

KUALA LUMPUR: Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PRefChem), a strategic alliance between Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco), has commenced the start-up of its refinery in Pengerang, Johor through the firing up of the complex’s crude distillation unit. With this, the group expects the refinery to be ready for commercial operations by the fourth quarter of 2019. In a statement yesterday, PRefChem said the refinery, with a capacity of 300,000 barrels of crude per day, will produce refined petroleum products including gasoline and diesel upon its completion — meeting Euro 5 fuel specifications. The refinery will also provide feedstock for the integrated petrochemicals complex, with a capacity to produce 3.3 million tonnes per year. “Today, the refinery has achieved mechanical completion and is now in full commission, marking the beginning of start-ups in subsequent facilities within this integrated development,” said PRefChem chief executive officer Dr Colin Wong Hee Huing.

By The Edge Financial Daily

January 23, 2019:

China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has received significant boost in its efforts to strengthen regional connectivity after Saudi Arabia agreed to join hands and fund a major oil refinery project. Islamabad and Beijing have both welcomed the development and, analysts say, this would enhance Saudi Arabia’s access to world markets. Saudi Arabia is the first country that Pakistan has invited to become a third partner in CPEC. While Pakistan and China would still be major beneficiaries of CPEC, Saudi Arabia’s access to the Gwadar Port would mean potential to create opportunities for the Kingdom. The partnership took shape earlier this week when it was announced that Saudi Aramco is building an oil refinery worth $10 billion in Pakistan’s port city of Gwadar. Local officials confirmed that an agreement will be signed during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman to Pakistan, scheduled in February. On January 12, a delegation led by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Khalid al-Falih, visited Gwadar to witness the development work and areas allocated for the oil refinery.

Chairman Gwadar Development Authority briefed the delegation.  Haroon Sharif, Pakistan’s Minister of State and Chairman of Pakistan Board of Investment, said that the Saudi delegation was pleased with the progress made on the site allocated for refinery and expressed satisfaction over security in the area.

By http://english.alarabiya.net

January 22, 2019:

Petrol imports this year should be sharply reduced as the Nghi Sơn Refinery comes into operation and the output of Dung Quất Refinery meets most of the local demand, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Đỗ Thắng Hải. Hải also said the import of crude oil in 2019 and following years would be increased to serve refineries. The output of the two refineries will meet up to 90 per cent of the domestic market demand, gradually reducing the country’s reliance on imported petrol. On December 23, 2018, Nghi Sơn Refinery officially came into full operation. The project has the largest scale and investment – US$9 billion – of a refinery in Việt Nam so far. The first phase of the project supplies 200,000 barrels of oil per day following five years of construction. The ministry said the refinery has provided around five million tonnes of oil since June 2018. It produces RON 92, RON 95 petrol and diesel.

Once the refinery operates at 100 per cent of its designed capacity, it will supply 10 million tonnes of oil per year, meeting 40 per cent of the country’s fuel demands and providing 17 per cent of exports. The deputy minister said that last year Việt Nam imported around eight billion tonnes of petrol. Statistics from the General Department of Customs showed Malaysia was the biggest source of petrol for Việt Nam with 3.12 million tonnes worth $1.97 billion, accounting for 29 per cent of the import volume. The petrol import price surged by 34.5 per cent in 2018 to reach an average of $633.2 per tonne. In November alone, the country imported 255,507 tonnes of petrol with a value of $160.5 million, posting 19.4 per cent and 5.5 per cent increases in terms of quantity and turnover, respectively. South Korea, Singapore, China and Thailand were also big petrol exporters to Việt Nam. — VNS

By https://vietnamnews.vn/