October 16, 2012:

Canadian grades weakened as U.S. Midcontinent refiners prepared to shut units for seasonal maintenance that may cut demand for the oils. HollyFrontier Corp. (HFC) will shut the West plant at its Tulsa, Oklahoma, refinery starting in November for maintenance, a person with knowledge of the plans said June 28. The work will begin Nov. 1 and end in the first week in December, said the person. Julia Heidenreich, a Dallas-based spokeswoman for the company, said Oct. 5 that maintenance was scheduled to begin soon without disclosing further information. Western Canada Select’s discount to West Texas Intermediate widened $1.50 to at $17 a barrel at 10:27 a.m. in New York, according to Net Energy Inc., which says it’s Canada’s largest independent financial and physical oil brokerage. Cold Lake’s discount widened $1.45 a barrel to $18.25. Syncrude’s premium weakened 50 cents to $3.75 a barrel, the Calgary-based broker said. Bakken oil’s premium narrowed 50 cents to $1.50 a barrel. Light Louisiana Sweet’s premium narrowed 10 cents to $21.70 a barrel over WTI, according to data compiled by Bloomberg at 1:48 p.m. in New York. Heavy Louisiana Sweet decreased 10 cents to a premium of $21.20 a barrel.

Poseidon’s premium narrowed 25 cents to $14. Mars Blend fell 5 cents to $15.50 a barrel over WTI, and Southern Green Canyon decreased 5 cents to $13.60 over the benchmark. The premium for Thunder Horse, a sour crude with lower sulfur content than Mars, Poseidon and Southern Green Canyon, dropped 15 cents to $19.60 above WTI.

By Bloomberg

September 13, 2012:

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. has reported inadvertent emissions of large amounts of pollutants at its flagship refinery near Houston. Officials at the Baytown refinery reported a leak in a heat exchanger tube on Tuesday prompted them to shut down a flexicoking unit that separates heavy oils into fuels. In their report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the officials reported that the shutdowns resulted in releases of hydrogen sulfide, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide exceeding the plant's permit limits.

By Bloomberg

September 13, 2012:

ASHGABAT- Japan's JGC Corp has been chosen to prepare a feasibility study for a new oil refinery in western Turkmenistan, local industry officials said on Thursday, adding that construction works would start in 2015. "This will be a completely new refinery, whose output will meet rigid international technological standards," Tachberdy Tagiyev, general director of the state-run Turkmenbashi Oil Processing Plants Holding Company, told an energy conference. He said the new plant would be built in the town of Okarem in the Balkan region near the Caspian Sea. Turkmenistan, a Central Asian nation of 5.5 million which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is the world's fourth-largest holder of natural gas reserves. The ex-Soviet desert nation, which also boasts ample reserves of crude oil, set an ambitious target in March last year, to build three new oil refineries and boost capacity at its two existing plants by 2030 to achieve a projected threefold rise in refining.

A government official had earlier told Reuters that the new, third refinery, would have an initial capacity of 3 million tonnes of crude a year, set to rise to 5 million tonnes. Turkmenistan currently processes most of its annual crude oil output of over 10 million tonnes at two refineries. The country plans to boost its crude output nearly sixfold to around 67 million tonnes by 2030. It aims to boost processing to 20 million tonnes in 2020, 25 million tonnes in 2025 and 30 million tonnes in 2030. "Thanks to a number of companies from various countries, within a short period of time we have built a number of ultra-modern technological facilities, which has boosted the volume of oil refining, with the depth of crude processing reaching 80 percent," Tagiyev said, giving no further detail. In a rare official disclosure of energy sector statistics in the reclusive nation, Tagiyev told the conference that Turkmenistan had exported oil products worth $2.24 billion in January-August, a 15 percent rise over the same year-ago period. A government official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that Turkmen refineries had processed around 4.6 million tonnes of crude since the start of 2012. Tagiyev said the country was now exporting some 65 percent of its oil products.  Several international majors, including Total, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, are vying for some of the 32 licensed blocks that Turkmenistan holds within its portion of the Caspian Sea. The government estimates its Caspian oil reserves at about 11 billion tonnes. State oil firm Turkmenneft is the main producer in the country, although several foreign companies are also drilling, including Dubai-based Dragon Oil and Malaysian state oil company Petronas

By Reuters

September 13, 2012:

Brazil may extend the deadline for Venezuelan state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. to provide loan guarantees and secure its participation in the bi-national Abreu e Lima heavy-oil refinery, the CEO of Brazilian state-controlled energy company Petrobras said. Maria das Gracas Foster said PDVSA is in the "final" phase of securing a loan needed to pay for its 40 percent stake in the refinery, although the November deadline is approaching. "If they don't present the guarantees in November, I'm going to discuss a new deadline because I want them (PDVSA) to be a part of this project," Foster said in a Senate hearing. The two companies agreed in 2005 to jointly build the 230,000-barrel-per-day refinery in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco. According to the joint-venture terms, Petrobras is to have a 60 percent stake and PDVSA the remaining 40 percent. Petrobras began building the refinery in 2007 with its own funds while waiting for PDVSA to assume its portion of a loan extended by Brazilian state development bank BNDES to finance the project. BNDES has thus far denied the loan to PDVSA due to lack of sufficient collateral. Petrobras has set different deadlines for its joint-venture partner to meet its component of the financing arrangement and the next one expires in November. For PDVSA to participate in the project, it must acquire a 40 percent stake in Abreu e Lima, assume responsibility for that same proportion of the BNDES loan to fund the project and cover 40 percent of the costs Petrobras has already incurred in the construction phase.

Foster also denied reports by the controller general's office that the cost of the project has spiraled far above what was included in the initial budget. Foster, who took the helm of Petrobras in February, said the higher price tag is due to mistakes made thus far, exchange-rate fluctuations and the fact the budget did not include the interest the companies must pay on the loan. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petrobras plans to increase its Brazilian refining capacity to more than 3.1 million barrels per day by 2020 to meet rising domestic demand. Abreu e Lima is one of five new refineries the company will build to achieve that objective, the EIA said in a report earlier this year. EFE

By FoxNews

September 13, 2012:

ASCAGOULA -- The futures of Jackson County's students are looking that much brighter, thanks to DonorsChoose.org and Chevron. The organization, along with the Pascagoula refinery, collaborated and launched the Fuel Your School program in the county Wednesday. The program will provide funding for classroom projects developed and posted to DonorsChoose.org by public school teachers. Consumers are given the opportunity to raise up to $100,000 for the local public school teachers and students simply by filling up their gas tank. Chevron will donate $1 for each purchase of eight gallons or more of fuel in October at participating Chevron and Texaco stations in Jackson County. "We really appreciate the continued support of Chevron to the education of the children of this district," said Pascagoula School District Superintendent Wayne Rodolfich. "This initiative will provide many opportunities for teachers to do out-of-the box projects with their students in the classroom setting and will enhance the resources available to our teachers." DonorsChoose.org is an online charity dedicated to contributing to classrooms in need. Public school teachers across the nation post project requests on the site, and donors from the community and companies who want to improve students' education can provide funding for any projects they choose, CEO Charles Best said.

Public school teachers in Jackson County are invited to post requests to DonorsChoose.org for possible funding. Donations earned through the program will be used to fund projects from Oct. 2 to Nov. 30 or until the money raised has been exhausted. Best said teachers spend more than $350 of their own money every year on materials for their students. The site gives the community a chance to provide these supplies to help students complete their assignments. Chevron started Fuel Your School in 2010 and has since funded more than 3,000 classroom projects at 571 schools. This year, the program is being expanded to and focused on areas in Mississippi, Louisiana, California, Oregon, Texas and Utah. "The refinery has been here for nearly 50 years. We work to refine oil and turn it into fuel, but it's also our job to be involved in our community," said Tom Kovar, Chevron Pascagoula Refinery manager. "We are proud to support initiatives that help local students stay competitive."

Independent donations are also welcome, and consumers can track the progress of funding in the county by visiting the Fuel Your School website.

By SunHerald.com