August 30, 2012:

Japanese refiner Nansei Sekiyu said on Thursday it resumed all marine berthing operations at its 100,000 barrels per day Nishihara refinery in Okinawa on Wednesday after the passage of a strong typhoon that brought heavy rain and strong wind from Saturday to Monday. The company plans to restart oil refining operations at the refinery from Aug. 31. It also resumed truck terminal oil shipments on Aug. 27.

By Reuters

August 30, 2012:

HOUSTON - Royal Dutch Shell shut the Norco, Louisiana, refinery that ran at reduced rates when Hurricane Isaac came ashore, the company said on Thursday, but it gave no explanation for why the facility had been shut. The company also said that its Capline crude oil pipeline, with a capacity of 1.2 million barrels per day, had restarted.  During the storm, Shell ran the joint-venture Motiva Enterprises 233,500 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in Norco, at reduced rates. But on Thursday, the company said the refinery had shut its units while its chemical plant was operating at reduced rates.

 Shell did not say whether the storm damaged the refinery and did not respond to questions about the matter. "The outcome of these assessments will determine the timeline for a return to full operations," the company said. The storm's threat diminished on Thursday as it moved further inland and weakened into a tropical depression. It came ashore Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane. Shell shut Motiva's 235,000 bpd refinery in Covent, Louisiana, before Isaac came ashore, and said on Thursday that it would begin restarting. The company did not say when. Motiva Enterprises is a 50-50 joint venture of Shell and Saudi Aramco.

Shell also said on Thursday that it restarted its Capline system, which can transport up to 1.2 million barrels per day from St. James, Louisiana, to Patoka, Illinois. Valero Energy Corp's was running its 180,000 bpd refinery in Memphis, Tennessee, at reduced rates because of the Capline shutdown.  Valero spokesman Bill Day said late Thursday that the Memphis plant was still running at reduced rates. Shell's offshore Gulf of Mexico pipeline network and its Houma-Houston pipeline remained shut down, but the company said it may conduct aerial inspections of those facilities on Friday if weather permits. The company also said its terminals at Convent and Collins, Mississippi, had reopened, while its Kenner, Louisiana terminal remained shut. Of Shell's chemical plants affected by the storm, its complex in Geismar, Louisiana, was to begin restarting while its plant in Saraland, Alabama, continued to run at reduced rates on Thursday.

By Chicago Tribune

August 31, 2012:

One of the two bidders for the French Petit-Couronne refinery of insolvent oil firm Petroplus has withdrawn its offer, the site's management said in a statement on Friday. The deadline set by a French court for the submission of takeover plans of the Normandy-based refinery had expired last Friday with only two low-profile bidders having presented offers which were considered as acceptable by trade unions. The management of PRPC (Petroplus Raffinage Petit-Couronne) said in a statement Alafandi Petroleum Group (APG) had withdrawn its offer, without providing more details. APG, whose website cites an address in Hong Kong and Ramzi Alafandi as its CEO, could not immediately be reached for comment. Net Oil, a group including Roger Tamraz, a Middle Eastern businessman active in oil and gas, is now the only bidder left for the site. The commercial court in Rouen, northern France, will take a decision on the refinery's fate on Sept. 4. It can decide to pick or reject the bid, extend again the deadline or simply dismantle the plant, which was placed under legal protection after Swiss-based refiner Petroplus filed for insolvency last year.

By Reuters

August 30, 2012:

Fires raged at Venezuela's Amuay refinery after a predawn explosion rocked the facility on August 25 and left at least 42 dead, dozens wounded, and hundreds of homes demolished. The blast was the world's deadliest refinery accident in 15 years. The catastrophe's exact causes haven't been determined, but Energy Minister Rafael Ramírez, president of the state's oil company Petróoleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), said on Venezuelan television that a gas leak had appeared in a fuel storage tank area and formed a cloud that burst into a ball of flame despite the efforts of workers. "All this happened very fast, and the explosion occurred almost immediately," Ramírez said. (Related Story: "Isaac, Refinery Woes Drive Spike in U.S. Gas Prices")

"I don't think there is enough information about this incident at this point, but obviously I think all of the oil industry and the government agencies that have some responsibility for refinery safety are going to be very interested in finding out what happened and what lessons can be learned," said Don Holmstrom of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, (CSB) the independent federal agency responsible for investigating all U.S. industrial chemical accidents.

By Nationalgeographic

August 30, 2012:

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC -In the wake of concerns about the rising cost of petrol, the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (Petrojam) is again being pressured to make public pricing mechanism. The latest appeal has come from the Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprise, (MSME) Alliance which says for many of its members, especially taxi drivers, the impact has been devastating and concerns are mounting in the face of persistent questions about the pricing mechanism used by Petrojam. President of the Jamaica Solar Energy Association and member of the MSME Alliance, Roger Chang says the information should be made available to dispel doubts that the public is being cheated. Mr. Chang told the RJR Communications Group that he is now waiting on the outcome of a request for the pricing formula through the Access to Information Act. This latest appeal follows several from Opposition Spokesman on Energy, Gregory Mair who has been strident in his criticisms of the pricing mechanism, labeling it as deeply flawed. However, despite calls for Petrojam to open up to public scrutiny it has steadfastly remained silent.

According to Chang, the MSME Alliance is also questioning whether the concerns raised in two audit reports of Petrojam in 2008 and 2009 have been addressed. He says among other things the audits said Petrojam’s pricing mechanism is being administered with limited oversight.   The audit pointed out that with Petrojam being one of the market participants it was improper for it to administer the pricing system. On Wednesday it was announced that motorists would have to pay more for petrol for a ninth straight week as Petrojam hiked prices to just below record levels.

By Observer Media Group