Downstream industry disruptions

Emergencies

A fire broke out at Russia’s Novoil NUNZI.RT refinery on Friday 24^th September. The fire broke out at a reservoir at the facility whilst it was being prepared for some planned maintenance work. Despite the fire, production levels at the facility were not affected.

Fines

Tesoro has been ordered to pay a record fine of US$ 2.38 million after an explosion at its Anacortes refinery. The explosion happened in April of this year and led to the death of seven workers at the facility.

Protests

On 3^rd October, residents of Changhua County, Taiwan, protested outside the area’s Presidential Office. The protest was held as residents object to the Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Corp., constructing oil refineries on the Dacheng Township coast. 100 protesters turned up to voice their opinions on the plans.

Sales

ExxonMobil Corp. has announced plans to sell some of its gasoline station assets in Japan. The company will sell approximately 400 stations in the country as well as a few other assets linked to its gasoline station operations.

Strikes

Operations at seven European refineries were affected due to a strike at the Fos-Lavera port in the South of France. Towards the end of September 33 vessels were denied entry to the port, 16 of which were oil product vessels and eight were crude tankers. The seven European refineries that were affected by the port strikes have a collective processing capacity of 900 000 bpd.

Towards the end of September strikes were held over pensions at four of Total’s refineries French refineries. This was in conjunction with nationwide pension strikes all over France. Between 50 and 80% of workers at the four refineries took part in the strike action.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/07102010/downstream_industry_disruptions/