Early October: Global downstream news update

Europe

Hungary

Hungarian oil and gas group, MOL, announced on Friday that the progressive transformation of its Mantova refinery into a product logistics hub is to commence in January 2014.

The IES MOL Group has decided to convert the facility due to a lack of long term sustainability of operations.

Asia

India

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily said last week that India should become energy independent by 2020.

‘By 2020 our imports will go down by 50%, by 2025 it should go down by 75% and by 2030 our country should become energy independent’, he said, speaking at an event to launch the implementation of an inter-company LPG portability scheme here.

Africa

Kenya

Essar Energy Overseas Ltd has announced that it is to sell its shares in the Kenyan Petroleum Refineries. The company had a 50% shareholding in the refinery.

USA

Philadelphia

A new high speed rail unloading facility at a South Philadelphia oil refinery complex is almost fully operational and ready to become the largest customer of crude oil from the Bakken Shale formation.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions CEO, Philip Rinaldi, said on Thursday that he expects the facility to be fully operational within the next couple of weeks.

Wyoming

A man accused of deliberately damaging valves at the oil refinery in Sincalir has pleaded no contest to a felony charge of making terroristic threats.

Carbon County District Judge Wade Waldrip on Monday sentenced Bryant Paul Willingham to two to three years in prison. The judge suspended the prison time in favour of six months in jail and two years of probation.

South America

Venezuela

Venezuela’s Energy Minister has said that state oil company PDVSA is still looking to participate in the Abreu e Lima refinery, a joint project with Brazil’s Petrobras.

Last week, the Brazilian state controlled company said it was willing to maintain its partnership with PDVSA as long as the Venezuelan company contributes its 40% share of the project’s more than US$ 17 billion price tag.

Edited from various sources by Emma McAleavey.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/08102013/global_downstream_news_update724/