14th November: Downstream news roundup

India
The Mumbai Police has arrested a Chairman of Lotus Refineries. Arun Sharma has been remanded in police custody after being interrogated with regards to the scam behind the payment crisis at National Spot Exchange Ltd. Sharma is a film financer as well as member of the Lotus board.

Russia
Gazprom Neft’s Chairman has said that the company is considering a stake in a new Vietnamese refinery. Gazprom Neft has already signed a framework agreement with Vietnam Oil and Gas Group that defines the terms for a stake in the Dung Quat refinery. This is part of the company’s plans to increase its importance in the Asian market.

Turkey
It has been announced that specialists from Azerbaijan will be part of the Star refinery personnel. The refinery is planned for construction in Izmir and is being built by contractors that are experienced within the Turkish market.

USA
The Louisiana Bucket Brigade have released a report stating that Louisiana’s refineries had on average an accident on 6.3 days in every week during 2012. The 17 state refineries and their chemical plants had 327 accidents and released 2.4 million llbs of air pollution. Hurricane Isaac was the cause of many of the accidents and the majority were the fault of the weather.

Acon Investments and TPG have sold their stakes in the St Paul Park refinery, Minnesota, and Super America stores. The sale raised US$ 775 million and both were sold to Western Refining. Western Refining reportedly paid US$ 245 million and the rest is being financed. The company is now a controlling stakeholder in Northern Tier Energy.

Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/14112013/14th_nov_downstream_news/