Downstream news update: 20th January 2014

India

Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (MPRL) plans to buy approximately 40 000 bpd of Iran’s heaviest crude as it starts a new unit at its facility in Western India.

‘We will continue to buy about 80 000 bpd from Iran in the next fiscal year if the US sanctions remain,’ said Vijay Joshi, refinery director.

China

Data has revealed that China’s oil consumption in 2013 experienced the slowest rise in five years because of easing economic growth.

However, the pace is expected to accelerate this year as new refineries start up.

China’s oil consumption is a key factor in determining oil prices. Its slowing demand growth has capped prices that would otherwise have soared due to decreased exports from Iran, prolonged outages in Libya and disruptions in Sudan.

Australia

Suitors for Shell’s Geelong refinery have been reminded of the extremely challenging natural of the business, with the company revealing that conditions for the downstream industry have worsened over the past year.

Given Shell formally put Geelong on the market in April 2013, Friday’s announcement suggests that the market conditions for the asset have deteriorated further since the decision to sell was made.

USA

Montana

Hands from a body found near Billings refinery last Tuesday have been sent to a crime lab. A surgeon removed the hands with a scalpel on Thursday due to the fact that the body had decomposed to the state where fingerprint analysis was impossible locally.

New Jersey

A dirty water release from PBF Refinery has been blamed for black spots on cars and homes in the surrounding area.

The refinery has determined that this was indeed the cause of the damage.

‘While cleaning a piece of equipment at the Paulsboro refinery on Thursday morning, January 16^th, dirty water was released from the flare system,’ said Mike Karlovitch, a spokesman for PBF Energy. ‘We regret the event affected some homes and automobiles in the area southeast of the refinery’.

Edited from various sources by Emma McAleavey.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/20012014/downstream_news_75/