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Hovensa completed the previously-announced shutdown of its 350,000 bpd refinery on the US Virgin Island of St. Croix, the company said. The oil-fuel refinery is a joint venture between oil company Hess and Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), the state-owned oil company of Venezuela.
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Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday proposed to buy all the shares of UK-listed Cove Energy, marking the company's first foray into Kenya and Mozambique. Shell is one of the world's largest LNG producers with equity sales volumes of 18.83 million tpy of LNG in 2011.
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Union workers at three more Tesoro refineries have rejected new labor contracts, setting up the potential for a strike. A general strike at Tesoro's refineries still negotiating could shut down 500,000 bpd of refining capacity, though it wouldn't spread to refineries run by other companies.
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ITT announced an agreement with Shell Global Solutions in which ITT’s Goulds Pumps brand will provide American Petroleum Institute (API) centrifugal pumps to support Shell operations worldwide. The deal is for five years with an option for an additional five years. Financial terms were not disclosed.
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Chesapeake Energy said it plans to more than double its oil and liquids production by 2015 as the natural gas giant aims to become one of top five US oil producers. The company plans to produce about 250,000 bpd of oil and natural gas liquids by 2015, up from about 104,000 bpd in the fourth quarter.
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John Felmy, chief economist with the American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group, says the US must develop more of its own oil and natural gas and allow additional oil imports from Canada. "By far, the single biggest factor in today’s higher gasoline prices is the rising cost of crude oil," Felmy said.
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Reliance Industries has agreed to form a joint venture with Russian petrochemical company SIBUR to make 100,000 tpy of butyl rubber at Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The joint venture will invest $450 million to build the facility, which is expected to be commissioned by the middle of 2014.
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A $15.7 billion energy venture in Papua New Guinea operated by ExxonMobil may know by the end of the year if it has enough gas for an expansion that could vastly improve its profitability. Initial drilling to support a possible expansion of the project has been pushed back until mid-2012.
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The EU could handle a sudden end to imports of Iranian oil because of changes already being made due to the coming ban on Iranian shipments, an IEA official said. But the official also warned that the standoff has the potential to hurt the global economy by pushing oil prices higher.
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Wood Group has secured a contract extension from Shell in the UK to deliver midstream engineering and construction services to the St Fergus and Mossmoran gas plants. The award marks a continuation of the previous contract awarded to Wood Group in 2007, the companies noted.
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Cabot Oil & Gas on Tuesday unveiled a new joint venture with Williams Partners to develop and construct a large diameter pipeline to transport Cabot's Marcellus shale gas production to both the New England and New York markets. The initial in service date is slated for March 2015.
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A venture between SemGroup, Gavilon Midstream Energy and a Chesapeake Energy affiliate plans to build a 210-mile pipeline in western and north central Oklahoma to deliver crude oil to a storage facility in Cushing, Okla. Construction should begin in July and service is expected in the 2013 third quarter.
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Greek refiner Motor Oil Hellas is no longer buying Iranian crude, and has not done so for some time, a person at the company told Dow Jones Newswires Monday. Motor Oil Hellas is one of two major refiners in Greece and is able to process more than 180,000 bpd of oil.
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The United States and Mexico agreed Monday to work together on oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico, paving the way to end a long-running moratorium on their maritime border. "For the first time, American energy companies will be able to collaborate with Pemex," Clinton said.
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Russia has fully restored natural gas shipments to Europe, the country's state gas firm said Monday, after it had been unable to meet rising demand in recent weeks due to cold weather across the continent. Europe relies on Russia for over a quarter of its gas needs.
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Poland is still in discussions with the European Union on developing a tax regime that incentivizes shale gas exploration in the eastern European country, said Talisman Energy CEO John Manzoni. Manzoni said initial findings were "not discouraging, just too early to tell" the degree of commerciality.
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The company says the center will expand its development in downstream sectors such as refining, petrochemicals and nylon technologies and applications.
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Total petroleum deliveries (a measure of demand) fell 5.7% this January compared with January 2011 to just over 18 million bpd, according to monthly data from the American Petroleum Institute (API). The slide in heating fuel demand reflects January’s relatively warm temperatures, the group said.
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Taiwan is considering cutting imports of crude oil from Iran in cooperation with US and European efforts to choke off Iran's oil revenue over the nation's nuclear program, a foreign affairs official said Thursday. The US has held talks with several of its Asian partners about the effort to cut off Iran's oil exports.
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FMC Technologies said Friday it has agreed to acquire Control Systems International (CSI), a supplier of process control and automation system solutions. Headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas, with operations in Irvine, California, and London, England, CSI has approximately 150 employees.
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US officials have approved an oil-spill plan for Royal Dutch Shell as the company looks to begin drilling in the Arctic, saying that Shell has demonstrated its ability to respond to potential spills in icy waters despite protests from environmental groups. Shell still has to obtain drilling permits from the Interior Department.
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Hydraulic fracturing of shale formations to extract natural gas has no direct connection to reports of groundwater contamination, based on evidence reviewed in a new study.
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Thai Oil plans to build a $300-million linear alkyl benzene facility at its oil refinery in Thailand's eastern Sri Racha province, the Bangkok Post reported Thursday, citing CEO Surong Bulakul. Linear alkyl benzene is often used as a raw material in the production of detergents.
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KBR said Thursday it was awarded a contract to provide construction services for a new 150 million standard cubic feet/day (MMSCFD) gas processing plant in Oklahoma. The name of the client and value of the deal were not disclosed.
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Enbridge Energy is investigating the cause of a pipeline leak in eastern Michigan, according to a government filing made pubic Thursday. Enbridge said it discovered a small amount of oil Thursday in the soil near the town of Sterling in Arena County, according to the company's filing with the National Response Center.