Downstream

Mexico Energy Minister Rocío Nahle and Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza took the stage during President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning press conference on Tuesday to outline their plans for getting to energy self sufficiency and boosting natural gas output.  With a three-year plan focused heavily on the downstream, the two officials said…

Mexico president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday that the U.S. Treasury Department has approved Shell plc’s sale of its 50.005% stake in the Deer Park, TX, oil refinery to Mexican state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex). The 340,000 b/d refinery currently operates as Deer Park Refining LP, a joint venture between Shell and Pemex.…

Management of refining giant Valero Energy Corp. painted a bullish picture for oil products demand on Thursday, citing low inventories and surging global natural gas prices among factors boosting healthy crack spreads for U.S. refineries. “Refining margins were supported by strong recovery in product demand coupled with product inventories falling to low levels during the…

Videos circulated on Wednesday of violent clashes between security forces and striking employees of construction firm ICA Fluor at the Dos Bocas oil refinery construction site in Mexico’s Tabasco state.  Workers reportedly are demanding better pay and working conditions before resuming work on the refinery, one of the flagship public works promoted by President Andrés…

Dow Inc. announced a plan Wednesday to develop a net-zero carbon emissions ethane cracker for an industrial customer in Alberta as a capacity expansion by its Fort Saskatchewan complex northeast of the provincial capital in Edmonton. The cracker, fueled by natural gas, would be capable of producing 1.8 million tons/year of ethylene. Environmental renovations of…

Rising consumer demand for fuels from an expanded refinery and retail chain as the Covid-19 pandemic faded helped propel sharply improved financial performance by Cenovus Energy Inc. in the first six months of this year. The Calgary firm’s downstream chain of 1,073 service stations and five U.S. refineries – two in Ohio and one each…

ExxonMobil on Wednesday sanctioned a $240 million-plus investment to improve its Baton Rouge, LA, refinery operations, which include installing technology to reduce emissions. Project construction is expected to begin later this year at the refinery, which has crude capacity of about 517,000 b/d.  The new suite of projects are geared toward improving processing capability, flexibility…

After reaching record levels in 2019, U.S. petroleum refining capacity tapered off substantially this year as several refineries closed amid demand declines hastened by the coronavirus pandemic, federal data posted Thursday showed. As of Sept. 1, the latest available data, the United States had 18.4 million bbl per calendar day (b/cd) of operable petroleum refining…

Progress at Mexico’s biggest energy infrastructure project, the Dos Bocas refinery in Tabasco state, was slowed this week by heavy rains that flooded the construction site, adding to mounting criticism that the project as currently designed is a drain on state funds and part of a poorly designed energy policy. Analysts at Eurasia Group on…