A Barrel Full

The final quarter results form BP have been announced and they are being reported slightly differently.
From BP:
BP Delivers on Promises in “Very Good” 2009 as 4Q Profits Jump 70 per cent
BP today reported a sharp year-on-year increase in fourth quarter profits as it announced that its oil and gas production increased by more than four […]

This news is from about a week ago, but I found it interesting on a number of levels.
KBR announced today that it has signed a Collaboration Agreement with BP to promote, market, and execute licensing and engineering services for the slurry bed residue and coal upgrading Veba Combi Cracker (VCC) Technology.
The first reason why I […]

2009 was a year of extremes, following a truly black swan of a year in 2008. So what of the coming twelve months. For what its worth, here are a few forecasts.

Crude oil prices will not rise above $100 per barrel, unless there is a war involving Iran. There is too much spare capacity to […]

Japanese Refiner Cosmo Oil, is the latest company to consider mothballing a refinery.
The Tokyo-based company may close the plant within three to five years, Chairman Keiichiro Okabe said in an interview yesterday, without saying which refinery is being considered..
Like compatriots Nippon Oil, they are victims of the over capacity in Japan.
Japan’s surplus capacity has grown […]

Reuters has a useful update of refineries that have been closed or mothballed this year. Among the ones I had missed, were:

Nippon’s Mizushima Refinery which has temporaily shut one CDU with 110.000 bpd capacity 

Cosmo Oil’s Yokkaichi Refinery which has temporaily shut one CDU with 85.000 bpd capacity 

Repsol’s Bilbao Refinery which has temporaily shut one CDU with 90.000 bpd capacity

I […]

One of the biggest question marks over capacity increases in global refining is what will happen to Iran’s various projects. They have 7 projects in all and desperately need more refined products. What they don’t have is money, which is why this news could be very important.
China’s Sinopec  has signed a tentative deal to provide […]

It was a simple tale of unwanted assets, and a willing buyer. Yet the Shell-Essar deal has turned into something more.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc is in talks to acquire a 10 percent stake in India’s Essar Oil Ltd. Shell will buy the stake, valued at about $364 million, as part payment for selling three of […]

It is a major step forward for foriegn involvlement in China’s refining sector.
ExxonMobil and its partners, Sinopec, Fujian Province and Saudi Aramco, today celebrated the full operation of China’s first integrated refining and petrochemical facility with foreign participation.  
The project was a major expansion and upgrade of an existing facility.
More than $4.5 billion was invested […]

Another day and more refinery news. Socar is going shopping.
Azerbaijan’s state oil firm Socar plans to take a “substantial” stake in an Italian oil refinery next year 
Italy seems to be the shopping destination of choice for a number of companies recently. Socar is one of those companies that wants to vertically integrate, hence their interest […]

Another refinery has changed hands for a very low price. This time in Belgium.
Vitol Tank Terminals B. V. and its wholly owned subsidiary Eurotank Belgium B.V., part of the Vitol Group of companies entered today into a share purchase agreement with Universal Holding B.V. and Petroplus International B.V., subsidiaries of Petroplus Holding A.G.  to acquire […]