-Marathon Petroleum will spend $2.8 million on pollution controls at its distribution terminals in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio as part of a settlement with the EPA over air quality violations. Via the Associated Press, Marathon will also pay a $3 million fine related to Clean Air Act violations, including failure to comply with fuel quality emissions standards. Marathon said most of the violations happened several years ago and were self-disclosed.
-A pipeline that spilled an estimated 21,000 gallons of oil off California’s coast Tuesday was running at maximum capacity, the Associated Press reports. Plains All American said its pipeline was operating at a rate of 2,000 barrels (84,000) gallons per hour. The exact amount of oil spilled is still unknown.
-NuStar Energy is partnering with propane supplier CHS Inc. to expand its propane pipeline and terminals network in the upper Midwest. Projects under development include a new eight-mile pipeline at NuStar’s Conway, Kan., facility that will allow delivery to terminals on the company’s East Refined Products Pipeline System. NuStar will also expand its Rock Rapids, Iowa, terminal to include propane services. The projects are expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of this year.
-Analysts at Oppenheimer believe ExxonMobil is gearing up for a major acquisition amid the oil industry downturn. Via Barron’s, the analysts believe ExxonMobil will make an acquisition to compensate for its $1 billion purchase of XTO Energy in 2010, which company executives have since said was ill-timed.
-LyondellBasell appointed Daniel Coombs executive vice president of Intermediates and Derivatives. He succeeds Pat Quarles, who was recently appointed executive vice president and president, Acetyl Chain and Integrated Supply Chain, at Celanese. Coombs previously served as vice president of Manufacturing at Chevron Phillips Chemical.
