-Japanese firms Idemitsu Kosan Co. and Mitsui & Co. scrapped plans to build a world-scale linear alpha olefins unit on the Gulf Coast. Dow Chemical subsequently terminated a 50-50 ethylene off-take agreement it struck with the two firms in March 2013. The olefins unit would have used ethylene from Dow’s Gulf Coast production grid and produced feedstock for Dow’s Performance Plastics manufacturing operations.
-Valero Energy Corp. and Suncor Energy will both cease to use imported oil at their refineries in eastern Canada by next year. Via Bloomberg, the construction of Enbridge’s Line 9B later this year will bring more oil from North Dakota and Alberta into Quebec. Additionally, Valero last month received a permit to re-export Canadian crude, allowing it to send oil from western Canada to its Quebec City refinery if necessary.
-Tesoro on Thursday said a state environmental impact study is holding up the construction of its new rail-to-barge terminal in Washington. Company CEO Greg Goff said construction is now expected to begin in late 2014 or early 2015, a timeframe during which the facility was initially set to start up. Goff also said the cost of the project could increase by as much as 90%.
-Flint Hills Resources stopped gasoline production at its North Pole refinery, which it is planning to shut down later this year. A company spokesman said jet fuel and heating fuel production are set to end May 24.
-BP this week suffered a well line rupture in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, resulting in a spray of oil and gas that covered 34 acres of snow, according to Reuters. It is not yet clear how much liquid was spilled. BP was forced to curtail some operations in Prudhoe Bay eight years ago when a transit line leak led to a 200,000-gallon oil spill.
