-The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday it expects refinery runs to break an all-time high in 2014. Via Platts, EIA forecasts that refinery crude inputs will reach 15.52 million barrels per day this year, which would break the previous record set in 2004.
-The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday struck down a challenge to the EPA’s limits on emissions from steam-generating power plants. The state of Texas and a group of utilities alleged the agency made procedural errors in rulemaking related to particulate matter.
-Four contract workers suffered burns in a Tuesday incident at an Enterprise Products natural gas processing plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. Local media reports said the workers were changing a component to filter the gas stream when a flash fire broke out. The injured workers are employees of energy services company Strike.
-Solvay launched a new torrefied biomass business in the U.S. The company announced it had begun industrial-scale production of torrefied biomass — a coal substitute created by modifying the chemical properties of waste wood and biomass — at a plant in Quitman, Miss. The new business is a joint venture with New Biomass Energy.
-The DOE released five million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve on Wednesday. Via the Wall Street Journal, the DOE said the release is a “test sale” and that it is not related to the crisis in the Ukraine.