-The U.S. Chemical Safety Board on Wednesday night approved its final report on the 2012 fire at Chevron’s Richmond, Calif., refinery. In the report, the board recommended that Chevron establish a method to identify and track effective implementation of company or industry safety best practices. CSB also urged Chevron to develop an “auditable process” for all inspection or mechanical integrity related work items that are denied or deferred. Last week, Chevron pushed back against the board’s harsh critique of its safety culture, though it did agree with several of the board’s findings.
-Approximately 150 employees demonstrated outside LyondellBasell’s Houston refinery late Wednesday as oil companies and the United Steelworkers union remained at an impasse over a new refinery workers' contract, FuelFix reports. The current contract expires Sunday. Union officials said a failure in negotiations could lead to the first nationwide refinery workers’ strike since 1980.
-ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum and Shell announced drastic spending cuts as oil prices continued to fall. Via Reuters, Shell today said it would slash spending by $15 billion over the next three years and ConocoPhillips announced a 15% cut to 2015 spending atop a previously announced reduction of 20%. Occidental said it would reduce its spending budget for this year by 33%.
-The Senate today passed a bill that would approve the Keystone XL pipeline — legislation White House officials recently said would get vetoed if it ever reached President Obama’s desk. Via Fox News, the Senate must reconcile differences in its bill and a similar one passed by the House before the bill can advance.
-Meanwhile, the House on Wednesday passed a bill that would speed up federal approvals of LNG export applications. Under the bill, the Energy Department would have 30 days from the time a project passes environmental review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to determine whether the export application is in the national interest.
