-Tesoro added 210 enhanced tank cars to its crude oil rail fleet that exceed the Department of Transportation’s recently issued safety standards. Tesoro collaborated with Union Tank Car Co. to modify the design of the DOT 120, which the company said has many of the same safety features as the new DOT 117 standard. The DOT 120s also have a thicker tank head, a protective manway housing and two times the rated tank pressure when compared to the DOT 117, Tesoro said.
-U.S. refiners now supply nearly a quarter of the fuel demand in the Western Hemisphere, up from less than 10% a decade, Reuters reports. Demand for fuel has grown sharply in other markets in the Western Hemisphere just as domestic consumption has stagnated. Refineries elsewhere in the hemisphere have failed to keep up with the demand growth, leaving nearly all of it for U.S. refiners to supply.
-Drilling activity in the Eagle Ford shale has increased for the first time in six months, according to a report by Baker Hughes. Via the San Antonio Business Journal, the number of active rigs in the Eagle Ford grew from 105 to 108. The rig count in the Permian Basin fell from 237 to 233 and active rigs across the U.S. fell from 894 to 888. Meanwhile, a recent report from the Energy Information Administration showed Eagle Ford oil production has fallen by 73,000 barrels per day since January.
-Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is set to sign a bill that restricts cities’ ability to ban fracking within their borders. Via FuelFix, the bill was passed in response to a local fracking ban passed in the city of Denton in November. The bill prevents cities from passing ordinances related to subsurface activity and restricts any rules that constitute an effective ban on oil and gas operations, among other conditions.
-NOVA Chemicals appointed United Arab Emirates Energy Minister and International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC) Managing Director Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei chairman of its board of directors. He succeeds Khadem Al Qubaisi, who recently resigned from the board. Calgary-based NOVA Chemicals is a wholly owned subsidiary of IPIC.
