-ExxonMobil has offered union workers at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery longer contracts and bonuses to keep them from striking, Reuters reports. Sources said the company is offering workers represented by the United Steelworkers union five-year contracts instead of the typical three-year contracts and $4,500 bonuses. It would allow ExxonMobil to maintain sufficient manpower if it decides to proceed with a multibillion-dollar expansion that would increase the Beaumont refinery’s capacity to between 500,000 and 800,000 barrels per day from 344,600 barrels per day.
-Meanwhile, PBF Energy said its refineries would not be affected by the strike. Via Reuters, PBF vowed to match whatever wage and health benefits Shell and the steelworkers’ union ultimately agree to in order to keep its workers off the picket lines.
-Tesoro Corp. today expressed confidence it could operate its refineries in California and Washington using non-union labor. Tesoro shut down its Martinez, Calif., refinery shortly after the strike began last week, but the company is planning to restart it. Lead industry negotiator Shell and the United Steelworkers union resumed contract renewal talks earlier this week but failed to make progress. The two sides will resume talks Feb. 18.
-The death toll from Wednesday’s explosion aboard an FPSO unit leased by Petrobras reached five today after two more bodies were discovered inside the ship. Via the Guardian, rescue teams are searching for four workers who remain missing. The blast was triggered by a gas leak in the ship’s engine room. Petrobras leased the ship from Norway-based BW Offshore.
-Spanish energy firm Repsol has filed an application with Canadian regulators to export LNG from its Canaport import facility in New Brunswick. The company wants to import up to 271 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from the U.S. and western Canada and convert it at a new liquefaction facility. Sources say the project could cost as much as $4 billion.
