-Chevron expects to close on the sale of its Hawaii refinery by the third quarter of this year, Pacific Business News reports. It remains to be seen whether the new owner will continue to operate the West Oahu refinery or convert it to an import terminal. Chevron revealed it was looking to sell the refinery last September.
-Meanwhile, Chevron agreed to acquire a 30% non-operated working interest in three blocks offshore Mauritania from Kosmos Energy. Kosmos will retain a 60% interest and remain the operator.
-A senior oil and gas advisor at Deloitte said today oil prices have bottomed out and may be headed for a rebound. Via FuelFix, Deloitte’s John Englad said the current oil price plunge could ultimately lead to lower expenses for exploration and production companies, as they will be forced to develop more efficient ways to produce oil and gas.
-A bipartisan group of lawmakers has renewed an effort to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Via Reuters, the RFS Reform act would eliminate requirements for corn-based ethanol blending and repeal a waiver that raised the cap for ethanol content in gasoline to 15% from 10%. Representatives Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Steve Womack (R-Ark.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) are the bill’s sponsors. The bill was initially introduced in 2013 but it failed to pass the House.
-Norwegian oil company Statoil named Eldar Sætre as its new president and CEO. Sætre has served as interim CEO since his predecessor Helge Lund left to become CEO of BG Group in October. Sætre previously held several senior management positions at Statoil, including CFO and executive vice president for the marketing, processing and renewable energy business area.
