-Axiall is investigating an incident at its Natrium plant in West Virginia in which four workers were injured after being exposed to a caustic soda solution. Two of the employees remain hospitalized in Pennsylvania in the wake of the accident, which occurred on Friday. An Axiall spokesman said the injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
-Philadelphia Energy Solutions plans to go public with an oil rail unloading system recently built at the 335,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Philadelphia. Via Reuters, the facility’s unloading capacity will increase from 140,000 barrels per day to 210,000 barrels per day when a new rail track is completed next month. The refinery is using the facility to bring in crude from the Bakken shale.
-A new study by Texas Tech University and the Permian Basin Petroleum Association found the Permian Basin generated more than $137 billion in economic activity in 2013. The Permian also had the largest rig count of any region in the world.
-Veresen Inc., which owns the Jordan Cove LNG project, agreed to buy Global Infrastructure Partners’ 50% stake in the 680-mile Ruby gas pipeline for $1.4 billion. Via Bloomberg, the Ruby pipeline supplies gas from Wyoming to the Malin hub in Oregon. The hub connects to a pipeline that would supply gas to the Jordan Cove facility, which is scheduled to start up in 2019.
-French energy firm Total SA plans to sell off $10 billion in assets between 2015 and 2017 in an effort to improve overall financial performance. Via FuelFix, Total’s E&P assets in the U.S. include partnerships with Chesapeake Energy in the Barnett and Utica shales and stakes in various Gulf of Mexico projects. The company has received an offer for its SARA refinery on the Caribbean island of Martinique.
