-A Petrobras refinery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, caught fire Thursday, leaving six workers injured. Via Reuters, the incident came less than a month after a worker died from severe burns at Petrobras’ Manaus refinery. A petroleum workers’ union in Brazil said Petrobras has cut back maintenance at its refineries to dangerously low levels.
-BASF started up a new butadiene production plant in Antwerp, Belgium, with annual production capacity of 155,000 metric tons. The new plant more than doubles BASF’s European butadiene production, the rest of which comes from its 105,000-metric-tons-per-year site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
-Minnesota Power will idle four of its coal-fired units for three months due to supply disruptions caused by weather and high demand for rail cars. Via Platts, company vice president Al Rudeck blamed the lack of rail car availability on strong grain and oil production. Earlier this week lawmakers and shippers — including the chemical industry — took the railroad industry to task for delivering poor service despite surging shipping rates. The industry’s top lobbyist indicated railroad companies were struggling to keep up with Bakken oil production.
-Chevron CEO John Watson said today his company needs a partner, purchase agreements and engineering cost estimates before proceeding with its Kitimat LNG project. Apache Corp. in July withdrew from the project, leaving Chevron searching for a new partner. The facility would export LNG from British Columbia’s Horn River and Liard basins.
-Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell has hired a bank to help it sell its European LPG business. Shell initially tried to divest the unit in 2010. Via the Financial Times, it could be valued at as much as $1.63 billion.
