-Haverhill Chemicals may shut down its Haverhill, Ohio, phenol/acetone plant after an unexpected withdrawal of support from financial institutions. Via ICIS, a company spokesperson on Tuesday said a final decision on the plant had not been made despite a press release stating the Houston firm would halt production at the site. Weak demand and dwindling profit margins have hurt phenol/acetone producers in the U.S.
-Federal officials blamed the tugboat Summer Wind for a March 2014 collision in the Houston Ship Channel that spilled 168,000 gallons of fuel oil. Via the Associated Press, the captain of the Summer Wind tried to beat the oil barge Miss Susan into the channel, likely triggering the collision. The Kirby Inland Marine-owned Miss Susan was towing two tank barges filled with 924,000 gallons of fuel oil when the wreck occurred.
-A Santa Barbara County, Calif., official on Tuesday denied ExxonMobil’s request to ship oil to refineries via trucks in the wake of Plains All American Pipeline’s recent pipeline spill. Via Dow Jones Business News, ExxonMobil was using the pipeline to ship 30,000 barrels per day of crude and has had to scale back production at its oil fields offshore California. Environmental groups argued the request would lead to another oil spill.
-Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné on Tuesday said pipelines are the only viable way to successfully develop Alberta’s oil sands. Via the Financial Post, Pouyanné suggested shipping crude by rail in the 21st century is antiquated and said pipelines are safer. Total is involved in two oil sands projects via joint ventures with Suncor Energy.
-Natural gas is a bigger threat to the U.S. coal industry than the Obama Administration’s proposed power plant emissions rules, Bloomberg reports. According to BB&T Capital Markets, recording shale production has pushed natural gas prices in the eastern U.S. below coal, which had been 61% less expensive since 2001. An increase in coal stockpiles has driven the benchmark coal price to its lowest level since 2009.
