-Motiva Enterprises is still seeking a permit to expand its hydrocracker and diesel hydrotreater in Port Arthur, Texas, Reuters reports. Earlier this week it was reported that the company had withdrawn its request for a permit from the EPA originally filed in August. Motiva is now waiting for a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which has since reclaimed its greenhouse gas permitting authority from the federal government.
-The oil price plunge has begun to drag down NGLs, which were previously seen as a way to add value to oil production. Via the Wall Street Journal’s Money Beat blog, propane and butane prices are down nearly half since the beginning of September. Producers in the Northeast are expected to take a particularly big hit due to a lack of pipeline infrastructure, which will likely swell the glut of production from Ohio and Pennsylvania.
-Chevron on Thursday assured Richmond, Calif., residents that flames and smoke that emanated from the company’s refinery there were attributable to flaring. A Chevron spokesman told local media outlets fence line air quality monitors showed no impact to the community. Chevron Richmond General Manager Kory Judd recently spoke to BIC Magazine about the company’s efforts to engage a wary public in the wake of the fire that broke out at the refinery in August 2012.
-Enbridge has restarted its Line 4 oil pipeline after a 1,350-barrel spill at its Regina, Saskatchewan, terminal. Via Reuters, an Enbridge spokesman said a full cleanup of the spilled oil will continue into next week.
-The EPA will delay its proposal for new methane emissions regulations until next year, the Oil & Gas Journal reports. Earlier this month the American Petroleum Institute said it would accept new limits on VOC emissions from hydraulically fractured oil wells in to head off a broad federal mandate on methane.
