-Phillips 66 is planning to shut down its Borger, Texas, refinery for as long as 35 days following a power failure, Bloomberg reports. Phillips 66 declined to comment on the shutdown when contacted by Bloomberg.
-The U.S. will become a net exporter of propylene by 2017, according to a new report by Argus Media. The firm said rising propane production from U.S. shale plays and feedstock shifts in the Middle East and Europe are affecting propylene supply more than any other product. Argus noted that U.S. producers are investing heavily in propane dehydrogenation.
-Enterprise Products Partners today said the 512-mile loop of its Seaway crude oil pipeline system is complete. The loop stretches from Cushing, Okla., to the Jones Creek storage and terminal facility near Freeport, Texas, which is connected to Enterprise’s ECHO storage facility in Houston. It is expected to double the Seaway system’s capacity to 850,000 barrels per day.
-Newly released research shows recent seismic activity in central Oklahoma is tied to oil and gas wastewater disposal in underground wells. The findings are in line with similar studies that were conducted in the wake of earthquakes that occurred in Ohio in 2011. As FuelFix notes, the research does not link the earthquakes in Oklahoma with oil and gas drilling activity itself or the drilling fluids used to produce oil and gas from shale.
-The EPA on Wednesday finalized a plan that allows compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas made from biogas from landfills, manure digesters and sewage treatment plants to qualify as cellulosic biofuels. Via Reuters, commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel production has yet to take off, despite past expectations that it would make up a growing portion of the Renewable Fuel Standard.
