-As expected, U.S. refineries are processing record amounts of crude this summer. Researchers at Wood Mackenzie said refinery runs reached 16.9 million barrels per day over the past week as crude oil imports increased. Refining capacity grew this month as Kinder Morgan started up the second of two new condensate splitters at its Houston Ship Channel facility. In a separate report, Wood Mackenzie said global oil and natural gas producers have deferred $200 billion in more than 45 projects as a result of the oil price plunge.
-A fire broke out at Flint Hills Resources’ ethanol plant in Menlo, Iowa, after a power outage late Friday. Via KCCI in Des Moines, the fire was confined to one unit and was contained within a few hours. The extent of the damage to the plant is not yet known.
-FERC authorized The Woodlands, Texas-based Excelerate Energy to build its proposed Aguirre Offshore GasPort Project off the coast of Puerto Rico. The project will be a floating LNG terminal with a storage and regasification unit, mooring infrastructure and a subsea pipeline that will deliver natural gas onshore. It will provide fuel to Puerto Rico’s Central Aguirre Power Complex. Construction is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2016.
-Meanwhile, Malaysian oil and gas firm Petronas plans to begin building its $36 billion LNG export terminal in British Columbia in September. British Columbia’s finance minister said an environmental certificate from Canada’s central government is all that is needed to start construction.
-The EPA last week unveiled its voluntary Natural Gas STAR Methane Challenge to encourage oil and gas companies to make “ambitious” cuts to their methane emissions. The Obama Administration in January set a target of 40-45% reductions in methane emissions from oil and gas between 2012 and 2025. America’s Natural Gas Alliance noted that the industry has cut methane emissions by 38% since 2005 while increasing production by 35%.