Refining

Russia’s Lukoil has sold its Italian refinery to a group of firms backed by a major trading house in its first significant asset sale since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the companies said on Monday (9 January). Since its inception following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lukoil had been one …

Sinopec has signed a framework agreement with Saudi Aramco to build a Phase II 16 million-ton-a-year refining project and 1.5 million-ton-year ethylene units in Gulei, Fujian. The project is expected to be completed and operating by the end of 2025, according to a press release by Sinopec. The Chinese company …

European refiners now seem to have more crude oil than they need—with the early panic about Russia’s dwindling oil exports—and the world’s subsequent oil shortage—proving to be overblown. Crude oil traders have pointed to Europe’s ability to source crude oil from Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States …

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami says the country should become a hub for the designing and building of nuclear power plants in the coming years. Eslami said on Thursday that an ongoing global fuel crisis had made the use of nuclear energy more relevant. …

Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji said numerous projects have been defined in the southern province of Hormozgan to turn it into a refining hub within years. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a virtual ceremony to launch a major gas project in Kish Island on Monday, Owji said that …

U.S. refiners are set to continue operating at high utilization levels in the third quarter, despite concerns that a slowdown in demand could be looming in case of a recession, executives and analysts told Reuters on Thursday. Refiners operated at near capacity in the second quarter as demand was robust …

China will provide subsidies to its oil refiners if international oil prices jump to over $130 per barrel as the world’s largest crude oil importer looks to ensure fuel supply and protect businesses and consumers from surging fuel prices. Should international benchmarks surge to $130 a barrel and stay there, …

The Haidach gas storage site in Austria—one of central Europe’s largest—may be unable to receive any natural gas ahead of next winter due to a lack of connections other than with Russia’s Gazprom, Austrian energy officials told Bloomberg on Friday. The Haidach site was built and used by Gazprom and …

Refiners in Europe are processing crude at capacity—or very close to capacity—bolstered by the highest diesel margins in at least three decades, traders told Argus on Friday. Every refinery in Western Europe not undergoing planned spring maintenance has ramped up throughput as refining margins for most fuels, especially diesel, are …

Japan’s biggest oil refiner Eneos Holdings Inc has no plans to buy Russian crude until all problems related to the Ukraine crisis are over and will purchase alternative supplies from the Middle East, its chairman said on Wednesday. “For now, we intend to get alternatives from existing trading partners such …