MARKET WATCH: NYMEX oil prices for November drop below $45/bbl

Light, sweet crude oil prices for November delivery declined to settle back under $45/bbl on the New York market Oct. 1 while analysts and traders appeared focused on forecasting how far US oil production might fall, and how the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will react. Source: News


Shell lets subsea contract for Stones project

Shell Offshore Inc. has let a contract to Technip SA for development of subsea infrastructure for the Stones project in the Walker Ridge area of the US Gulf of Mexico. Source: News


EPA sets new ground-level ozone limit at 70 ppb

The US Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will reduce allowable ground-level ozone limits to 70 ppb from the 75 ppb level it set in 2008. Oil and gas industry trade associations and other major business groups immediately said it went too far. Environmental and public health organizations claimed it did not go far enough. […]


India’s BPCL lets contract for Kochi refinery

Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL), Mumbai, has let a contract to Porvair Filtration Group Ltd. to supply filter technology to be implemented at its 9.5 million-tonne/year (tpy) Kochi refinery at Ambalmugal, in the Indian state of Kerala, as part an ongoing integrated expansion project designed to boost the plant’s crude processing capacity to 15.5 million […]


Crude export ban bill sponsors expect movement soon in Senate, House

Sponsors of US Senate and House bills to repeal the 40-year-old ban on exports of US-produced crude oil expect their measures to move ahead soon. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), said the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee planned to mark up her bill, S. 1372, on Oct. 1. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), meanwhile, said his […]


PBF Energy inks deal for California refinery, logistics assets

PBF Holding Co. LLC, a subsidiary of PBF Energy Inc., Parsippany, NJ, has entered an agreement to buy ExxonMobil Corp.’s 155,000-b/d refinery in Torrance, Calif., which has been shuttered since early this year following an explosion and ensuing fire that struck the plant in February. Source: News