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Americas

Petrobras cancels partnership with PdVSA on new north Brazil refinery

Petrobras has been building the refinery on its own after PdVSA repeatedly missed deadlines to provide cash and loan guarantees to cover the Venezuelan firm's portion of the $20 billion project.

Indonesia could drive gasoline markets by 2018

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

Indonesia’s gasoline deficit and imports will exceed the US and Mexico, reversing trade flows and replacing the US as the main driver of global gasoline trade and prices.

GE, Clean Energy, Ferus to jointly develop LNG fueling projects in US

The consortium, named Eagle LNG Partners, will develop regional LNG projects to meet the growing demand for the cleaner-burning, less expensive fuel in industries such as long-haul trucking, rail, mining, marine, and oil and gas services. Investment terms were not disclosed by the companies.

China unveils subsidies for fuel-efficient vehicles

The program is to "speed development of the new-energy automobile industry, reduce emissions and help control pollution," the ministry said in a statement published on its website.

Foster Wheeler wins top safety award by US forum of engineers, contractors

Foster Wheeler's initiative to achieve a safety culture step-change by balancing observable and measureable safety tools with a personal commitment to safety led to the company receiving the 2013 Award for Excellence from the Rice Global Engineering & Construction Forum (RGF) in Houston.

Korea National Oil to shop Newfoundland refinery

Korea National Oil Corp., which inherited the 115,000-bpd Come By Chance refinery when it bought Harvest Energy in 2009, has hired Deutsche Bank to sell the facility, according to people familiar with the matter. It is unclear how much, if anything, the refinery could fetch from a buyer.

Brazil to allow Petrobras to raise gasoline prices

The price increase of about 8% for gasoline at the refinery gate would help shore up Petrobras's finances ahead of the sale of Brazil's largest offshore oil discovery under new production-sharing deals.

Fluor agrees to design major gas-to-methanol project in Louisiana

HP Editorial Staff: HP News

Fluor was awarded an engineering and design services contract by South Louisiana Methanol for a potential 5,000 tpd methanol project. It would be built in St. James Parish.

Shale boom not cutting US polyethylene user costs

Despite the shale boom, the price of polyethylene in the US has generally risen over the past few years. The type most used typically costs around 75 cents/lb, up from an average of 64 cents in 2010.

Crude oil in Quebec rail disaster was mislabeled

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said its tests showed the oil had a much lower flash point -- the temperature at which a fire can ignite -- than originally indicated on tank-car signage and was more dangerous than identified on the railcars that plowed into Lac-Megantic on July 6.