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Americas

Eagle Rock buys BP gas processing plants in Texas

The Sunray plant, in Moore County, and the Hemphill plant, in Hemphill County, have combined processing capacity of approximately 220 million cubic feet/day of gas (mmcf/d) and an associated gathering system of around 2,500 miles of pipelines. The agreement does not include BP's gas producing assets in the area.

Huntsman eyes MDI expansion in Louisiana, begins engineering design study

The company said it is studying several options to expand the Geismar facility, thereby allowing it to meet strong demand in residential and commercial insulation and to maintain Huntsman’s position as a leading MDI supplier in the Americas region. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Cheniere greenlights initial Sabine Pass LNG trains

The first liquefaction train is expected to start operations as early as 2015, with the second liquefaction train expected to commence operations six to nine months thereafter, according to company officials.

US lowers yearly ethanol production outlook by 3%

The EIA said it reduced ethanol production estimates from 900,000 bpd to 870,000 bpd, a reduction of 3.3%. The US agency says it expects ethanol production to recover in the second half of 2013.

HollyFrontier expects Tulsa refinery repairs to take six-to-eight weeks

Crude oil throughput at the 125,000 bpd refinery will be reduced by 30,000 to 40,000 bpd throughout the repair time, a company executive said Wednesday. The diesel hydrotreater unit, a unit that removes contaminants from the diesel stream, was shut on Aug. 2 after an early morning fire.

Safety board probes Chevron California refinery fire

The explosion and fire involved the release of vapor that found an ignition source, CSB said, citing Chevron officials. Four workers sustained minor injuries and thousands of residents were ordered to shelter in place.

Chevron partly running Richmond refinery after fire

Chevron said it was running most processing units. But how long and at what rate the company could keep making fuel at the 245,000 bpd plant was an open question, because Monday's fire damaged the plant's only crude distillation unit, a critical component of the fuel-making process.

Fire erupts at Chevron refinery near San Francisco, forces unit closures

In a Tuesday statement, Chevron said the main fire - which began at 6:15 p.m. local time on Monday - had been extinguished. All employees and contractors are safely accounted for, though three employees sustained minor injuries and were treated on site. Chevron has yet to speculate on the cause.

Praxair, nexAir to merge southeast US gas assets

Praxair will contribute eight branches of its packaged gas distribution business in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee and acquire an equity stake in the combined business, which will have sales of approximately $150 million.

EIA raises 2012 price forecasts for crude oil, fuels

The Energy Information Administration projected the price of West Texas Intermediate crude, the US benchmark, will average $93.90/bbl in 2012, up from $92.83/bbl predicted in July. Retail gasoline prices were forecast to average $3.53/gal this year, up from $3.49/gal in the July estimate.