Phillips 66 is hit with a $604.9 mln US judgment in fuel trade secrets case
A California state court jury ruled on Wednesday that energy company Phillips 66 owes Propel Fuels 604.9 million dollars in damages after stealing Propel’s trade secrets in order to improve its renewable fuel capabilities. The jury in Oakland agreed that Phillips, based in Houston, stole Propel's secrets to gather information for an acquisition. They then used the information to create a rival business. A spokesperson from Propel confirmed that the award had been given. Phillips 66 spokespersons did not respond immediately to a comment request.
Valero Seeks US Approval to Import Venezuelan Oil
Valero Energy Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil refiner, is seeking Washington's permission to import Venezuelan crude, according to four people close to the matter, hoping for a repeat of the approval granted to Chevron Corp in November after a four-year ban.President Joe Biden's administration has eased some U.S. sanctions on the OPEC-member nation in an effort to encourage a political dialogue with the country's opposition. That has led to further pressure from U.S.…
Shell to Shut Its Convent, La. Refinery Amid Pandemic
Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday it will shut down its refinery in Convent, Louisiana, the largest U.S. facility to close since the coronavirus pandemic first hit and devastated economic demand worldwide.The shutdown, to occur this month, comes after Shell failed to find a buyer.The refinery is the ninth in North America either to announce a shutdown or to be idled since the pandemic, which has delivered a heavy blow to fuel demand globally. The United States is the world's largest fuel consumer.Shell said it failed to find a buyer for the 211…
Offshore Oil Wells, Ports Shut as Hurricane Sally Advances on U.S. Gulf
Energy companies, ports and refiners raced on Monday to shut down as Hurricane Sally grew stronger while lumbering toward the central U.S. Gulf Coast, the second significant hurricane to shutter oil and gas activity over the last month.The hurricane is disrupting oil imports and exports as the nation's sole offshore terminal, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), stopped loading tanker ships on Sunday, while the port of New Orleans closed on Monday.The U.S.
U.S. Oil Firms Hit Brakes on Return-to-work as Virus Cases Soar
U.S. energy companies slammed the brakes on returning staff to their Houston offices as COVID-19 cases soared and top hospitals warned they could soon run out of beds for the most severely ill patients.A record number of new illnesses in Texas this week spurred local officials to impose restrictions as new cases topped 5,000 on two days in a row. Intensive care unit (ICU) beds were 97% full at Houston's Texas Medical Center, which said it may soon move to surge ICU capacity assignments…
Enterprise Offers Crude Shipments From Gulf Coast to Cushing
Enterprise Products Partners LP said it would offer spot shipments of crude on an existing pipeline from the U.S. Gulf coast to Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for benchmark U.S. crude futures, as demand to store oil inland surges.The move marks a sharp reversal from recent pipeline projects that were all built connecting inland markets to the Gulf Coast as U.S. crude exports climbed to record highs after Washington lifted a ban in late 2015.However, the coronavirus pandemic has crushed global oil demand and dented U.S.
Trafigura, Phillips 66 to Build Deepwater Texas Oil Port
Global commodities trader Trafigura said on Friday it had formed a joint venture with U.S. refiner Phillips 66 to build a major deepwater port in Texas capable of handling supertankers, ditching its own competing project.The Bluewater Texas Terminal, which will be located 21 nautical miles east of the entrance to Corpus Christi port, will consist of two single point mooring buoys that can load Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) capable of carrying…
US Sanctions on Rosneft Trading Shifting Crude Flows
U.S. sanctions on Russian Rosneft's trading arm will disrupt a slice of global crude flows and may prompt refineries in Europe, India and the United States to shift purchases to other crude suppliers, traders said.The United States on Tuesday redoubled efforts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by barring U.S. dealings with Rosneft Trading S.A., a subsidiary of Russia's state oil major Rosneft, which Washington said provides him a financial lifeline.
Offshore Wind to Hydrogen Project Progresses
The next phase of Gigastack, a renewable hydrogen project, has secured GBP 7.5 million funding as part of the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Hydrogen Supply Competition.The Gigastack project, led by ITM Power, Ørsted, Phillips 66 Limited and Element Energy, will show how renewable hydrogen derived from offshore wind can support the UK's 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emission target. Producing hydrogen has traditionally been associated with high carbon emissions, but by using renewable electricity, e.g.
Oil Prices Climb on Hopes of Deeper OPEC+ Production Cuts
Oil prices edged higher on Thursday as investors focused on the possibility of deeper supply cuts from the world's biggest producers, whilst largely shrugging off reports which cut demand forecasts after the coronavirus outbreak in China, the biggest oil importer.Brent crude was up 32 cents, or 0.6%, at $56.11 a barrel by 10:52 a.m. ET (1552 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 14 cents at $51.31 a barrel.The energy complex was led higher by U.S.
US Refiners Grab HSFO on Back of IMO 2020
U.S. refiners are scooping up cheap high-sulfur fuel oil for processing from Russia and the Baltic states as they take advantage of new shipping rules that have cut demand for the dirtier marine fuel, according to oil traders and shipping data.U.S. refiners Valero Corp, Chevron Corp and Phillips 66 have been buying HSFO, traders said, taking advantage of their complex operations to turn HSFO blended with crude oils into products like diesel, gasoil and gasoline.This month…
Corpus Christi Crude Exports Boom
U.S. crude exports from Corpus Christi, Texas, have surged to a record in recent weeks, often surpassing hubs such as Houston and Beaumont, Texas, thanks to faster-than-expected infrastructure additions.The infrastructure boom at Corpus Christi helped push crude exports there to a weekly record of 1.59 million barrels per day (bpd) in late December, more than doubling levels that held for the first eight months of last year, and above Houston's 2019 peak of 1.36 million bpd…
Flooding Disrupts U.S. Gulf Coast Energy Operations
Energy infrastructure on the U.S. Gulf Coast was hit hard by Tropical Storm Imelda on Thursday, as flooding forced a major refinery, a key oil pipeline, terminals and a ship channel in Texas to shut, according to sources familiar with operations.Torrential rain has inundated the Gulf Coast from Houston to western Louisiana for a second straight day. The National Hurricane Center forecast the storm could drop up to 40 inches (102 cm) of rain along the southeastern coast of Texas through Thursday night.Ship pilots stopped boarding vessels on the Beaumont…
Battered U.S. Oil Producers Soar on Saudi Attacks
Shares of U.S. oil and gas companies surged on Monday, as a jump in oil prices in the wake of attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities drove a relief rally in one of the S&P 500's worst performing sectors this year.Shares in major energy conglomerates including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp jumped nearly 3%, while some of this year's weakest performers saw huge gains: Chesapeake Energy Corp was up 17%, Denbury Resources up 26% and California Resources up 15%.Oil prices at one point surged nearly 20%…
W. Africa Crude Traders Await Sept Programs
Some August-loading Angolan cargoes cleared but trading was slow on Monday as new programs were expected to emerge this week.The preliminary Angolan loading program for September is expected to emerge on Tuesday. New Nigerian programs are expected at the end of the week.BP's August-loading cargo of Girassol, two August-loading cargoes of Mostarda were sold to India's Reliance, China's Unipec and an independent Chinese refiner, a trader said.
U.S. Refiner Phillips 66 Enters Offshore Oil Export Race
U.S. oil refiner Phillips 66 is proposing a deepwater crude export terminal off the U.S. Gulf Coast, challenging at least eight other projects aiming to send U.S. shale oil to world markets, according to a memo and a source who asked not to be named.The project, called Bluewater Texas Terminal LLC, signals another major expansion of its logistics operations. The fourth largest U.S. refiner last week formed joint ventures to build pipelines linking shale fields in West Texas and North Dakota to the Cushing, Oklahoma, oil hub and the U.S.
US Buyers Turn to Offshore Crude
U.S. sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry have made winners out of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc, Gulf of Mexico offshore heavyweights, as refiners in need of substitutes are scooping up oil produced in the region.Those two companies produce notable amounts of crude oil that refiners have settled on as the immediate replacement for the heavy Venezuelan crude that U.S. refiners relied on for years. Trading volumes in these grades of oil have surged to the highest in months, and prices touched five-year peaks after sanctions were imposed.U.S.
Phillips 66, Kinder Announce Gray Oak Pipeline Deliveries to Houston
Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan Inc began on Monday soliciting shipper commitments for crude deliveries on the 900,000 barrel per day (bpd) Gray Oak Pipeline from the Permian Basin to delivery points at or near the Houston Ship Channel, the companies said.The Gray Oak Pipeline would deliver crude to the Houston area through a connection in South Texas. The pipeline is one analysts believe could help alleviate a crude oil transportation bottleneck in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico. (Reuters, Reporting by Collin Eaton in Houston)
Phillips 66 Reports Soaring Q4 Profit
U.S. refiner Phillips 66 reported a more than four-fold surge in fourth-quarter adjusted profit on Friday, helped by low crude prices that boosted refining margins.On an adjusted basis, net income rose to $2.26 billion, or $4.87 per share, in the quarter, from $548 million, or $1.07 per share, a year earlier.The Houston, Texas-based company said its realized refining margins rose to $16.53 per barrel in the fourth quarter, from $8.98 per barrel a year earlier.Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar
Big Crude Oil Margins Should Boost US Refiner Earnings
U.S. refiners ran full-tilt in the second quarter, fueled by cheap domestic crude and fat margins that should boost earnings, though their heavy activity could eventually saturate the market with gasoline, sapping profits down the road.U.S. independent refiners, including Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum Corp, are expected to announce strong results due to the heavy discounts for U.S. and Canadian crude, along with strong fuel demand and lower costs to comply with the nation's biofuel laws…
