Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) has started the process of commissioning an integrated polypropylene unit at its refinery in Mangalore, India, following the recent completion of a modernization project designed to increase the capacity and flexibility of crude oil processing at the plant.

Bangchak Petroleum Public Co. Ltd. (BCP) is planning to increase crude oil processing capacity at its Bangkok, Thailand, refinery, as part of its goal to boost the plant’s overall efficiency and future business performance.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) is conducting both planned and unplanned maintenance work at three of its Venezuelan refineries.

Qatar Shell Ltd., a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, has started a scheduled maintenance turnaround on one of two identical production trains at its Pearl gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City.

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), Mumbai, has let a contract to Metso Corp., Helsinki, to supply valve technology as part of the Phase 3 expansion project at its 1.24 million-b/d Jamnagar refining and petrochemical complex in Gujarat, India.

Oneok Partners LP, Tulsa, has suspended construction on 500 MMcfd of gas processing capacity at three plants in the Williston basin of North Dakota, Powder River basin in Wyoming, and Anadarko basin in Oklahoma. The actions are in response to lower commodity prices, especially for natural gas and NGLs, the company reported in its Feb. 24 earnings call.

The United Steelworkers union (USW) has launched additional work stoppages at the largest refinery in the US and three other facilities as part of USW’s unfair labor practice (ULP) strike.