State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has started additional maintenance on units within its 239,000-b/d Heydar Aliyev (formerly New Baku) refinery at Baku, Azerbaijan.

Suncor Energy Inc. has started planned maintenance at its 137,000-b/d refinery in Montreal, Que.

LyondellBasell has ceased discussions with Sotragem SA, Monaco, for the sale of its shuttered 105,000-b/d Berre refinery in France to Sotragem SAM.

Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC) has finalized lump-sum turnkey contracts previously let to three groups of oil and gas service providers for work related to its Clean Fuels Project (CFP) at the Mina Abdullah and Mina Al Ahmadi refineries in southern Kuwait.

Higher North American crude oil production, shrinking product markets, and a pair of federal regulations have significantly affected the US refining outlook, the US Government Accountability Office said in an Apr. 14 report.

Shintech Inc., the US subsidiary of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd., Tokyo, has applied to the Louisiana Department of Environment Quality (LDEQ) for a permit to build a grassroots ethylene plant.

Bad weather and additional repairs have led to a delay in planned maintenance that began in March at New Zealand Refining Co. Ltd.’s (NZRC) 107,000-b/d Marsden Point refinery at Northland on the North Island’s east coast.