Asahi Kasei Corp. and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. reached an agreement to unify and jointly operate their naphtha cracking operations in Mizushima, Japan.

An investigation is under way into a fire that broke out on Mar. 3 at TAIF Group’s 7 million tonne/year Nizhnekamsk refinery in Tatarstan, Russia.

New Zealand Refining Co. Ltd. (NZRC) has entered into a partnership with BP PLC and Z Energy Ltd. to buy crude oil for processing at NZRC’s 107,000-b/d Marsden Point refinery at Northland on the North Island’s east coast.

Byco Oil Petroleum Ltd. (BOPL), a subsidiary of Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd., has commissioned its long-awaited 120,000-b/d refinery in Baluchistan Province, Pakistan.

New Zealand Refining Co. Ltd. (NZRC) said the expansion of its 107,000-b/d Marsden Point refinery at Northland on the North Island’s east coast remains on track.

Irving Oil Ltd. has started 6 weeks of scheduled maintenance on several processing units at its 250,000-b/d St. John refinery in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick.

Partners in the North West Redwater Partnership (NWR) have let a contract to Worley Parsons Group Inc. to provide detailed engineering and procurement services for the tankfarm, piperack, and flare units of Phase 1 of NWR’s greenfield bitumen refinery project in Sturgeon County, about 45 km northeast of Edmonton, Alta.