Existing federal regulations, many of which mandate specific fuels and restrict refining capacity additions, make continued US gasoline price volatility very likely, a Mar. 15 report from Energy Policy Research Foundation Inc. (EPRINC) suggested.

Crude oil has been removed from a barge that was under tow when it collided Mar. 12 with a liquefied petroleum gas pipeline near Bayou Perot 30 miles south of New Orleans, the US Coast Guard said.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. and the government of the Indian state of Rajasthan have signed a memorandum of understanding envisioning a refinery and petrochemical complex at Barmer, near oil fields producing and under development by Cairn India Ltd.

The PetroJunin joint venture between Venezuela’s PDVSA and Eni SPA has started heavy oil production from the first well in Junin-5 giant heavy oil field in the Orinoco belt.

Sibur and TNK-BP of Russia have extended gas-supply agreements and expanded the framework of cooperation within OOO Yugragazpererabotka, a gas-processing joint venture they formed in 2007.

Completion of a 300,000-b/d, full-conversion refinery by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. at Paradip, India, is expected in November, according to a government official (OGJ Online, Nov. 16, 2011).

Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPP) said shipper commitments support development of a 270-mile pipeline header system for delivery of ethane to US Gulf Coast petrochemical plants from the company’s storage complex at Mont Belvieu, Tex.

Dubai Natural Gas Co Ltd. (Dugas) has let a contract to Tebodin, The Hague, for detailed design of a 35% expansion of its methyl tertiary butyl ether plant at Jebel Ali.

BP-Husky Refining LLC has started up a new 42,000-b/d naphtha reformer at its 160,000-b/d Toledo Refinery in Oregon, Ohio (OGJ Online, Jan. 20, 2010).

CHS Inc., St. Paul, Minn., will boost refining capacity at the 85,000 b/d National Cooperative Refinery Association facility at McPherson, Kan., to 100,000 b/d by 2016 in a $327 million project.

US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ronald L. Wyden (D-Ore.) requested information from the US Energy Information Administration about rising US gasoline prices for a hearing he plans to hold on the situation.

Celanese Corp. and state-owned PT Pertamina (Persoro) of Indonesia have advanced an earlier agreement to build plants in the Asian country to make fuel ethanol from coal (OGJ Online, July 23, 2012).

Climbing unconventional gas and gas liquids production is leading to a chemical industry renaissance, stimulating new investment in the chemical business by ExxonMobil Corp. and other companies, said Stephen D. Pryor, president of ExxonMobil Chemical Co.