Naftec SPA, a unit of Sonatrach, is nearing mechanical completion on a paraxylene production plant in Skikda, Algeria, according to technology licensor GTC Technology, Houston.

Lukoil will use Axens technology for a cracked-gasoline desulfurization unit at its 337,000 b/d Kstovo refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia.

Delphi Energy Corp., Calgary, started Montney gas-liquids production on May 13, 2012, its 30 MMcfd compression and dehydration facility at Bigstone East northwest of Edmonton, Alta.

While total US demand for oil products dipped in April, gasoline demand climbed almost 1% from a year earlier to average 8.842 million b/d, according to the latest monthly statistical report from the American Petroleum Institute.

Imperial Oil Ltd. said it will offer its 88,000 b/d Dartmouth refinery near Halifax, NS, for sale while it studies alternatives for the facility that is not meeting its financial expectations.

Engine durability tests by the Coordinating Research Council, which studies the interaction of engines and petroleum products, found leaks from uneven valve seat wear and pittage in two of eight 2001-09 vehicle engines run for 500 hr on a 15% ethanol-85% gasoline fuel blend, the organization supported by the American Petroleum Institute and automobile manufacturers said.

Copano Energy LLC, Houston, will add 400 MMcfd of cryogenic processing capacity at its Houston Central complex, in Colorado County, Tex., west of Houston, the company reported.

Two companies will study the feasibility of building a facility in Guatemala to upgrade heavy crude oil.

US Interior Sec. Ken Salazar hailed the collaboration that made an agreement possible as he signed the record of decision authorizing Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s Greater Natural Buttes natural gas project in eastern Utah.

The Technology Center Mongstad, built to test technologies for capturing carbon dioxide from post-combustion gases, has been inaugurated near Bergan, Norway (OGJ Online, Nov. 10, 2011).