Venezuela’s Petroleos de Venezuela SA said it has secured the $400 million it needs as an initial guarantee for the construction of the Abreu e Lima refinery in Brazil.

Hellenic Petroleum SA expects to complete work next year on upgrades of two of its refineries in Greece.

Saudi Aramco has signed a series of engineering, procurement, and construction contracts for the 400,000-b/d export refinery it plans at Yanbu Industrial City on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Coast.

A Turkish concern has awarded a contract to Shaw Group Inc., Baton Rouge, to provide project management consultancy for a 212,000 b/cd grassroots refinery in Yumurtalik near Ceyhan on Turkey’s eastern Mediterranean coast.

The start-up of Brazil’s planned 230,000-b/d Abreu e Lima refinery, now under construction in Pernambuco state, has been delayed by another 7 months, according to an executive of state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras).

Pasadena Refining System Inc. (PRSI), a subsidiary of Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), has selected Fluor to provide front-end engineering study services for a prospective US refinery project.

The Ugandan government has let contract to Foster Wheeler AG’s Global Engineering & Construction Group for a feasibility study of a 150,000-b/d refinery, which would be Uganda’s first.

State-owned Petroleum Co. of Trinidad & Tobago Ltd. (Petrotrin) said the cost of upgrading its 175,000-b/d Pointe-a-Pierre refinery has escalated to $1.3 billion from earlier projections of just $350 million.

Saudi Aramco was tapped to build and finance the $10 billion Jazan refinery. Its capacity will be 250,000-400,000 b/d, said Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi.

Foster Wheeler AG said Refineria de Cartagena SA (Reficar) has accepted the offer by a joint venture of Foster Wheeler USA Corp. and Process Consultants Inc. to serve as consultant for the expansion of the Cartagena refinery.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC reported last week it has withdrawn from talks with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. that were to lead to construction of a $9 billion, 300,000-b/d refinery in China’s Guongdong province.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has signed five contracts, valued at $5.165 billion, for the planned 230,000-b/d Abreu e Lima refinery, a joint venture with Petroleos de Venezuela SA (OGJ, Nov. 9, 2009, Newsletter).

Brazil’s Petroleo Brazileiro SA (Petrobras) and the Rio Grande do Norte state government signed the final contract for expansion works at the Refiniaria Potiguar Clara Camarao, aiming to boost its installed capacity and deploy a gasoline production unit.

Ecopetrol’s Refineria de Cartagena SA has hired CB&I, Houston, to provide engineering, procurement services, and construction for a new 165,000-b/d refinery adjacent Reficar’s refinery in Cartagena, Colombia.