The prime contractor for an upgrade of the 180,000-b/d Petroleos de Venezuela SA refinery at Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, has let a contract for construction of key modularized units to Wison Offshore & Marine Ltd. (OGJ Online, July 29, 2011).

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of the northwest province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to build a 40,000-b/d refinery on about 400 acres in Kohat district of K-P, the state-owned company reported.

Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Co. Ltd. (Yasref) has awarded a 2-year engineering services to SNC-Lavilin Fayez Engineering for the refinery and petrochemical plant under construction at Yanbu on the Red Sea. The company is a Saudi Arabia-registered subsidiary of SNC-Lavilin, Montreal.

Phillips 66 plans to develop a 100,000-b/d NGL fractionator at Old Ocean, Tex., near the company’s Sweeny refinery, some 40 miles southwest of Houston. If all approvals are received on schedule, construction will begin in first-half 2014 with start-up by second-half 2015, the company said.

Repsol has started up a 40,000-b/d delayed coker at the Petronor refinery at Muskiz near Bilbao, Spain, in a project that expands crude capacity to 240,000 b/d from 220,000 b/d.

Suncor Energy Inc., Calgary, has scrapped plans for the Voyageur upgrader project near Fort McMurray, Alta., and has acquired partner Total E&P Canada Ltd.’s interest for $515 million.

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.

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).

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.

Engineering and plant design are in final stages for a diesel refinery in southwestern North Dakota that will process 20,000 b/d of Bakken crude oil.

Plans for Vietnam’s second refinery have advanced with the issuance by Nghi Son Refinery & Petrochemical LLC (NSRP) of a letter of award for key contracts to a consortium of construction firms (OGJ Online, Mar. 28, 2008).

Cambodian Petrochemical Co. Ltd., through a contractor, has let a licensing and engineering services contract to KBR for a hydrocracker at a 5-million tonne/year (tpy) refinery planned in Cambodia.

Kuwait National Petroleum Co. has let a $528 million project management consultancy contract to AMEC, London, for the 615,000 b/d refinery planned at Al Zour (OGJ Online, July 1, 2011).

Partners in the North West Redwater Partnership have approved construction of the first phase of the Sturgeon bitumen refinery in the Industrial Heartland area of Alberta (OGJ Online, Jan. 28, 2010).