There were few damage reports from oil and gas industry’s initial assessment of platforms, rigs, pipelines, and refineries following Hurricane Isaac, and the storm, downgraded to a tropical depression on Aug. 30, moved out of Louisiana and into Arkansas.

Five refineries were shut down and six others operated at reduced rates as the slow-moving Isaac made its way across Louisiana where it was downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm several hours after making landfall near New Orleans late on Aug. 28.

Industry had shut in most of the US Gulf of Mexico offshore crude production before Hurricane Isaac made landfall in Plaquemines Parish, La., Aug. 29 as a slow-moving Category 1 hurricane.

The French government and major fuel suppliers have agreed to take steps aimed at lowering costs to consumers of gasoline and diesel.

Firefighters continued to battle flare-ups at tanks in the Amuay section of the 940,000-b/d Paraguana Refining Center in Venezuela Aug. 29, 4 days after a deadly explosion and fire. The death toll rose to 48.

Gunvor Group Ltd. has restarted the 100,000-b/d refinery in Ingolstadt, Germany, that it acquired from Petroplus Holdings AG earlier this year.

Firefighting extended into a third day at a storage area of the big Paraguana Refining Center in Venezuela after an Aug. 25 explosion and fire in the Amuay section that killed at least 41 people, according to press reports.

Flint Hills Resources is considering a revamp of its 230,000-b/d Corpus Christi West refinery in Texas to increase runs of crude oil from the nearby Eagle Ford shale play.

Two Sinclair Oil Corp. refineries in Wyoming agreed to pay more than $3.8 million in fines and spend $10.5 million for additional equipment and other projects to resolve alleged violations of a 2008 consent decree at the facilities, the US Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency jointly announced on Aug. 20.

A federal appeals court dismissed a legal challenge to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s introduction of gasoline with a higher ethanol blend into the marketplace.

Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP, Indianapolis, has signed a definitive agreement to buy Montana Refining Co. Inc., which operates a small heavy-oil refinery in Great Falls, Mont., for $120 million plus an amount for working capital to be determined later.