Niger has awarded nine production sharing agreements to five exploration companies that will seek to follow the lead of China National Petroleum Corp., which established the country’s first hydrocarbon production in late 2011.

Valero Energy Corp. is considering a separation of its retail business from refining and other operations, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Klesse.

US refiners’ ability to meet federal requirements for renewable fuels will be strained for the rest of 2012. But that’s nothing compared with what they face in 2013, according to a recently updated analysis of grains and ethanol by Dallas consulting firm Muse Stancil & Co.

Caltex has decided to close its Kurnell refinery on Botany Bay, just south of Sydney, and convert the facility into a fuel import terminal at a cost of $680 million (Aus.).

The American Petroleum Institute has filed a lawsuit in US Circuit Court for the District of Columbia on July 24 to challenge the US Environmental Protection Agency’s mandated use of cellulosic biofuels under the 2011 Renewable Fuel Standard.

Proponents of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) told a US Senate committee that they’re seeking equal, not special, treatment under federal law. NGVs provide comparable environmental and energy security benefits as their electric counterparts and deserve similar federal support, they maintained.

Indonesia’s state oil firm Pertamina will partner with Celanese Corp. of Dallas to develop synthetic fuel-ethanol projects in the Asian country, Celanese reported.

Another operator, this time in Canada, is looking to monetize its propane volumes with a propane dehydrogenation unit (PDH). Tulsa-based Williams Cos. Inc. has announced it is exploring construction of a PDH unit in Alberta.

PDVSA Petroleo SA has let a contract to a unit of Foster Wheeler’s global engineering and construction group for the engineering, procurement, and construction management for the expansion of PDVSA’s El Palito refinery near Pto. Cabello, Carabobo state.

Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Mumbai, has let a contract to Engineers India Ltd. (EIL) for consultancy services related to an expansion and upgrade of its Kochi refinery at Ambalmugal in the Indian state of Kerala.

BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to pay $13 million in fines to settle more than 400 process safety violations at its Texas City, Tex., refinery identified in a 2009 follow-up investigation of a 2005 explosion at the facility that killed 15 workers, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration reported.

Reliance Industries Ltd. has selected Technip to provide technology and engineering for the refinery off-gas cracker expansion at its 1.24 million b/d Jamnagar refinery and petrochemical complex in Gujarat, India.