Prospects for new bitumen upgraders in Alberta have soured since the global recession of 2008, notes a study published by IHS on the same day plans were reported cancelled for a large project near Fort McMurray (OGJ Online, Mar. 27, 2013).

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.

Construction has begun of the 20,000-b/d Dakota Prairie Refinery west of Dickinson, ND, which will yield mainly diesel from Bakken crude oil (OGJ Online, Feb. 7, 2013).

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec Corp.) agreed to form a joint venture with parent company China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec Group) to be called Sinopec International Petroleum E&P Hongkong Overseas Ltd.

US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ronald L. Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the Environmental Protection Agency for data to explain unprecedented volatility in the market for Renewable Identification Numbers (RIN). RINs are designed to help refiners meet alternative fuel volume requirements under the federal Renewable Fuels Standard.

The US House Energy and Commerce Committee launched a bipartisan review of the federal Renewable Fuel Standard with a white paper addressing the so-called “blend wall,” the point at which adding the required ethanol volumes to gasoline supplies would result in a blend above the currently allowable 10% ethanol limit.

The American Petroleum Institute and two Republican US senators separately asked the Environmental Protection Agency to address renewable identification number (RIN) costs, which have jumped by 1,400% since the beginning of 2012.

Existing federal regulations, many of which mandate specific fuels and restrict refining capacity additions, make continued US gasoline price volatility very likely, a Mar. 15 report from Energy Policy Research Foundation Inc. (EPRINC) suggested.

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).

Dubai Natural Gas Co Ltd. (Dugas) has let a contract to Tebodin, The Hague, for detailed design of a 35% expansion of its methyl tertiary butyl ether plant at Jebel Ali.