Iraq, seeking to double its domestic refining capacity and reduce expensive imports, has offered discounted oil and acreage to companies willing to invest $20 billion on four refineries.

The Turkish government will meet with international oil companies on July 1 to discuss ways of bypassing the busy Bosporus and Dardenelles straits, which are used by shippers to transport crude oil from the Black Sea region to international markets.

China National Petroleum Corp. said it has begun construction on two oil and natural gas pipeline projects that will link southwestern China and Myanmar.

The Turkish government, taking up an earlier idea proposed by Russia, is considering legislation aimed at applying heavy sanctions on oil companies in the event of tanker accidents in the congested Bosporus Strait.

Processing Trains 1 and 2 are operating at Cairn Energy PLC’s Mangala processing terminal in Rajasthan, India, said the company in a recent summary of its 2010 operations.

Marseille-Fos Port brought on stream a fourth docking post for crude where the initial tanker has already docked.

State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) will begin a major expansion of its oil export terminal at Kulevi on Georgia’s Black Sea coastline, according to a senior executive of the firm.

A judgment handed down Mar. 31 by the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed that Total SA “had been imprudent” in implementing its vessel-vetting process for the Erika tanker, which spilled oil in December 2009 that damaged 400 km of Brittany’s coast.

El Paso Pipeline Partners LP will pay $810 million for a 51% interest in both Southern LNG Co. LLC and El Paso Elba Express Co. LLC to El Paso Corp.

The Manatee County Port Authority Mar. 18 approved a long-term $30 million agreement with Port Dolphin Energy LLC for construction of an LNG port facility and pipeline off Florida.