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As Hurricane Ike bore down on one of the world's largest concentrations of oil refineries, workers scrambled to shut down production and join hundreds of thousands of residents evacuating the area. The resulting spike in gasoline prices could be short-lived if damage is light. But the longer-term impact won’t be known until the storm passes and floodwaters subside. After high prices forced consumers to find ways to conserve, demand for gasoline has fallen steadily this summer — and prices had been following the same downward trend. But this year’s hurricane season is putting a crimp in supplies that has sent...

A recent proposal to expand the Big West of California refinery on Rosedale Highway without using new toxic chemicals has been gaining public support. In comment letters submitted to the county in response to a revised environmental impact report on the project, individuals and groups have favored Alternative D, the new approach that’s been called “environmentally superior” to the company’s original plans to use the toxic chemical modified hydrofluoric, said Kern County Planning Department Division Chief Lorelei Oviatt. “Overall, people think Alternative D is a good idea,” Oviatt said. Adams, Broadwell, Joseph and Cardozo, a San Francisco law firm representing...

Apparently some people in America aren't too concerned about paying more than $4.00 a gallon for gas. CNS News reports that while BP wants to expand a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is fighting the expansion. So what if the expansion increased gas and diesel production by 1.7 million gallons a day. So what if the expansion created 2,000 construction jobs and 80 permanent jobs. Now, I've never driven through Whiting, Indiana, but I have driven through and stopped in Billings, Montana many times. Driving along I-90, refinery infrastructure is about all you see. I...

Established in 1955, the al Doura Refinery, located in south central Baghdad, has the capacity to produce 90,000 barrels per day of diesel and gasoline product. Minister of Oil Directorate General, Dathar Taheen, is spearheading a Government of Iraq-funded refinery construction program that will increase the Doura Refinery's production capacity by an additional 140,000 barrels per day. USACE Photo. BAGHDAD — In the Doura district of Baghdad, security is improved near one of Iraq’s older oil refineries.Al Doura refinery, a rusting relic of Saddam’s pervasive neglect of oil infrastructure, wouldn’t seem to be the likely bastion of wind and solar...

Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) have said in recent weeks that U.S. oil refineries should be "socialized" -- that is, nationalized and run by the federal government. But Waters apparently is now backing away from those comments...

Call your Congressmen and tell them to sponsor this bill! 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2279 To expedite the construction of new refining capacity on closed military installations in the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES A BILL To expedite the construction of new refining capacity on closed military installations in the United States, and for other purposes. snip SEC. 2. STATE PARTICIPATION AND PRESIDENTIAL DESIGNATION. (a) Designation Requirement- Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall designate no less than 3 closed military installations, or...

It was astonishing to hear Maxine Waters openly discuss nationalizing the oil industry. She was talking to the heads of America’s oil companies, and she was a little worked up, so it was also possible to say that it was just one person, speaking impulsively in a moment of anger, and easily dismissed. What left most conservatives and libertarians staring in slack jawed wonder was when Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) stood before the press and advocated nationalizing the oil refineries. While most have known about the socialist beliefs of the left, what surprised them was the matter of fact manner in...

Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) have said in recent weeks that U.S. oil refineries should be "socialized" -- that is, nationalized and run by the federal government. But Waters apparently is now backing away from those comments. In speaking to oil company executives at a May 22 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Waters tried to hold her tongue but nonetheless said: "This liberal will be all about socializing, uh, uh ... would be about basically taking over and the government running all of your companies." At a June 18 press conference, Rep. Hinchey said he...

In fact, Representative Maurice Hinchey stated that “we (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.”

Urgent: House Democrats call for nationalization of refineries Per Pergram-Capitol Hill House Democrats responded to President's Bush's call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. This was at an on-camera press conference fed back live. Among other things, the Democrats called for the government to own refineries so it could better control the flow of the oil supply. They also reasserted that the reason the Appropriations Committee markup (where the vote on the amendment to lift the ban) was cancelled so they could focus on preparing the supplemental Iraq spending bill for tomorrow. At an off-camera briefing, House...

Fox news alert that the House Democrats are calling to have all US refineries nationalized!!

Union County approves zoning ordinance for Hyperion By Dave Dreeszen Journal business editor ELK POINT, S.D. -- Flashing a smile, Joyce Bortscheller briefly hugged Hyperion Energy Center executive Preston Phillips as she greeted him in the backyard of her home here. Bortscheller, president of the Elk Point City Council, had invited about 250 supporters to an outdoor barbecue Tuesday to await the returns for arguably the most important election in Union County's history. The big crowd didn't leave disappointed. As midnight approached, they popped the champagne corks, celebrating a hard-fought victory that keeps alive the county's chances of landing the...

It's been a long time coming but it looks like we may get our first new oil refinery in over 30 years. By a margin of 58% to 42% the voters in Union County, S.D. have approved the re-zoning of 3292 acres for a new oil refinery. Hyperion Energy has promised billions of dollars in capital investment and thousands of high paying jobs. The construction of the refinery will require 4500 jobs over a four year period and when the plant is in operation it will provide over 1800 full time jobs at a pay scale of $20-$30 dollars per...

ELK POINT, S.D. — Voters in Union County on Tuesday approved rezoning for what would be the first new U.S. oil refinery in more than 30 years.With all 13 precincts reporting, 3,932 voters, or 58 percent, endorsed their county commission's rezoning of almost 3,300 acres north of Elk Point for the $10 billion refinery while 2,855, or 42 percent, opposed it. The ballot measure garnered solid support in the southern part of the county, with the Dakota Dunes precinct voting in favor 1,017-237 and the one containing North Sioux City approving the ordinance 492-184. Most rural precincts strongly rejected the...

US appears to have built its last refinery 12-06-01 No new refineries have been built in the US in the past 25 years. And petroleum industry experts say anyone would have to be crazy to launch such an effort -- even though present refineries are running at nearly 100 % of capacity and local gasoline shortages are beginning to crop up. Why does the industry appear to have built its last refinery? Three reasons: Refineries are not particularly profitable, environmentalists fight planning and construction every step of the way and government red-tape makes the task all but impossible. The last...

State oil company Saudi Aramco plans to invest $129 billion on new energy projects in the next five years, Reuters reported. About $70 billion of the total would be spent by international and domestic joint ventures, and the remaining $59 billion on projects solely undertaken by Aramco, Khalid al-Falih, the company's executive vice president of operations, told Reuters in an interview in Manama, Bahrain on Sunday. ... The new figure includes refinery projects in the U.S. and China...

NGHI SON, Vietnam (AFP) - Energy-hungry Vietnam started building its second oil refinery on Saturday, a 6.2 billion dollar complex, in a bid to feed the nation's booming economy, the State Oil company announced. Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam), the oil monopoly in the communist nation, set up a joint-venture with its counterparts from Japan and Kuwait to build Nghi Son refinery in the north of the country. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hailed the project at the ground-breaking ceremony, saying it was the country's most important and biggest power scheme, attracting capital investment of 6.2 billion dollars....

CALGARY -- With oil prices currently sky-high, it's a great time to be in the energy business - unless you own a refinery. The record oil prices that are pushing up producers' profits are also dampening demand for petroleum products, creating a glut of North American gasoline reflected by five-year inventory highs. And while gasoline prices have soared to well over $1.20 a litre in Canada, the surplus stocks mean they haven't kept up with the soaring price of crude oil. As a result, the "crack spread" - the difference between the price of crude and the products refined from...

Hundreds of workers at Scotland's only oil refinery on Sunday began a 48-hour strike that has forced BP PLC to shut a pipeline system that delivers almost a third of Britain's North Sea oil. BP said it had completed the closure of the Forties Pipeline System by 6 a.m., when 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth refinery in central Scotland walked off the job. The pipeline brings in 700,000 barrels of oil a day from the North Sea to BP's Kinneil plant, which is powered from the Grangemouth site. Energy industry group Oil & Gas U.K. said the strike, over pension...

LONDON (Reuters) - A pipeline carrying nearly half of Britain's oil was closed on Sunday as a strike over pensions began at the neighboring Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, operator BP said. The refinery, owned by international chemical company Ineos, produces a tenth of Britain's petrol and diesel but also supplies vital steam to BP's Kinneil plant that starts to process the crude oil coming ashore from 70 North Sea fields. Unions have rejected pleas to operate the steam plant at the level necessary to keep Kinneil functioning during the two-day stoppage which began at 6 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT)....

NEW YORK — Retail gas prices surged to another milestone, rising above $3.30 a gallon Friday, and appear poised to rise further in coming weeks as supplies tighten. Oil prices, meanwhile, supported the gas price rally by jumping more than $2 a barrel after a dismal employment report sent the dollar lower. At the pump, gas prices rose 1.4 cents overnight to a national average of $3.303 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's the latest in a series of records, and about 60 cents higher than a year ago. In Ventura County, the average...

HAQLANIYAH, Iraq, March 27, 2008 – Marines and sailors delivered the first batch of personal protection equipment, valued at $118,000, to employees of the Northern Petroleum Co. at the K3 Oil refinery here March 25. Navy Lt. j.g. Eric Palmer, team leader of Civil Affairs Group Detachment 1, Team 6 of the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based Regimental Combat Team 5, delivers the first batch of personal protection gear to Iraqi employees of the Northern Petroleum Oil Company at the K3 Oil Refinery in Haqlaniyah, Iraq, March 25, 2008. Included were hearing protection, facial shields, goggles, gloves, coveralls, and steel-toed boots....

More than 300 people marched from downtown Point Richmond to the Chevron refinery today to protest the company they say is processing crude oil imported from Iraq. Vowing to blockade the facility, about 50 people formed human chains at the entrance to the refinery on Richmond Avenue as others held banners, sang and danced.The protesters were marching against the war in Iraq as well as a proposal to upgrade the refinery's processing capability. They accused Chevron of profiteering from the oil obtained by the Iraqi invasion that has cost many thousands of lives and billions of dollars.Kayla Starr, 66, from...

The Union County Board of Commissioners has approved a Texas company's request to turn 3,800 acres north of Elk Point into a planned development district for a $10 billion oil refinery. Tuesday morning's 5-0 vote on Hyperion Resources' request came eight days after about 150 people testified for and against the refinery. Opponents at the public hearing had asked the commission to take its time before approving the request.

  ethanol biorefinery Locations U.S. FUEL ETHANOL Industry biorefineries and Production CAPACITY(For a map of biorefinery locations, click HERE.) Company Location Feedstock Current Capacity(mgy) Under Construction/Expansions(mgy) Abengoa Bioenergy Corp. York, NE Corn/milo 55   Colwich, KS 25   Portales, NM 30   Ravenna, NE   88   Aberdeen Energy* Mina, SD Corn   100 Absolute Energy, LLC* St. Ansgar, IA Corn 100   ACE Ethanol, LLC Stanley, WI Corn 41   Adkins Energy, LLC* Lena, IL Corn 40   Advanced Bioenergy Fairmont, NE Corn 100   AGP* Hastings, NE Corn 52   Agri-Energy, LLC* Luverne, MN Corn 21  ...

Gasoline is $3.19 here in Ohio today. Is anyone fighting to lower the over reaching, restrictions on production. Is there any hope for the abilty to manufacture gasoline to dramatcally increase in the near future? If the answer is nothing, what then?

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil futures shot higher Tuesday, closing above $100 for the first time as investors bet that crude prices will keep climbing despite evidence of plentiful supplies and falling demand. At the pump, gas prices rose further above $3 a gallon. There was no single driver behind oil's sharp price jump; investors seized on an explosion at a 67,000 barrel per day refinery in Texas, the falling dollar, the possibility that OPEC may cut production next month, the threat of new violence in Nigeria and continuing tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela. The fact that there was...

I saw a post where it was said a hydrogen tank was leaking at the refinery. Nothing on the news about this. Should we be worried? I am up in Kentwood off work today.

<p>It was unclear whether there were injuries or whether a fire was burning at the refinery owned by Dallas-based Alon USA, which employs about 170 people and produces about 70,000 barrels a day.</p> <p>"All I know is that it blew up," said the dispatcher, who declined to give her name.</p>

Our local refinery just blew up. It's a bad one folks! I have allot of friends out there. Please Pray for them.

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. — Six people are dead, and up to 20 people are missing after an explosion at a sugar refinery in Georgia. State fire officials told FOX News that six bodies have been found in the Imperial Sugar Company refinery. Savannah-Chatham County Police Chief Michael Berkow said Friday he could not say exactly how many were missing. He told families of missing workers that rescue efforts at the refinery, which continued to burn through midday Friday, had shifted to recovery operations hours after the explosion erupted late Thursday.

Years of shoddy maintenance and mounting shortages of spare parts have left Venezuela's second-largest oil refinery barely capable of functioning, three sources at the refinery told Reuters. State oil company PDVSA's 300,000 barrels per day Cardon refinery is currently operating at minimal rates because four of its six steam boilers are out of service, leaving the facility without enough steam to keep units functioning, the three sources said. Cardon normally uses the steam from five boilers and holds the sixth in reserve, the sources said. "They don't have the equipment. There are no spare parts, and they don't have them...

Energy chief Bodman and others hail Motiva's $7 billion project at groundbreaking in Port Arthur ARTHUR — U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Monday that a $7 billion expansion of Motiva Enterprises' Port Arthur refinery will be needed to meet the nation's rising energy needs even if federal lawmakers pass an energy bill that curbs U.S. gasoline usage in coming years. "It's clear we're going to use a lot of oil and gas in this country over the next several decades. That's why this investment makes sense," Bodman told reporters after a groundbreaking ceremony for the Motiva expansion. U.S. energy...

This past week Americans traveled approximately 2 billion miles to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with family and loved ones. While you cannot put a price on time with family, Americans sure felt the pain of higher fuel prices at the gas pump. It is time to take an honest look at the government's direct and indirect role in inflating those prices. Taxation is the most direct way government increases Americans' cost at the pump. The national average price of gas now is well over $3.00 per gallon now, $4 in some areas. Federal taxes take 18.4 cents, while state and...

TEHRAN, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Iran says it plans to build eight new oil refineries in a joint venture with private investors. "The refineries are intended to supply domestic market needs but the surplus will be exported to neighboring countries," Amin-allah Eskandari, an Iranian Oil Ministry official, told Iran's PressTV in Tehran.

DAMASCUS, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The Syrian government has signed an agreement with Iran, Venezuela and a Malaysian conglomerate to build a 140,000-barrel per day refinery in central Syria, the official news agency said on Wednesday. Production is expected to start in 2011, helping to lessen Syria's reliance on imported fuel. Numerous plans for new refineries in Syria have hit delay and did not materialise. The $2.6 billion deal follows the strengthening of political ties between the Damascus government, which is under U.S. sanctions, and the three countries. The Syrian news agency said Venezuela and Iran will help supply the...

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco on Friday said they would go ahead with a $7 billion expansion of the Port Arthur, Tex. refinery that would create the largest U.S. refinery and one of the biggest worldwide. The plan is to expand the refinery's capabilities by 325,000 barrels a day, resulting in a refinery with a throughput capacity of 600,000 barrels a day, according to a statement from Motiva Enterprises, the jointly held unit of Shell and the state-owned Saudi Aramco.

SEALY – Just north of Sealy, on State Highway 36, sits a brand new refinery of sorts. Not the monster sized ones that are well known in Pasadena and Texas City. But rather a small yellow and red contraption that was wheeled in on the trailer of a semi truck. One you could easily miss if you didn’t know what it was. Postive Feeds, which makes livestock feed from molasses in Sealy, is the first in the country to buy the BIOCOM 4000. In one day, its manufacturer, Houston-based Crystal Fuels, said this yellow and red mobile refinery could turn...

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - A fire broke out Thursday at Chevron's largest U.S. refinery in Pascagoula, but authorities said there were no immediate reports of injuries. Pascagoula Fire Department Capt. Terry Turgeau told The Associated Press that about 20 firefighters from Pascagoula and Jackson County were standing by, but Chevron (nyse: CVX - news - people )'s own fire crews were fighting the blaze. "It looks pretty big," Turgeau said. "Just looking from the station it looks pretty large." Steve Renfroe, a Chevron spokesman, said Chevron crews were trying to contain the blaze. "Our emergency response crews are responding to that...

The Royal Dutch/Shell Group is gearing up to tackle one of the biggest and costliest projects in oilpatch and Canadian construction history. The company announced Monday that it has filed a regulatory application to build a new upgrader east of Edmonton to serve its oilsands expansion projects in northern Alberta and that the cost could run as high as $27 billion. The Scotford Upgrader 2 will have a total capacity of up to 400,000 barrels per day and will be built in four phases, taking as long as two decades to complete. It will be located adjacent to Shell's existing...

Measures Designed to Boost Iraq's Capacity, End Fuel Shortages WASHINGTON, July 25 (UPI) -- Iraq's Parliament has approved a law privatizing the country's oil-refining sector in order to lure investment and stem a fuel shortage. The law, approved Tuesday, is a step toward relinquishing government involvement in the refining sector and, when poverty is alleviated, moving Iraqi consumers from state-subsidized to market prices for fuel. Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told United Press International Wednesday from his mobile phone in Baghdad that the government will provide incentives to both domestic and foreign private oil companies whose refinery plans the ministry approves....

Lightning Sparks Refinery Inferno Fire Extinguished at 8 p.m. By Dann Cuellar and T.J. Alexander July 11, 2007 - Gloucester County authorities battled the roaring flames of a refinery fire in West Deptford Wednesday night. At one point the blaze reached three alarms. It happened shortly after 4:30 p.m. when officials say lightning struck a 55-thousand barrel chemical storage tank at SUNOCO's eagle point refinery. The explosion set off a fire blowing the top off tank fifteen, containing 1.5 million gallons of xylene, which is used in gasoline, paint and solvents. Priority number 1 was keeping the fire from spreading...

Man accused of trying to help al-Qaida sought US public rebellion MICHAEL RUBINKAM The Associated Press SCRANTON, Pa. - A man charged with trying to help al-Qaida blow up U.S. energy facilities described in chilling detail a plan to target a natural gas refinery and wrote that it would lead to "instant rebellion" by an American public disgusted over the Iraq war... Michael C. Reynolds, 49, of Wilkes-Barre, is on trial here on federal charges of providing material support to terrorists. He was arrested in December 2005 after he tried to meet a purported al-Qaida contact near a hotel where...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Record fuel prices in the midst of a U.S. oil supply glut have underscored the growing failure of domestic refiners to keep up with demand in the world's biggest energy consumer. A crunch in spare refining capacity has left the United States vulnerable to supply disruptions from refinery accidents -- on the rise because of lingering damage from hurricanes and tough environmental regulations -- and bolstered the argument by oil cartel OPEC for keeping supply curbs in place. U.S. crude oil stocks surged last week to the highest level in more than nine years as refinery...

The U.S oil industry is scaling back its plans to expand refineries, which could keep gasoline prices high for years to come. President Bush has called for a 20 percent decline in gasoline use by 2017 and the Senate is debating legislation for huge increases in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel. Oil companies are becoming uncertain about future gasoline demand and plan to scale back on refinery capacity. Refiners are currently unable to keep up with demand and imports are down because of greater fuel demand in Europe and elsewhere. More refinery cancelations are expected if Congress...

ELK POINT, S.D. - A Texas-based energy firm planning to build the first U.S. oil refinery in more than 30 years said today that Union County is a finalist for the $8 billion project. The refinery, which Hyperion Resources Inc. described as a "green energy technology center,'' would create as many 10,000 construction jobs and employ 1,800 after its completion in four years. Hyperion also is considering "alternative sites'' in at least two other Midwest states, project executive Preston Phillips said at a late afternoon news conference at the county courthouse. A final decision should come by the first half...

Democrats shot down today a Republican amendment to the energy bill intended to encourage new refineries and other alternatives for producing transportation fuels. The amendment, by James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, would allow states and Indian tribes to opt into a new program to streamline the permitting process and provide grants for new refineries on former military bases and tribal lands. The language also would apply to advanced ethanol plants and coal-to-liquids plants that produce transportation fuels from coal. The amendment was rejected in a 43-52 party-line vote. Democrats blasted Inhofe’s...

WASHINGTON — With gasoline prices averaging $3.22 for a gallon of regular nationwide over the Memorial Day weekend, traditional economic logic might suggest that this would be a good time to invest in new U.S. oil refineries and increase the supply of gasoline. Yet no new refinery has been built in the United States in three decades, only one is in the works and oil companies are scaling back planned investments in new, expanded or modernized U.S. refineries rather than increasing them. Overseas, however — where it's generally cheaper and easier to build refineries — a boom in construction is...

It's unusual for gasoline prices to be higher in Colorado than in the rest of the nation, but here we are. Regular unleaded gas in the state averaged $3.223 a gallon this past weekend, 16 cents higher than the U.S. average. That means gas prices here have exceeded the all-time U.S. record, set in March 1981 when gas sold for the inflation-adjusted price of $3.079. Prices should ease over the next few weeks locally, as fires, power and other maintenance concerns have kept refineries that supply Colorado from producing to capacity. Nonetheless, outrage is rising and in many quarters "Big...

Lithuanian investigators accuse 2 Americans of negligence in refinery fire By Associated Press Wednesday, May 9, 2007 - Updated: 11:45 AM EST VILNIUS, Lithuania - Two U.S. citizens running Lithuania’s Mazeikiu Nafta oil refinery have been accused of negligence that led to a major fire last year, prosecutors said Wednesday. Refinery CEO Paul Nelson English and his deputy, Barton Lee Luck, have been charged with negligence, prosecutor Stasys Pleinys said, and both men have been barred from leaving the country pending the result of the investigation. English and Luck were not immediately available for comment. Fire broke out in the...