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Iraqi government forces engaged in fierce fighting with Sunni militants for control of the country's biggest refinery today as embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki resisted a growing clamour from the U.S. to step down. Pictures emerged today showing rebel forces had raised black jihadist banners and manned checkpoints around the key strategic oil facility in Baiji despite government forces insisting they were in 'complete control' of plant. Workers who had been inside the complex, which spreads for miles close to the Tigris river, said Sunni militants seemed to hold most of the compound in early morning and that security forces...

BAGHDAD (CBS News/CBSDC/AP) — Islamic militants attacked Iraq’s largest oil refinery late Tuesday, but were repelled by Iraqi security forces after an overnight battle, Iraqi officials said Wednesday. The al Qaeda splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) began their attack late Tuesday night, but fighting continued into Wednesday morning. There were unconfirmed reports that the militants had managed to gain control of much of the refinery compound, but in messages posted on their Facebook page, the Iraqi Special Operations force vehemently denied the claims. Iraqi special forces, backed up by air support, destroyed an...

Iraq's biggest oil refinery, Baiji, has been shut down and its foreign staff evacuated, refinery officials said on Tuesday, adding that local staff remain in place and the military is still in control of the facility “Due to the recent attacks of militants by mortars, the refinery administration decided to evacuate foreign workers for their safety and also to completely shut down production units to avoid extensive damage that could result," a chief engineer at the refinery said on condition of anonymity.

A Coast Guard inspection of a freighter docked at the Port of Longview "didn't uncover or reveal anything," a Coast Guard spokesman said Saturday, but the crew members are not allowed off the ship and security will be maintained until the ship leaves. "We were not expecting to find anything," Lt. Cmdr. Glynn Smith, the Coast Guard's public affairs officer for the Pacific area, said Saturday by telephone from his office in Alameda, Calif. The search was routine, according to the Coast Guard, but Longview officials said the security crackdown is the most port activity since the Sept. 11, 2001,...

In January, Hovensa entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department in which the company agreed to invest $700 million on pollution controls after a series of chemical releases affected people living downwind from the refinery. Hovensa also agreed to pay a $5.4 million penalty for violating the Clean Air Act. It is unclear how the agreement will be affected by the closure.

Dorgan, who chairs the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, announced a $457,000 federal Energy Department grant to study the feasibility of a new oil refinery in North Dakota. What I’ve never understood is why the Rural Electric Co-Op is getting an earmark to study an oil refinery. And on top of that, why are we spending almost a half a million of our grandchildren’s as-yet-unearned tax dollars on studying the feasibility of an oil refinery in the state ? Plus, we already have one refinery in the state and there’s another one in the works... Other than the fact...

PIERRE, S.D. - The South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment voted unanimously Thursday to approve an air quality permit for the proposed Hyperion Center, which would be the first new oil refinery built in the United States since 1976. The long-awaited decision moves the Dallas, Texas-based Hyperion a major step closer to starting construction in rural Union County. The location is in extreme southeast South Dakota, across the Missouri River from Nebraska and near the border with Iowa. The nearest Nebraska towns are Newcastle and Ponca. Hyperion executive Preston Phillips said the permit allows the firm to proceed with...

MUMBAI: Police and security agencies here have got a specific alert — from the police of a north Indian state — about RDX having been smuggled into the country as part of a cement consignment from Pakistan and the target being an oil refinery. Officials said the high alert sounded at vital installations like railway stations and hotels in Mumbai last December was not a reaction to the 26/11 carnage but had its basis in this specific intelligence input. Officials also told TOI that more RDX could be coming in as part of cement or other consignments. But the alert...

Attacks on nuclear power stations, oil and gas terminals, Canary Wharf and Heathrow’s control tower were being considered by leaders of the plot to blow up seven transatlantic airliners in mid-flight, a court was told yesterday. Documents found on computer memory sticks at the home of an alleged terrorist ringleader contained a list of targets across Britain – including the gas pipeline between Britain and Belgium. The man, Assad Sarwar, was said to be in contact with terrorist leaders overseas and visited Pakistan a month before his arrest as preparations for the airline attacks were being finalised. Peter Wright, QC,...

Arizona Clean Fuels can check off another item on its "to-do" list. The company has received title to the property where it plans to build an oil refinery in eastern Yuma County. Arizona Clean Fuels has purchased 1,460 acres from the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District for a total of $14,681,100, the Yuma County Assessor's Office confirmed Tuesday. The sale closely followed a transfer of the land Monday from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to WMIDD. The land transfer was authorized in the Wellton-Mohawk Title Transfer Act, passed by Congress on June 20, 2000, and signed into law by President...

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli media report explosions have been heard in the northern city of Haifa.

Singapore - Oil rallied above $72 a barrel on Monday, extending a rebound towards record highs as Iran maintained a defiant stance in the face of possible UN sanctions and militants detonated a car bomb in Nigeria. US light, sweet crude zoomed 54 cents higher to $72.42 a barrel by 06:40 GMT, adding to a 91c gain on Friday that helped limit last week's losses to 4.4%. Trading was thin due to holidays in much of Asia and Europe. IPE Brent crude was up 43c at $72.45. "Most people appear to be very nervous and are looking for something to...

SINGAPORE - Oil prices eased Thursday after U.S. government data showed motor fuel demand weakening, apparently in response to higher pump prices. The data also showed that domestic inventories of gasoline shrank for the eighth consecutive week, and that may have moderated the selling, analysts said. Light, sweet crude for June delivery fell 23 cents to $71.70 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled Wednesday at $71.93, down 95 cents. Brent crude for June delivery on London's ICE Futures changed hands at $72 a barrel, down 9 cents. Gasoline futures dropped 2.10...

SINGAPORE - Oil prices rose Monday on persistent supply fears tied to Iran's tense diplomatic standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions and militant attacks in oil-rich Nigeria. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 53 cents to $68.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Asian electronic trading. The contract on Friday rose $1.50 to settle at $67.76 a barrel. Heating oil rose 1.16 cents to $1.8185 a gallon while gasoline gained 2 cents to $1.7564 a gallon. March Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 49 cents to $66.73 a barrel. Prices also rose...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil climbed further on Tuesday as a militant threat to Nigerian oil exports and Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions kept the market worried about supply disruptions. London Brent crude for March was up 27 cents to $63.45 a barrel by 0329 GMT, after rising 58 cents on Monday. U.S. light crude for February jumped 86 cents to $64.78 in catch-up gains after being closed for a national holiday on Monday. U.S. crude earlier touched $64.95 a barrel, its highest since October 4. Crude flows from Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, are being...

U.S. Resists Building Refineries As Overseas Firms Move Ahead By THADDEUS HERRICK in Houston, BHUSHAN BAHREE in New York and KEITH JOHNSON in Madrid Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL December 28, 2005 A surge in investment in new refineries is under way overseas even as U.S. refiners remain leery of adding facilities -- a development that could make the U.S. more reliant on imports of refined products like gasoline and heating oil in coming years. About 100 projects representing as much as 12 million barrels a day of added refining capacity, most of them outside the U.S., could...

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Crude oil futures fell Tuesday as unseasonably mild weather along the U.S. East Coast spurred hopes that this year's Northern Hemisphere winter could be warmer than expected, weakening demand for heating fuel. Light, sweet crude for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 34 cents to US$57.02 a barrel in Asian electronic trading. The contract fell US$1.36 to settle at US$57.35 a barrel Monday. In London, January Brent fell 53 cents to US$54.35 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. In recent weeks, the market has been fixated on weather patterns in the northeastern U.S.,...

SINGAPORE - Oil futures fell nearly a dollar, dropping below $58 a barrel, as forecasters predicted warmer weather early this week in the U.S. Northeast, the world's largest heating oil market, easing fears of a spike in fuel demand. Light, sweet crude for January delivery slipped 86 cents to $57.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in electronic trading late afternoon in Singapore. In London, January Brent crude rose 29 cents to $55.30 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. "The market's reacting to forecasts that heating oil demand will be 20 percent below normal this week, giving...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Oil dipped to a four-month low under $57 a barrel on Wednesday as dealers braced for a fresh increase in U.S. oil inventories amid unseasonally warm weather. U.S. crude fell as low as $56.82 a barrel in electronic trading, its weakest since July 21. It was trading down 2 cents at $56.96 a barrel by 0746 GMT, extending an 11-week slump that has wiped 20 percent or nearly $14 off prices. London Brent crude was down 3 cents at $55.15. Although some analysts continue to predict a turnaround once temperatures fall and if OPEC opts to cut...

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Crude oil futures drifted lower Tuesday as an International Energy Agency official said high pump prices have hurt fuel demand. Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 6 cents to US$57.63 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract Monday rose 16 cents to settle at US$57.69. In London, December Brent crude fell 8 cents to US$54.65 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. High oil prices have started dampening global demand and the slowdown in consumption growth could in turn push prices lower, Noe Van Hulst, the International Energy Agency's...