Total reports valve failure and leak at Port Arthur refinery

(reuters) -- Total Petrochemicals reported a check valve failure that led to a spill at its 232,000-barrels-per-day Port Arthur refinery in Texas, according to a filing with state pollution regulators.

The filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality identified three tanks as the sources of the spill.

However, the filing did not specify the product released.

MRC

RIL plans to forge strategic partnership in petrochem and oil sectors in Tatarstan

(plastemart) -- Reliance Industries Ltd. plans to forge strategic partnership in petrochem and oil sectors with the Russian region of Tatarstan.

RIL and Tatarstan have agreed to set up a joint working group of specialists to develop strategic partnership in petrochemical and oil refining sectors, specially in crude oil refining.

The agreement was reached during the visit of a high-profile delegation led by Tatarstan's President Rustam Minnikhanov to Jamnagar in Gujarat on March 22.

The visit was aimed at getting on-the-spot information about the manufacturing processes and studying the advanced oil refining technologies launched by the RIL.

MRC

Petronas refinery project progresses in Malaysia

(refiningandpetrochemicals) -- Malaysia's state-owned oil and gas company Petronas has announced that its proposed Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project is progressing as scheduled.

RAPID's proposed refinery will have a capacity of 300,000 barrels per standard day and will supply feedstock for RAPID's petrochemical complex.

Supply also includes gasoline and diesel that will meet European specifications.The project aims to capitalise on the growing need for specialty chemicals and to meet the demand for petroleum and commodity petrochemical products in the Asia Pacific region by 2016.

A detailed feasibility study on the proposed project was undertaken, and was completed in October 2011. Recently, Petronas has entered into a heads of agreement with BASF to jointly own, develop, construct and operate production facilities for specialty chemicals and plants for precursor materials within the RAPID complex.

A final investment decision for the project is scheduled in the middle of 2013.

MRC

TNK-BP considers sale or closure of Ukraine oil refinery

(refiningandpetrochemicals) -- Russian oil company TNK-BP Holding, the joint venture between BP and a group of Russian oil investors, is considering mothballing or selling its oil refinery in the Ukraine.

The company said it will undertake a radical restructuring of its operations in the country due to losses at Lisichansk Refinery, known as Linik. TNK-BP Ukraine reported a loss of USD68m in 2010 and USD23m in 2011.

The move will see Linik singled out as a separate business with TNK-BP concentrating on its marketing and retail operations in the country.Production at Linik was halted in March for repairs for an indefinite period of time.

Linik has refined nearly 25% of Ukrainian supplies in 2009 which were down to 13% in 2011 because of cheaper imports from Belarus. The reorganized business structure is expected to be approved by this May and be effective from July.

MRC

SOCAR to build Azerbaijan's new oil and gas refinery by 2020

(refiningandpetrochemicals) -- State-owned State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) will commission the planned new oil gas processing & petrochemical complex worth USD14bn near Baku on a phased basis between 2017 and 2020.

SOCAR's oil and gas and petrochemical project department deputy head Shamil Hakimov told News.Az the complex will consist of an oil refinery, liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plant, petrochemical plant and power plant.

"The complex will be realized stage by stage. The first stage envisages speeding up work on the gas processing plant," Hakimov added.

The gas processing plant would be the first to be operational in 2017 with the complex being completed in 2020.The gas processing plant would have a capacity of 15bn cubic meters per year while the oil refinery will process 10m tons of crude oil per year.

Nearly 70% of feedstock will be derived from the Shirvan, Oil Rocks and Surakhani fields, while the rest of the 30% will be Azeri Light and additional feedstock could be sourced from Russian and Kazakh oil.

MRC