-A contract worker was injured in a flash fire last week at Sinclair Oil’s refinery in Carbon County, Wyoming. Via the Associated Press, the fire was extinguished within minutes and Sinclair did not expect any effect on production.
-Meanwhile, a vapor cloud was released from ExxonMobil’s Torrance, California, refinery Friday. Via Reuters, authorities sounded public safety sirens, but no toxic fumes were detected and there were no injuries. The refinery has been largely idle since February, when an explosion destroyed key emissions control equipment. ExxonMobil last month entered an agreement to sell the refinery to PBF Energy.
-Western Refining has offered to buy all shares of Northern Tier Energy it does not already own for approximately $2.5 billion. Western Refining owns 38% of the outstanding common units of Northern Tier and 100% of Northern Tier’s general partner.
-The federal government is investigating Venezuela state oil company PDVSA’s possible involvement in kickbacks and other schemes, Bloomberg reports. The probe could jeopardize $8 billion in refineries and terminals owned by PDVSA subsidiary Citgo in the U.S. Citgo owns refineries in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Corpus Christi, Texas, and Lemont, Illinois.
