NYMEX-Natural gas ends slightly lower despite EIA draw
NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended just slightly lower on Thursday, despite a bigger-than-expected weekly drawdown from winter inventories.
"Simply put the winter weather has not yet arrived and is not expected to arrive for a major portion of the U.S. through pretty much the rest of December," said Energy Management Institute's Dominick Chirichella.
Euro Coal-Prices stable, Plomin awards tender
LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Physical prompt coal prices held steady on Thursday as the market ignored choppy oil trade but prices are likely to come under more pressure in the next few weeks due to poor demand, traders and utilities said.
"Everybody's clearing the decks before the market basically shuts down for the holidays," one European trader said.
COMMODITIES-Mostly lower as euro zone fears outweigh data
NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Major commodities markets ended flat to lower on Thursday as fears of recession in Europe offset some positive U.S. economic data.
"Continuing worries about the euro zone debt crisis are keeping gains limited today, despite the positive U.S. data on jobless claims and New York manufacturing activity," said Chris Dillman, analyst at Tradition Energy.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares, euro gain after upbeat U.S. data
SINGAPORE, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Asian shares edged up and the euro slunk higher on Friday, as signs of strength in the U.S. economy temporarily broke through gloom over the European debt crisis that had driven a sell-off in riskier assets over the past three days.
"Can the U.S. go it totally alone? No," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York. "But the rest of the world, with the exception of Europe, we are pretty positive about. We don't think it's going to fall apart."
Chevron to deploy new Transocean jackup off Angola
Dec 15 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp, with extensive deepwater interests off Angola's coast, is about to add a new rig to continue drilling nearer the country's shore next year, according to rig contractor Transocean Ltd.
Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, has agreed to a three-year contract for the newly built Transocean Honor jackup, which is expected to start operations next quarter at a rate of $149,000 per day, Transocean said on Thursday.
Delek reports ops restored at Tyler refinery after FCCU snag
Dec 15 (Reuters) - Delek U.S. Holdingsreported normal operations were restored at its 60,000 barrel-per-day Tyler, Texas, refinery after an upset at the gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU), according to a filing with state pollution regulators.
"Excess opacity occurred intermittently at the CO Boiler stack during an operational transition period," the filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said.
Cheniere proposes second US LNG export plant
Dec 15 (Reuters) - Cheniere Energy has proposed to build a second liquefied natural gas export plant on the U.S. Gulf Coast, after buyers across the world line up to buy the cheap American fuel.
The Houston-based LNG developer plans to build the export plant at Corpus Christi in Texas, originally the site for a planned import terminal, according to a filing this week with the federal energy regulator.
Sobeys to buy 250 Shell gas stations in Canada
Dec 15 (Reuters) - Empire Co Ltd's Sobeys grocery chain is expanding its high-margin retail gasoline business in Eastern Canada, announcing plans on Thursday to buy 250 gas stations from Shell Canada.
But Empire's shares dropped as Sobeys' gross profit margin fell to 23.91 percent in its latest quarter from 24.73 percent a year earlier. The company said about half the decrease was due to an accounting change.
Rompetrol finishes construction of refinery units
BUCHAREST, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Rompetrol Rafinare completed construction and assembly of two new units at its Petromidia refinery complex and has begun pre-commissioning and start-up, it said on Thursday.
The two new units -- a hydrocracker and a hydrogen plant -- are part of a capacity increase to 5 million tons of raw material at a cost of $264 million, Rompetrol said in a statement.
Sunoco shuts Phila unit for unplanned work-sources
Dec 15 (Reuters) - Sunoco Inc. shut down a hydrotreater for unplanned work at its 335,000 barrel per day refinery in Philadelphia, sources familiar with refinery operations said on Thursday.
Trade sources said Sunoco was seen halting spot sales of ultra-low sulfur diesel at some of its terminals in the area due to lack of product after the shutdown but that term customers were still being supplied.
Canada regulator keeps Arctic drilling provisions
CALGARY, Alberta, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Canada's National Energy Board said on Thursday that any company that wants to drill for oil and gas in Arctic waters will need to demonstrate it has the capacity to sink a relief well in the same drilling season to cope with possible well blowouts.
In the conclusion to a review launched following BP Plc's Macondo blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the board said it decided to maintain the same-season provision despite a request from BP and Exxon Mobil Corp that it be waived.
TransCanada bets expansion plan will help Keystone prevail
CALGARY, Alberta, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Buoyed by renewed pledges of customer support, TransCanada Corp said on Thursday it not only wants to proceed with its stalled Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline but to undertake a $600 million expansion and extension.
The company is betting its proposed expansion of the original $7 billion plan to carry Alberta oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast will hammer home Keystone's economic benefits to politicians and trump the environmental worries that have prompted a lengthy delay in its U.S. approval process.
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