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COLUMN:
Euro crisis speeds zombie refinery cull-Campbell
--Robert Campbell is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.--
NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) - The financial crisis at Swiss independent refiner Petroplus may herald more than the closure of a few refineries but also the death of the independent refinery model in Europe.
Petroplus was the biggest attempt to transfer the independent model from the United States to Europe and was led by Tom O'Malley, who built up and sold at a huge profit two independent U.S. refining companies.
MARKET NEWS:
Brent rises above $113 on Iran supply threat
SINGAPORE, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Brent crude prices rose above $113 a barrel as concerns over the economic health of the euro zone were overshadowed by Iran's threat to shut a key oil-shipping route.
"The geopolitical concerns are definitely putting a floor on oil prices at the moment. There are no two ways about that," said Ben Le Brun, market analyst at OptionsXpress in Sydney.
U.S. stock index futures signal mixed open
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open for equities on Wall Street, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.1 percent, for the Dow Jones up 0.1 percent and for the Nasdaq 100 up 0.1 percent.
The unofficial start of corporate earnings season kicks off on Monday when Alcoa , the largest U.S. producer of aluminum, reports after the bell.
FOREX-Euro claws back from 16-month low versus dollar
LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The euro crawled back from a fresh 16-month low to the dollar as traders trimmed short positions, but further declines were anticipated as worries over sovereign funding kept investors bearish on the currency.
"Newsflow from the euro zone is not helping, particularly regarding Greece, and markets are also on the defensive ahead of key event risks this week so there's not too much reason to be overweight the euro," said Geoffrey Yu, currency strategist at UBS.
GLOBAL MARKETS-German data helps lift euro zone sentiment
LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Signs of improvement in the German and U.S. economies helped offset concerns over the prospects for euro zone debt auctions later this week, lifting the single currency and European shares.
"Newsflow from the euro zone is not helping, particularly regarding Greece and markets are also on the defensive ahead of key event risks this week so there's not too much reason to be overweight the euro," said Geoffry Yu, currency strategist at UBS.
TOP NEWS:
Shell's China venture to build Tianjin fuel storage - agency
BEIJING, Jan 9 (Reuters) - A joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc's China units and Tianjin State Farms Agribusiness Group Co will build a 200,000 cubic metre oil products storage facility in the northern city of Tianjin, a local development agency said.
Tianjin Nangang Industrial Zone, a government-run industrial projects developer, said the facility, with expected annual throughput of 3 million tonnes, would cost 550 million yuan ($87.17 million), with construction due to start in June and completion scheduled for June 2013.
Big Statoil Arctic find boosts Norway's oil future
OSLO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Norwegian oil firm Statoil has made a second big oil discovery in the Barents Sea in less than a year and predicted more discoveries to come in the region, further boosting the remote Arctic region's oil prospects.
The discovery will also improve the oil prospects of Norway, the world's eighth-largest oil exporter and the second-largest for gas, which has seen declining oil output since 2001, following a string of offshore discoveries made over the past year.
Exxon Mobil, Petrom start drilling Romania well
VIENNA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil and Petrom have started exploratory drilling on Romania's first deepwater well in the Black Sea, the Romanian group owned by Austria's OMV said on Monday.
The Domino-1 well is in the Neptun Block, 170 km offshore in water about 1,000 metres deep, a statement said. Drilling operations are expected to take about 90 days, it said, noting such exploratory drilling may or may not result in a discovery.
Indian refiners, govt meet on Iran oil payments
NEW DELHI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Indian refiners and oil ministry officials are meeting on Monday to discuss alternative methods to pay for Iranian oil imports should an existing mechanism via Turkey's Halkbank be halted under U.S. sanctions against Tehran.
Financial sanctions signed into law by President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve make it difficult for pay for Iranian oil. The European Union is expected to announce tough measures of its own at the end of the month.
Saudi pumps 9.80 mln bpd of oil in Dec-source
DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia pumped 9.80 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, down from the highest rate in decades of 10.05 million bpd the previous month, an industry source said on Monday.
A Reuters survey of OPEC output estimated a slight drop in Saudi output in December but overall OPEC's oil output rose to its highest since October 2008 that month as members showed little sign of lowering output to make room for recovering Libyan supplies.
KazMunaiGas 2011 oil output hit by industrial action
MOSCOW, Jan 9 (Reuters) - KazMunaiGas Exploration Production said its crude oil production fell in 2011 due to industrial action over the summer months, adding that it plans to increase capital expenditure in 2012.
The London-listed arm of Kazakh state oil and gas company KazMunaiGas said it produced 12.3 million tonnes of crude oil in 2011, down 7 pct from 2010.
New UAE oil pipeline to be operational in May or June
DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - An oil pipeline extending to the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates will be operational by May or June, the country's oil minister said on Monday.
Mohammed bin Dhaen al-Hamli said the Fujairah pipeline could transport up to 1.5 million barrels per day once complete.
Venezuela will not recognize World Bank ruling in Exxon case
CARACAS, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that his country would not recognize any ruling by a World Bank tribunal in a multibillion-dollar arbitration case with Exxon Mobil Corp .
Exxon took Venezuela to the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, seeking as much as $12 billion in compensation after Chavez ordered the nationalization of the Cerro Negro oil project in 2007.
REFINERY NEWS:
PetroChina Dalian to shut 120,000 bpd CDU for maintenance
BEIJING, Jan 9 (Reuters) - PetroChina plans to shut down a 120,000 barrel-per-day crude distillation unit (CDU) at its largest Dalian refinery for maintenance from mid-March, an industry source said on Monday.
The maintenance, which also includes a 800,000 tonne-per-year fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, will last for 35 to 40 days, the source said.
Exxon reports compressor restart at Beaumont refinery
Jan 9 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp reported the restart of a wet gas compressor (WGC) which had tripped on Sunday at its 344,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Beaumont, Texas, according to a filing with regulators.
The filing with the U.S. National Response Center (NRC) on Monday said "the flaring was stopped and the compressor was brought back on-line."
Sinopec's Zhenhai to close 160,000-bpd CDU for maintenance -sources
BEIJING, Jan 9 (Reuters) - China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec Corp) will shut down a 160,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude oil unit at its largest Zhenhai refinery from mid February for 45 days of maintenance, industry sources said on Monday.
The 460,000-bpd refinery will also shut down a 1.8 million tonne per year (tpy) catalytic cracking unit, a 1.5 million tpy coking unit and a 1.2 million tpy continuous reforming unit for repairs, the sources said.
Marathon Illinois refinery reports malfunction
HOUSTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Marathon Petroleum Corp's 206,000 barrel per day Robinson, Illinois, refinery reported a malfunction on Friday night, according to a notice the refinery filed with Illinois pollution regulators.
The malfunction triggered the refinery's safety flare system and a release of sodium dioxide, according to the notice.
Venezuela's Cardon refinery restarting after fault
CARACAS, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Venezuela's 310,000 barrel per day Cardon oil refinery was stopped by a fault overnight but began restarting on Saturday, a union leader said.
Ivan Freites of the oil workers union said it was not immediately clear what caused the failure. The facility's catalytic cracking unit still had to be restarted, he said.
BEYOND THE HEADLINES:
Oil markets brace for turbulence of index shift
NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Amid the drama of Iran, the meltdown of refiner Petroplus and a wave of upbeat economic data, it was all too easy to overlook one of the most important short-term factors shaping oil markets this week: the reweighting of the world's biggest commodity indexes.
The S&P GSCI Index and the DJ-UBS Index, the world's no. 1 and no. 2 commodity indexes, announced two months ago plans to rejig their component weights to reflect growing trade in European benchmark Brent crude, at the expense of U.S. WTI, which some traders say had become detached from global prices.
Dung Quat refinery to raise 2012 output 10 pct -CEO
HANOI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Vietnam's only oil refinery, Dung Quat, will raise its oil output this year by 10.1 percent from 2011 to around 6 million tonnes at a time when plans for other facilities have been put on hold, a senior executive said on Monday.
The $2.2 billion refinery will process 6.5 million tonnes of crude oil, including 1.3 million tonnes of imported crude, Nguyen Hoai Giang, chief executive of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co, which runs Dung Quat, told Reuters.
Venezuela sees no W.Bank ruling on Exxon in 2012
PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Venezuela's oil minister said on Saturday he does not expect a ruling in World Bank arbitration with Exxon Mobil this year, after another tribunal awarded the U.S. major $908 million last week.
Both cases relate to the nationalization by President Hugo Chavez of the Cerro Negro heavy oil project in the South American OPEC member, following years of legal wrangling between Exxon and his socialist government.
West readies oil stocks release, Iran plans war games
TEHRAN/LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Iran announced on Friday new military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, but the West has readied plans to use strategic oil stocks to replace almost all Gulf oil lost if Iran blocks the waterway, industry sources and diplomats told Reuters.
They said senior executives of the International Energy Agency (IEA) discussed on Thursday an existing plan to release up to 14 million barrels per day (bpd) of government-owned oil stored in the United States, Europe, Japan and other importers.
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