Fire breaks out at refinery in Iranian city of Isfahan

A fire at a crude oil distillation unit at a refinery in the central Iranian city of Isfahan injured four people, the official IRNA news agency reported, as per Reuters.

Two of the injured were firefighters, a senior official at Isfahan governorate said, adding that the fire had been extinguished, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The official said pipes at the entrance of unit 3 of the refinery caught fire. He did not say what caused the pipes to catch fire.

The semi-official ISNA news site said the unit that caught fire had been under repair.

We remind, the death toll from a blast at an oil terminal in Guinea's capital Conakry on Monday has risen to 13, a senior police source said, as the government warned the incident could have repercussions for the wider population. The explosion at the West African nation's main oil terminal rocked the Kaloum administrative district in downtown Conakry early in the morning, blowing out the windows of nearby homes and forcing hundreds to flee, according to a Reuters witness.

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MEGlobal has nominated its January 2024 monoethylene glycol (MEG) Asian Contract Price (ACP) at $840/tonne, stable from its December ACP, a company source said.

The price is on a CFR (cost & freight) Asia basis.

We remind, MEGlobal has nominated its December 2023 monoethylene glycol (MEG) Asian Contract Price (ACP) at $840/tonne, $10/tonne higher from its November ACP, a company source said. The price is on a CFR (cost & freight) Asia basis.

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The death toll from a blast at an oil terminal in Guinea's capital Conakry on Monday has risen to 13, a senior police source said, as the government warned the incident could have repercussions for the wider population, said Reuters.

The explosion at the West African nation's main oil terminal rocked the Kaloum administrative district in downtown Conakry early in the morning, blowing out the windows of nearby homes and forcing hundreds to flee, according to a Reuters witness.

The head of civil protection, Jean Traore, said 88 people were injured. He earlier gave a death toll of 11.

The extent of the damage to the terminal was unclear. Guinea is not an oil producer and has no refining capacity. It imports refined products, mostly stored in the Kaloum terminal and distributed via trucks across the country.

The origin of the fire was unknown, and an investigation would be launched to determine what caused it and any parties responsible, the government said in a statement. It said the scale of the incident "could have a direct impact on the population," but did not elaborate.

Firefighters had largely contained the blaze by Monday afternoon. Earlier, a massive fire and billowing black smoke were visible from miles away, as several tanker trucks left the Conakry depot, escorted by soldiers and police.

Workers, excluding defense, security and medical personnel, were advised to stay at home. Schools and most gas stations were also closed. The country has a small oil depot at the port in Kamsar, north of Conakry, mostly used by mining firms.

Concerns over a potential fuel shortage prompted residents in the town of Mamou, around 260 km from Conakry, to besiege gas stations. "A liter of gasoline is currently being sold for 20,000 Guinean franc ($2.35) on the black market," said Alpha Bah, a motorcycle taxi rider, told Reuters. That's up from 12,000 Guinean franc previously.

We remind, Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and joint venture partner Repsol on Monday signed an agreement amending the original terms of a project in the country, aiming to revive its crude and gas output. The agreement for production joint venture Petroquiriquire, which includes the fields Quiriquire, Mene Grande and Barua-Motatan, was signed in Caracas by Venezuela's oil minister Pedro Tellechea and executives from Repsol.

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Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said on Sunday that the government does not yet see grounds for lifting the ban on the export of winter diesel, the Interfax news agency reported, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Russia, the world's top seaborne exporter of diesel, introduced a ban on fuel exports on Sept. 21 to tackle high domestic prices and shortages. It later lifted most of the restrictions.

We remind, India's Russian oil imports in November rose to a 4-month high of 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), up 3.1% from October, making up about 36% of the nation's overall imports last month, data obtained from trade sources showed. Russia became India's top oil supplier this year as the south Asian nation was drawn to Russian oil discounts after some Western companies shunned purchases from Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

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Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and joint venture partner Repsol on Monday signed an agreement amending the original terms of a project in the country, aiming to revive its crude and gas output, said Reuters.

The agreement for production joint venture Petroquiriquire, which includes the fields Quiriquire, Mene Grande and Barua-Motatan, was signed in Caracas by Venezuela's oil minister Pedro Tellechea and executives from Repsol.

"We are going to lift production. We have completed the planning of the agreements we are signing. They all have output forecasts and plans for operation expansions," Tellechea said.

PDVSA and Chevron last week received approval from the country's National Assembly to extend two separate joint ventures for 15 years.

The changes to the Petroquiriquire operating agreement were not immediately disclosed. The United States in October temporarily lifted oil sanctions on the South American country, allowing exports, imports and investments through April.

The joint venture, in which PDVSA has a 60% interest and Repsol the remaining 40%, operates in several areas of the country, including the Monagas North region. Its total production has been about 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and 40 million cubic feet per day of gas so far this year, according to independent calculations.

Tellechea also said Venezuela continues working to ramp up crude output towards a 1 million bpd goal.

We remind, a unit of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and U.S. oil major Chevron have requested a 15-year extension for two of their joint ventures from the country's oil ministry. PDVSA and Chevron have expanded operations since late last year under a special U.S. license, allowing Venezuela to resume crude exports to what was its largest market, the United States. But more investment is needed to reach production levels seen before oil sanctions were first imposed in 2019.

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