All posts by Roger Straw

Editor, owner, publisher of The Benicia Independent
Bakken Crude, Enbridge, North American light crude oils, Tar sands crude, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Energy Corporation

Valero will soon have fifth refinery processing 100 percent North American crude

Repost from the San Antonio Business Journal
[Editor: Note brief reference to Valero’s Benicia Refinery at end of this article.   – RS]

Valero will soon have fifth refinery processing 100 percent North American crude

By Sergio Chapa, Sep 11, 2015, 6:44pm CDT
File photo Valero Energy Corporation's Jean Gaulin Refinery in Quebec City
File photo – Valero Energy Corporation’s Jean Gaulin Refinery in Quebec City

San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp. is expected to have its fifth refinery capable of processing nothing but North American crude by the end of the year.

Valero (NYSE: VLO) revealed in an investors’ presentation released earlier this week that its Jean Gaulin Refinery in Quebec will be processing 100 percent North American crude oil by the end of the year.

Company figures show that the refinery was 100 percent dependent on foreign crude oil in first quarter 2013, but production from the tar sands region of Canada and the shale plays of the United States has dramatically changed the situation.

The Jean Gaulin Refinery is processing about 80 percent North American-sourced crude oil but will be at 100 percent once a project to modify the Enbridge Line 9B Pipeline is completed in the fourth quarter. The project will reverse the flow of the pipeline to enable oil from the tar sands region of Alberta to flow east to Valero’s refinery in Quebec.

Most refineries were built decades ago and were configured to process to Middle Eastern oil, but Valero spokesman Bill Day told the San Antonio Business Journal that the Jean Gaulin Refinery is lined up to be the fifth of the company’s refinery capable of processing 100 percent North American crude oil.

Day said Valero’s Ardmore, McKee, Memphis and Three Rivers refineries can already process 100 percent North American crude oil, while other plants are processing an increasing amount of North American crude.

The investors presentation shows that Valero is expanding its capacity to process a total of 185,000 barrels per day of light sweet crude from the Eagle Ford and other shale plays at the company’s McKee, Houston and Corpus Christi refineries in Texas.

Day said that the addition of the Keystone XL Pipeline would enable Valero to replace foreign heavy crude with heavy crude from Canada. He also noted that a proposed rail terminal at the company’s Benicia refinery in California, would enable Valero to offset foreign crude brought in by ship with North American crude brought in by rail.

California Regulation, California Senate Bill 32 (SB32), California Senate Bill 350 (SB350), Climate Change

SB32 and SB350 – both bills stalled in Cal Assembly

Repost from the San Francisco Chronicle
[Editor:  The following is a brief PORTION of a late-breaking SFChron news article.  The article focuses on medical marijuana and racist mascots, then turns to breaking news on two climate change bills that are stalled in the California State Assembly.  Latest on leginfo.ca.gov: SB32, SB350.  – RS]

California government leaders…

By Melody Gutierrez, Updated: September 10, 2015 10:38pm

[near end of article]  …Also stalling before the deadline was a climate change bill that aimed to chart the state’s path toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. SB32 by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills (Los Angeles County), would have required the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990’s levels by 2030, and to 80 percent below 1990’s levels by 2050. Those targets were previously called for by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Brown through executive orders.

The bill failed 25-33 in the Assembly on Tuesday and on Thursday Pavley said she would not seek another vote this year.

“Unfortunately, the state Assembly and the administration were not supportive, for now, and we could not pass this important proposal,” Pavley said in a statement.

SB32’s faltering came a day after another climate change bill was gutted.

SB350 no longer requires the state to cut petroleum use in half over the next 15 years, which Brown said was the result of well-financed opposition from the oil industry. The bill still calls for the state to boost energy efficiency in buildings by 50 percent and requires California to get half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Air Quality, California Regulation, California Senate Bill 32 (SB32), California Senate Bill 350 (SB350), Climate Change, Oil industry lobby

California Lawmakers Abandon Key Part Of Climate Legislation – Big Oil wins

Various sources …

Jerry Brown: Oil lobby gutted climate bill – San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders said a well-financed oil industry won a fight over the state’s efforts to pass legislation that would drastically reduce California’s gas consumption. But the feisty governor pledged to keep pushing for climate change policies that reduce the state’s dependence on oil..more..

Big Oil Slick Captures Round 1 of CA Climate Change Drive – Huffington Post
The power of California’s oil refiners is always felt but rarely visible in Sacramento. It was on full display at Wednesday’s press conference when ..more..

California Lawmakers Abandon Key Part Of Climate Legislation, Blaming Oil Industry Lobbying – ThinkProgress
The oil industry has poured money into a campaign against SB 350, calling the legislation the “California Gas Restriction Act of 2015″ and warning that it could ..more..

Oil giants derail California bill to reduce gasoline use by 50% – The Guardian
With only two days left in the legislative session, oil industry successfully rallies for amendment to ambitious environmental bill SB350 ..more..

California Democrats Wanted to Save the World. They Just Caved to Big Oil – Mother Jones
It appears I was a bit too bullish on the prospects for historic new climate legislation in California. Yesterday, Democrats in the state legislature caved to pressure from the powerful oil industry and dropped a critical piece of the bill..more..

California climate change bill: Jerry Brown, Democrats drop oil-reduction target; talks on taxes stall – San Jose Mercury News
With just two days to go before the end of the legislative session, Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders suffered a pair of stunning defeats at the hands of Republicans, oil companies and even some members of their own party..more..

Crude By Rail, Oil spill, Revised Draft EIR (RDEIR), Valero Crude By Rail

BENICIA HERALD LETTER: Hoping RDEIR isn’t a model

Repost from the Benicia Herald
[Editor:  No link is provided for this letter because the Benicia Herald does not publish Letters in its online edition. – RS]

Hoping RDEIR isn’t a model

By Nancy Rieser, September 10, 2015, Benicia Herald
As a resident of Crockett, I can only hope Benicia’s Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report on Valero’s Crude-by-Rail Project does not set a tone for future refinery EIRs elsewhere in Northern California.  Granted, the RDEIR’s matter-of-fact admission that dangers of oil spills can’t be mitigated is enough to turn one’s hair gray.  However the rather dismissive statement, “A larger spill of 30,000 gallons is listed as a once-every-38-to-80-years event, but could cause injuries and deaths,” is even more disturbing.

Could it be that Valero management and city of Benicia staff both feel that “injuries and death” to their grandchildren and great grandchildren would be OK?  Do oil executives and city staff believe that any severe devastation occurring after they (the decision makers) die of old age would be acceptable because … the decision makers would already be dead?

Corpses?  Feh.  Why should they care?