Top Oil Market News: Crude Rises: Fuel Oil Crack Spread Loss

The following is a selection of the most important news affecting the oil market.
Oil Trades Near Two-Week High on Libya; JPMorgan Raises Outlook
Oil traded near a two-week high in New York as continued fighting in Libya fanned concern that unrest in the Middle East will further disrupt supply.

TOP MARKETS NEWS

Crack Spread Loss on Fuel Oil Most Since Quake: Energy Markets
The losses companies incur from turning crude into fuel oil are close to their highest level since Japan’s March 11 earthquake, a sign traders are betting the nation is starting to cope with its power shortages.
BP-Rosneft Deal Halted as Russian Billionaires Win Challenge (1)
BP Plc’s proposed $7.8 billion share swap and Arctic exploration deal with OAO Rosneft was thrown out by an arbitration tribunal after a legal challenge by its Russian billionaire partners.
JPMorgan Raises Second-Quarter Brent Oil Forecast on Libya (1)
JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price forecast for Brent crude oil for the second quarter to $118 a barrel as supply disruptions in Libya appear to be “larger and more protracted” than initially expected.
Glencore ‘Not Clear’ Why Employee Detained by China in Oil Probe
Glencore International AG is “not clear” why its representative officer was detained by Chinese customs authorities, spokesman Simon Buerk said by phone today. The employee has been released and doesn’t face charges, Buerk said.

REFINERIES Map global refinery outages

BP Said to Plan 60-Day Whiting Ultraformer Shutdown for Work
BP Plc is preparing to shut the No. 4 ultraformer at its Whiting refinery in Indiana for planned work scheduled to last 60 days, two people with knowledge of the plans said.
Reliance Industries Starts Jamnagar Cracker Unit After Shutdown
Reliance Industries Ltd. started a catalytic cracker unit at its Jamnagar refinery after a planned maintenance and inspection shutdown, according to a statement on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.
Breya Canyon Oil Spills Crude Oil, Saltwater, NRC Filing Shows
Breya Canyon Oil was yesterday spilling crude mixed with seawater from a Los Angeles pipeline at the rate of 200-300 gallons per minute, according to a filing with the National Response Center.
OMV Petrom Permanently Shuts Arpechim Refinery, Reappoints Chief
OMV Petrom SA will permanently close its Arpechim refinery and convert the site into a crude oil and fuel storage facility, the company said today in an e-mailed statement.
Tesoro Has Flaring at Wilmington Oil Refinery, Filing Shows
Tesoro Corp. has flaring at Wilmington refinery, according to a filing with California state regulators. The incident occurred on March 24 and has been contained, the filing shows.
Exxon Mobil Torrance Releases Gas on Tubing Leak, Filing Shows
Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Torrance, California, plant had a release of hydrogen sulfide because of a tubing leak, according to a filing with the National Response Center.
ConocoPhillips Borger Refinery Has Process Upset, Filing Shows
ConocoPhillips had gas emissions at its Borger, Texas, refinery because of a process upset, a filing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality showed. The event occurred yesterday at 9:45 a.m. local time, the filing showed.

OTHER OIL MARKET NEWS

Jet Fuel Hedging Positions for U.S., Canadian Airlines (Table)
The following table shows the amount of jet fuel consumption hedged by U.S. and Canadian airlines to guard against price fluctuations.
BASF Gets China’s Approval for Chemical Project in Chongqing (1)
BASF SE, the world’s biggest chemical maker, has received approval from the Chinese authorities to build a 400,000 metric- ton-a-year project in Chongqing.
Osborne’s North Sea Oil Tax May Block $3 Billion of Field Sales
George Osborne’s increased tax on U.K. oil production risks holding back investment in the North Sea and stalling BP Plc and ConocoPhillips’s plans to sell off mature assets.

TOP ENERGY STORIES

U.S. Nuclear Plants Aren’t Disclosing All Defects, Report Says
Operators of almost a third of U.S. nuclear reactors aren’t telling regulators about equipment defects that might pose safety risks because of “contradictory and unclear” regulations, according to a government watchdog.
Woodside Rises on Speculation Shell Stake Will Be Resolved (2)
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. rose in Sydney amid speculation Australia’s second-biggest oil and gas producer is close to resolving how Royal Dutch Shell Plc will dispose of its remaining stake in the company.
Reactor Core May Be Breached at Damaged Fukushima Plant (1)
Japan’s nuclear regulator said one reactor core at the quake-damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant may be cracked and leaking radiation.

OTHER MARKETS

Stocks, U.S. Index Futures Gain on Oracle; Portugal Bonds Fall
Stocks and U.S. index futures gained after forecasts at Oracle Corp. and Accenture Plc beat analysts’ estimates. Portuguese bonds fell for a fourth day following Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the country’s debt.
Foreigners Bought Record Japanese Stocks After Earthquake (3)
Foreign investors bought a record amount of Japanese stocks last week after the nation’s equities markets tumbled in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and resulting nuclear accident.
French, British Forces Strike Libyan Military as NATO Steps In
French and British forces struck Muammar Qaddafi’s ground forces as NATO agreed to take command of the Libya no-fly zone without assuming responsibility for air strikes against military targets.
Yemenis Plan Opposing Rallies in Defiance of Emergency Law (1)
Yemenis poured into Sana’a for rallies, including soldiers who have defected to the strengthening opposition and tribesman marching in support of the government.

SPORTS

Duke’s Title Run Ends With Loss to Arizona; Connecticut Wins
Duke University’s reign as national champion ended with a 93-77 loss to the University of Arizona that left coach Mike Krzyzewski stuck on 900 wins, two short of tying the men’s major college basketball career mark.

ENERGY PRICES

Last Chg %Chg Exch Contract

---- ---- ---- ---- -------- WTI Crude ($/Bbl) 105.60 -- -- Nymex May Brent Crude ($/Bbl) 115.57 -0.15 -0.1 Ice April Gasoil ($/Ton) 977.50 -3.25 -0.3 Ice May Gasoline (c/Gal) 304.35 -0.13 0.0 Nymex April Natural gas ($/MMBtu) 4.27 +0.03 +0.7 Nymex April Dated Brent ($/Bbl) 115.38 -0.20 -0.2 OTC 21 Days Heating Oil 306.08 -0.12 0.0 Nymex April
Other markets:

Last %Chg

----- ----- Dollar Index 75.79 +0.1 Gold ($/Oz) 1,434.90 -0.2 MSCI World Index 1,323.48 --
Prices as of 12 p.m. GMT
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Voss in London at sev@bloomberg.net

Live: Japan - one week after the quake

Nearly a week after their home town was annihilated in a catastrophic tsunami, the 1,000-plus survivors of the small Japanese fishing town of Otsuchi are hanging by a thread.
With no water or electricity, and scant food, survivors keep each other company at one of three emergency shelters on the outskirts of what remains of the town.  Refresh this page for updates

5:42 pm: The Toyota Prius, America's best-selling hybrid car, could become harder to get, Time reports. The car is made exclusively in Japan; its main assembly plant is just west of Tokyo and another key plant is in the Sendai region. While both survived the quake and the tsunami, the power outages in the region will cripple production, Time says. Read the report

5:25 pm: When information comes in dribs and drabs, it is hard to get a sense of the magnitude of a catastrophe. This time lapse visualization of the Sendai quake and the aftershocks helps fill that need. The map plots all seismic activities in and around Japan from March 11, with each incident marked by a circle that represents the magnitude. Press play, and watch as dots appear in the sequence in which the quake, aftershocks, and smaller quakes shook Japan. The Visualization

5:11 pm: Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan says the government will make every effort to disclose information about the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. He also says Japan must rebuild from scratch, should not be discouraged.

4:59 pm: Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) crews from Amberley's 36 Squadron, flying C-17 Globemaster IIIs, have been working in shifts to help ferry personnel and supplies from Okinawa to the Japanese disaster zone as part of Operation Pacific Assist, the Australian government announced. Full story

4:55 pm: The elevation of the Fukushima incident to a level five on a scale of 7 means this: A level 4 is a nuclear incident with local consequences; a level 5 rating implies larger international consequences. And that in turn elevates the urgency of looking for final solutions. Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs Fukushima, is considering among other things the option of burying the reactors in concrete, Kyodo reports. For now, TEPCO officials are attempting to attach a power cable to the two affected reactors that have been without power for days now, in the hopes the water pumps can start working again and cool the fuel rods down.

4:50 pm: Admiral Robert Willard, commander of the US military forces in the Pacific, is quoted as saying he is sending his troops into the nuclear danger zone at Fukushima, and will send even more personnel in. The objective, he said, should be to do everything possible to contain the fires before the plant reaches meltdown. Full story

3:10pm: The Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics, a unit of Spain's Polytechnic University of Catalonia, recorded the sound of the earthquake that hit Japan last week, as it sounded under water. The recording can be heard here.
3:05pm: IAEA has raised the level of nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi to 5. There are seven points on the scale. The disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 was at 7 on the scale. Three Mile Island, America's worst commercial nuclear accident in 1979 was at 5 on the scale. BBC has published this article on nuclear lessons from Three Mile Island accident.

3:00pm: Finally, BBC reports some heartening news for the earthquake and tsunmai affected areas where weather has been bitterly cold - temperatures are set to rise in Miyagi prefecture and surrounding areas over the weekend.
2:45pm:  Japan nuclear agency expects to connect electric cables to reactors no.1, no.2 generators by Saturday morning.
2:30pm: General Electric has sent nuclear engineers to a Japanese emergency response centre where they are working with Tokyo Electric Power Co to prevent a meltdown at the stricken nuclear power plant, a company spokesman told the Wall Street Journal.
2:15pm: Round the clock media coverage of the Japan earthquake disaster could put people at greater risk of developing traumatic reactions, says a clinical psychologist. His argument
2:00pm: Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) today said that there was no radiological "impact" on India due to radiation leak from the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.
"AERB is constantly monitoring the situation at the nuclear plants based in Fukushima in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. The Board is also keeping a constant eye on the data being reported by the Indian Environmental Radiation Monitoring Network (IMERMON) from various locations across India," AERB secretary R Bhattacharya said.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JGPjb-Kwk4k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

1:30pm: The crisis at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is "grave and serious", Yukiya Amano, head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, said. Amano returned to his native Japan and says he will not visit the plant, but that a team of scientists will go in its general direction.
1:15pm: A week after their lives were turned upside down by the biggest recorded earthquake in Japan's history, many survivors are too shocked to contemplate the future.

"My house does not exist anymore. Everything is gone, including money," said Tsukasa Sato, a 74-year-old barber with a heart condition, as he warmed his hands in front of a stove at a shelter in Yamada, northern Japan. "This is where I was born, so I want to stay here. I don't know how it will turn out, but this is my hope."

12:55pm: The official death toll from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami now stands at 6,539, making it Japan's worst peacetime disaster, surpassing the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

12:15pm: Japanese shares have climbed and the yen weakened after finance ministers from the G7 group of the world's richest countries agreed to step into the currency market. The Nikkei 225 stock index rose 2.7% to 9,206.75, while the yen weakened against the US dollar to 81.71. The yen hit a post-World War II high of 76.25 yen earlier this week, raising concerns about Japan's recovery. Analysts said markets will remain volatile.

11:55am: In Japanese disaster films they like heroes who sacrifice everything for the greater good - stoic, determined, refusing to back down in the face of adversity or even certain death. These are the qualities the country admires. Now the newspapers here have a new band of heroes to lionise - the workers, emergency services personnel and the scientists battling to save the Fukushima nuclear plant, their fellow citizens and themselves. More
11:45am: According to a BBC report,emergency workers are battling to cool and restore power to reactors at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant but say progress is slow.Power is needed to restart pumps to pour cold water on the overheating fuel rods and avert a major radiation leak.There have been a number of explosions in the reactor buildings since Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan.

11:15am: The first readings from American data-collection flights over the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan show that the worst contamination has not spread beyond the 19-mile range of highest concern established by Japanese authorities. But another day of frantic efforts to cool nuclear fuel in the troubled reactors and in the plant’s spent-fuel pools resulted in little or no progress, according to United States government officials. Read on New York Times
11:00am: The nuclear crisis in Japan has prompted a re-examination of the safety net for nuclear power in the United States, with former regulators and safety advocates warning that gaps in the nation's regulatory armor could leave Americans similarly vulnerable to disaster. Full story on Huffington Post
10:45am: International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano urged that Japan have closer contact with the U.N. nuclear watchdog over the country's quake-triggered nuclear crisis that has stirred international concerns.

10:30am: Efforts to cool down the overheating reactors and spent fuels continued Friday at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was crippled a week ago by a massive earthquake and tsunami, with workers braving the risk of radiation exposure to prevent the problems from developing into a catastrophe.
10:15am: Special Report: Mistakes, misfortune, meltdown: Japan's quake
10:00am: Adding to their woes, an unseasonal snowstorm sent temperatures plunging to below zero and blanketed acres of tsunami debris in white.
While international attention has been focused on Japan's efforts to stop damage at a quake-hit nuclear power plant from spiraling out of control, a massive salvage and rescue operation has slowly been gathering steam.

Photos: Japan before and after tsunami

9:30am: International experts say that panic over fears of radiation leaks from the Daiichi nuclear plant could detract from problems likely to affect survivors of the quake and tsunami, such as the cold, access to clean water and getting enough food.
9:00am: Radiation readings at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have consistently followed a downward path through Friday morning, according to Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency measurements taken roughly 1 kilometer west of the plant's No. 2 reactor. Meanwhile, Japanese engineers are racing to extend an emergency power cable to a nuclear reactor complex crippled by the country's earthquake and tsunami a week ago.

8:30am: The death toll from the monster 9.0-magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami that hit Japan climbed past 6,400 Friday as search teams continued to comb through the rubble. Japan's National Police agency said 6,406 people were confirmed dead and 10,259 were reported missing

8:00am: A top U.S. nuclear regulator indicated Thursday it is likely to take several weeks to cool down troubled nuclear reactors in Japan's northeastern prefecture of Fukushima. ''This is something that will take some time to work through, possibly weeks, as you eventually remove the majority of the heat from the reactors and then the spent fuel pools,'' U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko told a news conference at the White House.