ConocoPhillips announced last week that it is seeking a buyer for its refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, and, if none is found, will permanently close the plant in six months. The oil major, which cited poor economics for processing oil at the refinery for the past several years, has already begun to idle operations.

The sale of the 185,000 bpd refinery and associated pipelines and terminals was announced by ConocoPhillips, an international, integrated energy company operating in more than 30 countries and based in Houston, in a Sept. 27 news release.

Enterprise Products Partners and Enbridge Inc. plan to design, construct, and operate a new pipeline to transport crude oil from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast refining complex, the companies announced in a Sept. 29 news release. The pipeline is expected to be in service by mid-2013.

Enterprise and Enbridge also announced a binding open commitment period for available capacity on the new pipeline, which begins today and runs to Nov. 2.

Oil-linked natural gas prices in Europe and Asia are now significantly higher than gas prices in the United States due to increased production in the U.S., according to a report released Sept. 28 by Fitch Ratings.

The rapid increase in U.S. domestic liquid natural gas production has weakened anticipated LNG import demand in the U.S. and led to significant amounts of LNG being sold to Europe under short-term sales arrangements.