Energy, Oil Refinery | featured news

Energy companies behind the oil boom on the Northern Plains are increasingly turning to an industrial-age workhorse - the locomotive - to move their crude to refineries across the U.S., as plans for new pipelines stall and existing lines can't keep up with demand.

A fire burned for a third day in two fuel storage tanks at Venezuela's biggest refinery on Monday, putting in doubt plans to quickly restart the facility after one of the worst accidents to hit the global oil industry for decades.

A surprise surge in gasoline prices is taking some of the fun out of summer. The national average for a gallon of gas at the pump has climbed to $3.67, a rise of 34 cents since July 1. An increase in crude oil prices and problems with refineries and pipelines in the West Coast and Midwest, including a fire in California, are mostly to blame.

A massive fire that shut down Chevron Corp's large Richmond, California, refinery on Monday, was extinguished by the early hours of Tuesday, Chevron said, leaving residents and oil traders seeking answers to the hours-long blaze.

Cuba and China have signed a series of economic accords that include the expansion of an oil refinery in Cienfuegos.