Oil

The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has the potential to birth a dramatic change in his oil-rich country's relationship with the United States. But it may take years to materialize, if it ever does. Much will depend on how far the Obama administration is willing to go to encourage Chavez's successor. Before Chavez's death Tuesday, Vice President Nicolas Maduro had implied that the United States had somehow given the president cancer. That absurd assertion contrasts with foreign policy analysts' assessment that if Maduro succeeds Chavez, he won't try to be the same type of revolutionary leader, and he may seek closer ties with America.

HOUSTON - Venezuela, which is a member of OPEC and sits on the world's second-largest oil reserves, faces near-term political uncertainty after Hugo Chavez's death that could bring further turmoil to its beleaguered oil industry. Even under the best circumstances it would take years to increase production and exports, analysts say. Venezuela's oil industry saw exports fall by nearly half during Chavez's time as president. He died Tuesday. But any new government would have a powerful economic incentive to make that a priority.

NEW YORK - Reaction in the oil market to the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was muted Tuesday, with the price of crude rising slightly in electronic trading in New York. Chavez, 58, battled cancer for two years. In December, he underwent what officials described as a complicated six-hour, cancer-related surgery. The full impact of his death on the oil market may not be known until Venezuela elects new leadership. In the short term, analysts expect the country's long decline in oil production to continue.

The oil refinery in Trainer owned by Delta Air Lines received its first shipment of Bakken crude oil from North Dakota on Feb. 12. The test shipment traveled in more than 100 rail cars to Albany, N.Y., where it was moved to a ship, and transported to Delta's docks in Trainer. "We are still evaluating our crude sourcing options. We don't currently have a facility to off-load from rail at Trainer," Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter said. "If we decide to go ahead fully into the Bakken to get our crude, then we would invest in some rail facilities there, and it would come by rail all the way to the refinery.

TWO WEEKS AGO, Oprah Winfrey went to Instagram and Twitter - @oprah, natch - to post praises of one of her favorite things. The O electronically professed her endless love of a $249 countertop kitchen appliance, a fryer that transforms baking taters into french fries using a scant amount of oil. "This machine . . . T-Fal actifry has changed my life," wrote Winfrey. "And they're not paying me to say it. " (One would hope not, since America's pre-eminent media mogul seems to do quite well for herself with the jobs she's already got.)

NEW ORLEANS - BP bears most of the blame for the disastrous 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico because it cut corners and put profit ahead of safety, a U.S. Justice Department attorney charged Monday at the opening of a high-stakes trial that could result in the oil company and its partners being forced to pay billions more in damages. The London-based oil giant acknowledged that it made "errors in judgment" before the deadly blowout, but it also cast blame on the owner of the drilling rig and the contractor involved in cementing the well.

ASSIUT, Egypt - Thousands of brick workers blocked railroad tracks from a southern city to Cairo for a second day Sunday to protest rising industrial oil prices, causing the cancellation of some services, security officials said. The government lifted industrial fuel oil subsidies last week as part of a reform program, prompting labor protests by quarry and brick factory workers. Egypt has been gripped by unrest in recent days, partially because of public discontent with new government measures designed to deal with a crippling budget deficit.

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Wednesday nominated Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) chief executive Sally Jewell to head the Interior Department, praising her as a leader who "knows the link between conservation and good jobs. " The choice of Jewell, who began her career as an engineer for Mobil Oil and worked as a commercial banker before heading a nearly $2 billion outdoors-equipment company, represents an unconventional choice for a post usually reserved for career politicians from the West.

PBF Energy Inc. said it expects to receive its first train delivery this week of North Dakota light crude oil at its Delaware City Refinery, and also announced that it will double the amount of heavy Canadian oil-sands crude it can receive by rail by the end of this year. The refinery can now receive 70,000 barrels of light crude a day and 40,000 barrels of heavy crude. The heavy crude capacity will double to 80,000 under a $50 million plan to expand the unloading facility. PBF is also securing an additional 2,500 rail cars through 2015 to transport the crude oil. PBF and other East Coast refiners are scrambling to incorporate lower-cost domestic crudes from new discoveries into their mix to reduce their production costs, which typically have been higher because of their reliance on expensive imported petroleum.

VICKSBURG, Miss. - Cleanup crews with booms skimmed oily water from the Mississippi River a day after a barge with more than 80,000 gallons of oil struck a railroad bridge near Vicksburg, spreading a sheen of light crude that kept part of the waterway shut to ship traffic Monday, authorities said. It remained unclear Monday morning how much oil had leaked into the river, according to the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers. Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Third Class Jonathan Lally said on Monday afternoon that oil was "still discharging, but it is slowly discharging.