For the year, refining operations yielded $143 million in operating income, compared with $707 million the previous year, Ashland said.
The deal represents the latest move by Exxon and other major oil companies to shift their focus from refining operations to higher-margin businesses like exploration and development of new sources of oil and natural gas.
The Refining segment includes refining operations, wholesale marketing, product supply and distribution, and transportation operations in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Aruba, and Ireland.
Today Charles lords over nation's largest privately held company: chemicals, pipelines, ranching, commodities trading, lumber, paper; also refining operations in Alaska, Texas and Minnesota.
The Branch and Asarco segments include integrated copper extraction, smelting and refining operations, produce copper, with production of by-products of molybdenum, silver and other material, mainly in Peru and the U.S. The ITM segment engages in the railway transportation activities.
Other fire-refining operations use fractional distillation.
Teamwork between the company's petrochemicals and refining operations has been particularly lucrative.
Telltale plumes of smoke from illegal refining operations rise above the water.
See articleAnnual earnings at big oil companies were dragged down by their oil-refining operations.
Now they are more than capable of developing their own refining operations or signing joint ventures.
Today's deal would add oil exploration, production and refining operations, and expand Petrobras's total production by 12percentt.
