In recent years, Iranian interests have wound themselves into everything from resources for the Indonesian fuel industry, to Ghanaian banking, to irrigation and oil refining in Sri Lanka, to initiatives by Iran's Ministry of Agricultural Jihad (yes, that's the name) for projects across much of Africa.

FORBES: Freedom's Edge

Meanwhile, Kior last month said it received EPA approval for a drop-in replacement fuel from wood chips using a pyrolysis process adopted from the oil refining business.

FORBES: Audi Places Its Biofuel Bets On Joule

The price of fuel oil is going up, the Times tells us, mainly because of refining cutbacks in the Northeast.

FORBES: Sunday Times Offers Food For Thought On Gas, Capital And Unions

The prices of refined products like diesel, gasoline and jet fuel, might increase much more sharply than crude-oil futures because of the refining belt that runs along the Gulf.

FORBES: Market Scan

The refined products and marketing division is responsible for refining and marketing various products such as gasoline, aviation fuel, fuel oil and middle distillates.

FORBES: Exxon Mobil Is Unapologetically Worth $92 Per Share

However, in view of its present high price, rhenium (used in highly fuel-efficient aircraft engines) is now recovered from scrap bimetallic catalysts used in the oil refining industry.

FORBES: Recycling Scrap Rare Metals Vital to Future Technologies