The potential deal follows the acquisition of a Pennsylvania refinery by Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL). Two European oil trading houses, Gunvor and Vitol, have each acquired a European refinery recently from bankrupt Swiss firm Petroplus. Another large Caribbean refinery, Hovensa in the US Virgin Islands, is a joint venture between Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) and Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PdVSA and will be shut down soon as well.

According to Reuters, the Aruba refinery would partially refine the heavy, sour crudes from Venezuela and ship the product to China where refining into usable products would be completed.

PetroChina is not likely to have any problem with acquiring the plant because it is not on US territory, but a possible acquisition of the Hovensa plant could trigger a review by federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The committee has in the past approved the sale of some energy assets in the US, for example by Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK).

The possible sale by Valero has not boosted its share price today, which is currently down about -0.5% at $22.46 in a 52-week range of $16.40-$28.68.

Paul Ausick

Facebook will list on the Nasdaq. (WSJ)

Samsung expects a record first quarter, based to some extent on it mobile product business. (Reuters)

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) will announce its reorganization next Tuesday. (Reuters)

PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) and Hess (NYSE: HES) about shale oil exploration. (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) presses developers to make apps for its Windows Mobile OS. (WSJ)

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) may buy an idled ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) refinery to hedge jet fuel costs. (WSJ)

Alcoa (NYSE: AA) to cut aluminum production. (WSJ)

Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA) starts another copyright suit against Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube. (WSJ)

JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) cuts staff at its headquarters. (WSJ)

General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Toyota (NYSE: TM) post modest car sales in China in March. (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) to invest in a new $600 million facility in China. (WSJ)

Many retailers report better-than-expected March sales. (NYT)

Spanish bond yields still test multimonth highs. (FT)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) mounts a defense of its e-book pricing. (Bloomberg)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) loses more workers as it adjusts its strategy. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

PetroChina Surpasses Exxon

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) is no longer the world’s largest corporate producer of oil. That distinction has gone to PetroChina (NYSE: PTR). Reuters reports that “PetroChina announced Thursday that it pumped 2.4 million barrels a day last year, surpassing Exxon by 100,000.” The change was inevitable. China’s thirst for oil makes it the second-largest net importer in the world after the U.S. PetroChina is also a quasi-governmental operation. It has access to Chinese capital. The central government of the People’s Republic needs an ever-growing supply of crude to fuel industry and consumer uses — particularly for the use of cars and light trucks. And China can afford only so much in terms of crude price increases. China may have a strong central government, but the power of that government can offset a huge rise in energy prices only for so long before it must pass some of it along to consumers.

German Jobless Rate

Germany continues to strengthen as the most powerful economy in Europe as it avoids a regionwide recession. Its Labor Office reports that the jobless rate fell to 6.7% in March. Reuters says this is the lowest level since the reunification of East and West Germany. It may be hard for Germany to continue the trend, though. Its gross domestic product relies heavily on exports. The economies of many of its neighbors in the European Union are nearly in ruin, which is bound to hurt German exports significantly. The Chinese economy has cooled somewhat. U.S. GDP has started to rise again, but it is unclear that the recovery will hold and that import traffic to America can stay high.

Goldman Board Meets

As it meets in India, the board of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) apparently still is considering whether the roles of chairman and CEO at the investment bank should be split. If they are, embattled chief Lloyd Blankfein may lose much of his power. Some investors and Goldman customers would support this. Blankfein ruled the company during the period leading up to the credit crisis. Goldman has been accused of creating some and selling many of the financial instruments that caused the global financial collapse. Blankfein, whose annual compensation is regularly in the tens of millions of dollars, has become one of the primary symbols of what is wrong with Wall St. compensation.

Douglas A. McIntyre

China’s thirst for oil makes it the second largest net importer in the world after the US. PetroChina is also a quasi-governmental operation. It has access to Chinese capital. The central government of the People’s Republic needs an ever growing supply of crude to fuel industry and consumer uses–particularly for the use of cars and light trucks.

And, China can only afford so much in terms of crude price increases. China may have a central government, but the power of that government can only offset a huge rise in energy prices for so long before it must pass some of it along to consumers.

Shell may be first, but Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), Total SA (NYSE: TOT), and BP plc (NYSE: BP) have also joined with Chinese firms to search for shale gas. The US Geological Survey estimates that China has reserves of 1,275 trillion cubic feet, virtually none of which has been extracted yet.

Shell did not provide any financial details on the contract.

China’s drivers and businesses are about to go through the second increase in gas and diesel prices in six weeks. The central government has pushed up the price of gas 6.4% as part of the most recent change. Diesel prices were raised 7%. The primary reason for the changes, outsiders speculate, is that China’s huge oil companies — China Petroleum & Chemical (NYSE: SNP) and PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) — both partially owned by the state, have posted billions of dollars in losses as they act their parts in a system that keeps gas prices low despite the huge increase in crude costs over the past three months.

As fuel prices threaten the world’s economy, it hardly matters why gas, petrochemical and diesel prices rise. All economies are trapped by the rise in crude. There is nothing in the supply and demand system to offset this. Political problems in Iran will not go away any time soon.

Several refineries in the U.S. cannot make money any more because they cannot pass the cost of crude onto the market. That means some, particularly on the East Coast, will close. That will have the likely effect of making gas prices even higher. In China, the government will keep refineries open. The government can pay for them to stay open. But now its wants better margins to do so, and it can force that case.

China may be the last large nation in which inexpensive gas prices help continue to fuel improvement in gross domestic product. If that process ends swiftly, the price of energy will join an overall slowdown in factory activity and real estate value deflation in the People’s Republic to sharply undercut economic expansion. China quickly will become more like the rest of the world, at least economically.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The Obama Administration is expected to help U.S. solar panel makers in a trade war with China. (Reuters)

The S&P 500 is within 10% of its record high. (Reuters)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) will buy Kiva Systems for $775 million. (Reuters)

A study by Appcelerator shows app developers moving more effort to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and away from Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android and Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). (Reuters)

Facebook’s underwriters will get a fee of only 1.1% of IPO proceeds. (Reuters)

Republicans will target tax cuts and the creation of only two tax rates. (WSJ)

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) executives in Brazil face criminal charges over a leak. (WSJ)

Glencore is near a deal to buy Viterra. (WSJ)

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) says China’s demand for iron ore has flattened. (WSJ)

Moody’s may downgrade General Electric (NYSE: GE) and its financial arm. (WSJ)

Europe labor unions ask General Motors (NYSE: GM) to discuss the company’s plans over the next four years. (WSJ)

Many small customers shun Google’s maps because of fees. (NYT)

Saudi Arabia begins to export more oil to the U.S. and to open older oil fields to help ease the crude crisis. (FT)

The Commodities Futures Trading Commission will more carefully oversee the $300 trillion swaps markets. (FT)

China raises prices for gasoline and diesel for the second time in two months; China Petroleum (NYSE: SNP) and PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) lobbied for the move to help profits. (Bloomberg)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to launch Windows 8 in October. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

The country has just begun exploring for shale gas, but the potential is definitely present. Last year, the US Geological Survey estimated China’s total shale gas resource at 1,275 trillion cubic feet, about 50% greater than the estimated US resource (our coverage here). Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) and its partner, Petrochina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) announced last December that they had struck gas in two vertical wells (our coverage here). Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), Total SA (NYSE: TOT), and BP plc (NYSE: BP) have also been discussing possible exploration ventures in China.

China’s goal is to replace a significant portion of its coal-fired electricity generation with cleaner gas-fired generation. The country has also indicated that it will welcome foreign expertise to help it get its shale development up and running.

Paul Ausick

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Cabela’s, Inc. (NYSE: CAB) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Reiterated Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CNOOC Ltd (NYSE: CEO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE: EXM) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) Reiterated Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
LM Ericsson Telephone Company (NASDAQ: ERIC) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
PetroChina Company Limited (NYSE: PTR) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Pool Corporation (NASDAQ: POOL) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) reiterated Outperform but raised target to $36.00 at Credit Suisse; Raised to Hold at Brean Murray.

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JON C. OGG

Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) posts earnings that trouble Wall St. and its shares fall by 10%. (Reuters)

A deal on mortgage data and foreclosures between five banks and state attorneys general is close to being done. The amount of the settlement will be about $25 billion. (Reuters)

Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) posts a drop in Q4 results. (Reuters)

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) posts poor results due to metal prices. (Reuters)

Levovo beats earnings forecasts as its market share rises, and it will produce a TV product for Chinese consumers. (Reuters)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to launch a cloud storage product. (WSJ)

The House probably will approve a bill to regulate insider trading by members of Congress and their staffs. (WSJ)

China and Canada to increase official trade relations. (WSJ)

China’s CPI rises to 4.5% in January — up from 4.1% in December. (WSJ)

Some car companies press sales in Indonesia as the number of drivers there surges. (WSJ)

Chrysler may set a deal with banks for consumer and dealer loans that would replace its relationship with Ally. (WSJ)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) tightens it approval process for apps used on the iPad and iPhone. (WSJ)

Petrobras (NYSE: PTR) estimates of its reserves and the P&L they may create could be too optimistic. (WSJ)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) buys much of AIG’s (NYSE: AIG) troubled bond portfolio, which dates back to 2008. (WSJ)

Two million homeowners could benefit from a $25 billion settlement over mortgages reached between five banks and the government. (NYT)

Car sales in China fall 24% in January. (NYT)

Young people are watching TV more and more on PCs. (NYT)

BP (NYSE: BP) is conversing with the U.S. government over claims from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and may settle. (Bloomberg)

Sarkozy’s approval ratings in France are near all-time lows for a president. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre