Houston-based Sunoco to pay $816M for stake in fuel distribution business

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) will drop down another portion of its retail business to Houston-based Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) in an $816 million deal.

ETP acquired Philadelphia-based Sunoco Inc. in 2012, then it acquired Houston-based Susser Petroleum Partners last year and in October changed its name to Sunoco LP. Prior to the name change, ETP dropped down $768 million in assets to Susser, while Susser also purchased Honolulu-based Aloha Petroleum Ltd. for $240 million.

Now,…

How NeoFirma gives drillers, investors a real-time snapshot of well performance

With oil prices hovering in the $40 range, every dime counts.

Executives and investors need real-time data on all their oil and gas wells, how much they’re producing, whether pipe and sand arrived on-time and if there’s a hold-up at the work-site.

That’s the goal of NeoFirma, a Dallas-based cloud computing company that connects what’s happening at the drill site to computers, tablets or mobile devices.

Well supervisors input data throughout the day and it’s accessible to everyone instantly.

“The…

Day1 Solutions closes on $2M investment

McLean-baed cloud services startup Day1 Solutions has closed on a $2 million round of funding.

The company says it will use the new funding for acquisitions and to expand its sales teams.

Day1 Solutions says the seed round included 10 separate investors. It did not identify the investor groups.

Day1 Solutions, founded in 2012, is expanding in part through acquisitions.

In November, it acquired Reston-based Logic Method IT, a cloud managed services provider, for an undisclosed sum. Both are Amazon…

Tesoro refinery workers to vote on labor contact, ending strike

Workers at three refineries owned by San Antonio-based energy company Tesoro are expected to vote on a labor contract and a strike that has lasted more than two months.

Both the United Steelworkers and Tesoro confirmed on Sunday that labor contract negotiations on “local issues” have ended. The contract will now go to a vote among striking workers at Tesoro’s refineries in Anacortes, Wash., as well Carson and Martinez, Calif.

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If approved…

Republic shaves two floors off Portals residential, earns CFA approval

Republic Properties has given its proposed Portals residential development a shave.

What was a 15-story, roughly 400-unit apartment building planned for 1331 Maryland Ave. SW, overlooking inbound 14th Street, is now a 13-story building that will include 290 apartments and 75 condominiums. The condos will be located on the top four floors.

The design tweak earned the project, Portals V, the approval Thursday of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which last month had all but ordered “that the height…