- Top Stories
- Total Sees ‘End of Era’ Coming for EU Dieselization
- Market Report: Global Demand Weakening, Even for Diesel
- Gasification Breakthroughs Could Change Energy Equation, Favor Diesel
- Around the world of Diesel
- UOP Wins Euro-5 ULSD Technology Deal for Abu Dhabi Refining:
- Afton Buys GE’s North American Diesel Fuel Additives Business:
- PSA Peugeot Citroen Will Sell Diesel-Electric Hybrid Cars Starting in 2011:
- Marathon Completes Sale of Its Ownership Interest in Pilot Travel Centers:
- Big U.S. Truckstop Chain Announces Plan to Sell Urea for SCR-Equipped Diesel Trucks; SCR Web-Site Launches:
- Oryxe Wins Texas Council on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Approval for Low-NOx Additized Biodiesel Blend:
- More News
- Encouraging Progress on UCG World-Wide; Big-Oil Interest Growing
- Hurricane-Caused Shutdowns Cut ULSD Production, Stocks
- Montana Refining ULSD Project On-Track, Expansion Project Killed
- NPRA Q&A: Refiners Told to Prep for More Diesel, Less Gasoline
- ConocoPhillips Unveils Sweeny Refinery Gasification Project; Rejects FT Option
- U.S. Diesel Truckstop Sales Plunge 7.8%
- ExxonMobil, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Ink Gasification Deal
- Regulation
- IMO Adopts Revised Marpol Annex-6 Ship Diesel Limits; U.S. Ratifies It
- CARB ‘Low Carbon Fuel Standard’ Draft Out for Comments
- U.S. President Bush Signs Energy Tax Bill; Includes Clean-Coal Provisions
- CNG/LNG Versus Diesel on GHG: Gas Not Always Better
- Technology
- Sasol Unveils UCG Project in S. Africa; ‘Viable Alternative to Crude Oil’
- Volvo to Debut Diesel-Electric Hybrid Cars in 2012
- Key Prices
- Distillate Watch
Top Stories
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Total Sees ‘End of Era’ Coming for EU Dieselization
Extraordinary diesel price rises in recent months are overwhelming diesel’s relatively lower tax rate in much of Europe – and could signal the “end of an era” for unchecked dieselization.
So explains big European refiner Total in a new report and a related interview with Benoît Luc, Total’s Senior VP of Strategy, in the company’s latest Energy Files e-magazine.
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Market Report: Global Demand Weakening, Even for Diesel
Global oil demand and prices continue to fall -- along with the plummeting stock and credit markets -- while even normally robust diesel demand and prices are tumbling, too.
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Gasification Breakthroughs Could Change Energy Equation, Favor Diesel
Pittsburgh, Pa. & Washington, DC – On both the technology and commercial fronts, gasification is thrusting itself into the limelight as never before.
As a result, it’s becoming easier to imagine a future of abundant supply of ultra-clean synthetic distillate fuels (including diesel) to make-up for a disconcerting world-wide shortfall of crude-based refinery distillates.
Regulation
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IMO Adopts Revised Marpol Annex-6 Ship Diesel Limits; U.S. Ratifies It
The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) unanimously adopted on October 10 amendments to the Marpol Annex-6 regulations to slash allowable sulfur in marine bunker fuel and cut stack emissions.
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CARB ‘Low Carbon Fuel Standard’ Draft Out for Comments
California Air Resources Board (CARB) just released a new draft “low carbon fuel standard” (LCFS). It would set diesel fuel “carbon intensity” limits even lower than those for gasoline or other fuels – and wouldn’t include “biomass-based diesel” blend, to start.
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U.S. President Bush Signs Energy Tax Bill; Includes Clean-Coal Provisions
U.S. President George Bush signed into law Oct. 3 an economic bailout bill that also includes energy tax measures earlier approved by the U.S. Senate.
Despite objections from many U.S. House members, the bill as passed includes all the U.S. Senate energy tax bill provisions.
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CNG/LNG Versus Diesel on GHG: Gas Not Always Better
Compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) sometimes look better than diesel on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But sometimes natural gas is worse than diesel, a new study by California Air Resources Board (CARB) shows.
Around the world of Diesel
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UOP Wins Euro-5 ULSD Technology Deal for Abu Dhabi Refining:
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Afton Buys GE’s North American Diesel Fuel Additives Business:
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PSA Peugeot Citroen Will Sell Diesel-Electric Hybrid Cars Starting in 2011:
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Marathon Completes Sale of Its Ownership Interest in Pilot Travel Centers:
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Big U.S. Truckstop Chain Announces Plan to Sell Urea for SCR-Equipped Diesel Trucks; SCR Web-Site Launches:
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Oryxe Wins Texas Council on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Approval for Low-NOx Additized Biodiesel Blend:
More News
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Encouraging Progress on UCG World-Wide; Big-Oil Interest Growing
Underground coal gasification (UCG) is making impressive strides around the globe, an encouraging sign for a world that’s growing ever-more hungry for “clean,” abundant and relatively low-cost energy.
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Hurricane-Caused Shutdowns Cut ULSD Production, Stocks
U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest weekly surveys of U.S. refiner supplies of ultra-low sulfur diesel (<15-ppm sulfur ULSD) shows that ULSD production suffered for several weeks following two Gulf Coast hurricanes last month. But output is starting to rise again.
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Montana Refining ULSD Project On-Track, Expansion Project Killed
Alberta-based Connacher Oil & Gas announced Oct. 6 that it is killing its proposed expansion of Montana Refining because of the crisis in global capital markets.
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NPRA Q&A: Refiners Told to Prep for More Diesel, Less Gasoline
A myriad of factors – from waning gasoline demand and strengthening diesel demand, to changes in demographics and worldwide refining capacity – is causing U.S. refiners to reassess their product outputs and bottom lines, said Blake Eskew, VP of consultant Purvin & Gertz and keynote speaker at the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association’s annual Q&A and Technology Forum here.
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ConocoPhillips Unveils Sweeny Refinery Gasification Project; Rejects FT Option
Washington, DC – ConocoPhillips (CoP) on Oct. 7 took the wraps off a long-awaited, first refinery application of CoP’s “E-gas” gasification technology, at the Gasification Technologies Council (GTC) annual meeting here.
CoP will decide next year whether the project at its Sweeny, Texas refinery will involve a 400-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant or substitute synthetic natural gas (SNG) plant of between 65-130 million standard cubic feet/day.
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U.S. Diesel Truckstop Sales Plunge 7.8%
A new survey by U.S. truckstop trade association NATSO finds that diesel sales plummeted 7.8% in August 2008 versus August 2007.
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ExxonMobil, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Ink Gasification Deal
In yet another sign of growing interest among oil majors in ultra-clean “alternative” fuels, power and chemicals, ExxonMobil and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) announced Oct. 3 that they’ve inked a deal to “develop next-generation technology” for gasification of coal, coke or biomass to synthesis gas.
Technology
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Sasol Unveils UCG Project in S. Africa; ‘Viable Alternative to Crude Oil’
Coal-to-liquids (CTL) giant Sasol is embarking upon an underground coal gasification (UCG) pilot project in an otherwise “stranded” deep coal seam near its existing Secunda, South Africa CTL plant.
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Volvo to Debut Diesel-Electric Hybrid Cars in 2012
Volvo on Oct. 2 announced plans to introduce diesel-electric hybrid cars in 2012, a year after it debuts gasoline-electric hybrids.
Key Prices
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Distillate Watch
