Following several years of helping to lead global diesel prices upward – thanks to massive economic expansion and diesel fuel imports – China is now helping to push global diesel prices downward.

As a SinoCast report from Dec. 31 noted, Sinopec began to slash diesel retail prices last week, hot on the heels of similar action by competitor, PetroChina.

The moves followed a National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) order cutting diesel and gasoline wholesale prices two weeks earlier.

Planned outages of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units in the first quarter of 2009 will impact distillate production in the U.S. East Coast, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a Dec. 23 report.

While EIA projected that crude distillation unit outages in the U.S. through March 2009 will be “fairly typical,” EIA warned that the large planned outage level of FCCs in February may impact distillate supply in the East Coast (PADD 1), where U.S. heating oil demand is concentrated during the winter months.

U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest weekly surveys of refiner and importer supplies of ultra-low sulfur diesel (<15-ppm sulfur ULSD) show a slight dip in output but gains in ULSD stocks.

Higher-sulfur distillate imports are dropping, the survey shows.

U.S. EPA announced in the Dec. 24 Federal Register that it will allow Cummins a variance on the normal maintenance interval for exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valves for 2007-2009 clean-diesel engines.

Reason for the accelerated maintenance: extra soot caused by more-frequent desulfation of a nitrogen oxides (NOx) adsorber that’s paired with the EGR system for ultra-low NOx emissions.

Volvo Trucks on Dec. 17 publicly slammed fellow diesel truck/engine maker Navistar for pushing a delay in the U.S. EPA 2010 emissions limits for heavy-duty diesel vehicles.

“EPA has clearly stated that it has no intention of changing the 2010 timetable, and it’s counter-productive and misleading to suggest that the agency might change its mind in the 11th hour,” said Per Carlsson, president and CEO of Volvo Trucks North America.

São Paulo Prosecutor Appeals Decision Allowing Tardy ULSD

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Dec. 9 revised downward its diesel and gasoline price forecasts for 2009.

In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, here’s how EIA sees crude oil, gasoline, diesel, heating oil (gasoil) and natural gas retail prices shaping-up this year:

The European Parliament voted 559-98 on Dec. 16 to approve a compromise deal with the Council of Europe to require light duty vehicles to cut CO2 emissions to 130 grams/kilometer by 2012 -- or 120 g/km when including a 10 g/km CO2 reduction from biofuels blending.

The new law is part of the EU's effort to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020.

Caterpillar announced Dec. 8 that it will approved extended lube oil drain intervals for its diesel “3500 Series” standby generator sets – but only if they’re run on petroleum diesel fuel, not biodiesel.

“Given the number of diesel 3500 Series standby generator sets in operation worldwide, extended oil drain intervals would allow Caterpillar, Cat dealers and Caterpillar customers to protect the environment by reducing approximately 2.6 million gallons of waste oil annually,” said Kevin Benz of Cat’s Electric Power Product Support.

Volvo Trucks announced Dec. 16 that global truck deliveries in November fell 8% compared with the year-earlier period.

“Due to the current uncertainty in the economy, the overall demand for new trucks in Europe continues to be weak,” Volvo trucks said.

Washington-based Baard Energy aims to start construction on a 53,000 barrels/day coal-biomass to liquids (CBTL) plant in Ohio this spring, despite the global credit crisis that threatens many “alternative energy” projects.

Plant financing is based upon a forecasted $85/barrel crude price in 2013, when the plant would begin production.

In a newly released study for the U.S. Air Force, defense think-tank Rand Corp. warns that lack of a U.S. national policy on limiting greenhouse emissions would thwart development of a robust coal-to-liquids (CTL) industry.

Rand on Dec. 10 formally unveiled its “Producing Liquid Fuels from Coal” study sponsored by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s National Energy Technology Lab (NETL).