The long-awaited Advanced Collaborative Emissions Study (ACES) from the U.S. auto-oil Coordinating Research Council (CRC) found that diesel emissions from heavy-duty trucks built since 2007 are far lower than even what U.S. EPA requires.

Hydrotreating vegetable oils into “bio-derived synthetic paraffinic kerosene” (Bio-SPK) yields a fuel that is – except for aromatic content – chemically almost identical to petroleum-based kero-jet fuel.

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 that refiner output has slipped, helping ULSD stocks stabilize.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on June 17 announced that his state would give some $67 million in tax incentives to a mysterious outfit named “V-Vehicle” for producing a supposedly environment-friendly vehicle, at an abandoned factory.

International Energy Agency’s latest monthly Oil Market Report has IEA predicting a slight reversal of crude-oil demand declines for 2009, following stronger-than-expected first-quarter 2009 OECD economic data.

The U.S. National Research Council (NRC) found in a new study that combined coal/biomass to liquids (CBTL) plants would be cost-competitive with conventional oil refineries – especially if a $50/ton CO2 tax is imposed in the U.S.

Two reports from Standard & Poor’s Rating Services assert that the global refining sector should expect to remain “highly exposed” to a prolonged downturn due to a surplus resulting from decreased product demand and increasing refining capacity worldwide.

“We expect the current steep fall in middle distillate crack spreads to impact European and Asian refiners most in 2009. This is because they tend to have a high share of middle distillates, about 40%-60%, compared to approximately 30% for a typical U.S. refinery,” said S&P’s credit analyst Karl Nietvelt.

Dealers who have lost their franchises in the “downsizing” U.S. car business are now signing up with alternative automakers, including Mahindra, which is launching U.S. diesel-powered pickup and SUV vehicle sales in coming months.

U.S. based diesel vehicle/engine maker Navistar International reported $12 million second-quarter 2009 earnings despite what it termed as the worst market conditions since 1962.

Northrup Grumman is seeking refiner volunteers for its annual survey of U.S. diesel and heating oil.

U.S. railroad CSX and New Jersey electric producer PSEG Power announced June 9 that they’re jointly buying three “GenSet” low-emissions diesel locomotives manufactured by National Railway Equipment Company.

Diesel engine and truck maker Daimler announced June 9 that first-year results from a three-year fleet test of Neste’s “NExBTL” renewable diesel fuel in Germany show significant emissions reductions and better performance than conventional fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) biodiesel.

Despite the recent global trend of increases in crude oil prices, Petrobras announced that as of June 9 it had cut diesel wholesale prices by 15%, while gasoline prices were trimmed 4.5%.

During the past five years, many existing refineries have undergone major reconfigurations to process a greater proportion of heavy crudes. Delayed cokers, expanded vacuum units and visbreakers have been employed.

U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) on June 11 announced it’s offering up to $240 million for development of high efficiency commercial and passenger vehicles.

Given long-term global trends of greater demand for middle distillate and declining demand for gasoline, one emerging refiner strategy is to produce more distillate from coker gas oils.