Caterpillar’s Progress Rail division will be the new owner of locomotive giant Electro-Motive Diesel under a deal announced June 1.

GAZ President Bo Andersson last week announced that his company on July 1 will start selling “Gazel-Biznes” light commercial vehicles in Russia equipped with Cummins diesel engines.

Volkswagen of America officials announced June 2 that the company’s TDI clean-diesel cars continue to lead the way in vehicle sales in the U.S. market.

Electric- and hydraulic-hybrid technologies will be installed on some 300,000 medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses worldwide by 2015, according to a new forecast by U.S.-based Pike Research.

Mercedes Benz officials announced June 1 that they’ve added the ML350 BlueTEC 4Matic diesel sport utility vehicle to their Japan car sales line-up.

The U.S.-based Clean Diesel Fuel Alliance group – including refiners, diesel fuel marketers, storage tank makers and others – last week issued a request for proposal to 14 different consulting companies asking them to design a study that aims to find answers to mysterious fuel tank system corrosion problems that some suspect might have a link to ultra-low sulfur diesel.

PBF Energy Partners Chairman Tom O’Malley last week announced that as part of his company’s just-completed US$220 million acquisition of the 210,000-barrel-per-day former Valero Delaware City, Del., refinery, a planned US$500 million gasoil hydrotreater project would enable production of low-sulfur heating oil (even from higher-sulfur crude).

China National Petroleum Corp. (parent company of PetroChina) officials announced June 3 that they’ve put into operation a 1.2-million-ton-per-year distillate hydrotreater at the Daqing Petrochemical plant, enabling production of Euro-4 (50 parts per million sulfur) ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel.

Australia-based Altona Energy officials announced June 1 that the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board has now approved an investment by China National Offshore Oil Corp.-New Energy International for the proposed 27,000-barrel-per-day Arckaringa coal-to-liquids project.

Sasol officials confirmed June 2 that their proposed US$10 billion, 80,000-barrel-per-day coal-to-liquids joint-venture project with Tata Steel in India would aim to begin production by 2018.

Dallas-based Alone USA officials announced June 2 that they’ve completed a US$40 million purchase of the 70,000-barrel-per-day former Big West refinery in Bakersfield, Calif., from Flying J.

Essar Oil officials announced this month that they’ve lined up another US$225 million in equity financing toward their proposed US$1.79 billion refinery expansion project in India.

Foster Wheeler officials announced June 1 that they’ve signed an engineering, procurement and construction management services contract from Société Nationale de Raffinage (Sonara) for Phase 1 of the Limbé Refinery upgrade and modernization project in Cameroon.

Claims that jatropha could produce commercially exploitable biodiesel feedstock on degraded and parched lands – helping poor farmers while boosting “green” diesel supplies – are turning out to be false, according to a report last week from the Daily Nation (Kenya).

Axens officials announced June 2 that they’ve been selected by Pemex to provide the Axens Prime-D desulfurization technology for ultra-low sulfur diesel production at the Salina Cruz, Minatitlan and Madero refineries in Mexico.

Houston-based KBR officials announced June 1 that they’ve won a contract from FPR Inc. to provide design and early engineering services for the proposed Araromi refinery project in Nigeria.

China’s National Reform and Development Commission officials announced June 1 that in response to falling crude-oil prices, gasoline and diesel prices will be trimmed by 3%.

Ultra-low sulfur diesel prices in major world spot and futures moved in opposite directions last week on conflicting demand signals.

Distillate spot and futures prices continued to weaken on plentiful supplies.