- Regulation & Legislation
- Low Carbon Fuel Standard Seen in U.S. EPA Greenhouse Rule
- CARB Unveils ‘New Pathways’ for Low-Carbon Fuels
- CARB Updating Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Biodiesel/Renewable Diesel Rule
- New EU Model Measures Diesel Ship Emissions
- Belarus Delays Euro-4 Diesel Switch until July 2
- API: No Need for ULS Heating-Oil Mandate
- Environment Canada Questions Biofuels
- Technology
- KBR, BP Ink Deal on VCC Refining/CTL Technology
- Grace, Chevron Convert ART to Partnership
- Headwaters, Axens Form Direct Coal Liquefaction Alliance
- Distillate Markets
- He’s Back: O’Malley Negotiating Valero’s Delaware City Refinery
- Market Report: Distillate Prices Keep Dropping
- Distillate Watch
- Flambeau River Biofuels Inks EPC Deal
- Sinopec Expands Mid-Distillate Capacity
- Pertamina Hydrocracker Problem Means Diesel Imports to Rise
- Syngas Inks Power Construction Deal with Vemtec for CTL Plant
- CNOOC Expands Diesel Supply in Guangdong
- ClearFuels Tabs BNP Paribas for BTL-FT Financing
- U.S. Ex-Im Bank OKs US$1 Billion for Ecopetrol Projects
- Sasol, Tata Push US$10 Billion CTL Project in India
Regulation & Legislation
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Low Carbon Fuel Standard Seen in U.S. EPA Greenhouse Rule
With the U.S. Senate now seen unlikely to pass greenhouse emissions legislation this year, the focus shifts to upcoming U.S. Environmental Protection Agency carbon-control regulation – where a back-door low carbon fuel standard could emerge.
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CARB Unveils ‘New Pathways’ for Low-Carbon Fuels
California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials Jan. 20 unveiled a draft guideline document showing how fuel providers could use “new pathways” to establish a “carbon intensity” value under CARB’s low-carbon fuel standard rules.
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CARB Updating Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Biodiesel/Renewable Diesel Rule
California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials announced at a Jan. 20 workshop in Sacramento that updates to the agency’s pioneering low carbon fuel standard won’t be going for a formal CARB board vote right away.
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New EU Model Measures Diesel Ship Emissions
According to a report from the European Union (EU) official Science for Environment Policy bulletin, the EU now has a new model to calculate air pollution emissions from ships.
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Belarus Delays Euro-4 Diesel Switch until July 2
Belarus officials announced they’ve decided to delay a 50-parts-per-million sulfur limit on diesel fuel until July 1, six months later than originally planned, according to Hart’s International Fuel Quality Center.
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API: No Need for ULS Heating-Oil Mandate
American Petroleum Institute officials are telling New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that there’s no need to mandate ultra-low-sulfur heating oil by 2016 as DEP proposes.
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Environment Canada Questions Biofuels
Environment Canada, the federal regulatory agency, this month announced it will award a contract to study whether biofuels are causing worse harm to the environment than the petroleum gasoline or diesel fuels they replace.
Technology
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KBR, BP Ink Deal on VCC Refining/CTL Technology
Houston-based KBR officials announced Jan. 21 that they’ve signed a “collaboration agreement” with BP to “promote, market, and execute licensing and engineering services for the slurry bed residue and coal upgrading Veba Combi Cracker technology.”
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Grace, Chevron Convert ART to Partnership
W.R Grace officials announced Jan. 14 they completed to sale of a 5% interest in the Advanced Refining Technologies joint-venture with Chevron, resulting in a 50-50 equal partnership.
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Headwaters, Axens Form Direct Coal Liquefaction Alliance
Utah-based Headwaters officials announced Jan. 19 the signing of an alliance agreement with Axens to market direct coal liquefaction technology “alone or in combination with refinery residues or biomass.”
Feature
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Boeing, Masdar, UOP Team-Up on Saltwater Bio-Jet-Fuel Scheme
Boeing, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Etihad Airways and UOP officials Jan. 18 announced an agreement to establish the Sustainable Bioenergy Research Project, aiming to develop “integrated saltwater agricultural systems to support the development and commercialization of biofuel sources for aviation and co-products.”
Transport News
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Navistar Slams ‘New’ U.S. EPA Guidance on Urea-SCR
Navistar attorneys told a U.S. Appeals Court in Washington, D.C., this month that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “new” guidance on urea-selective catalytic reduction for EPA 2010 diesel emissions control isn’t any different from the “old” (and allegedly illegal) guidance.
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Nissan Diesel Gradually Converts to UD Trucks
Nissan Diesel, a division of Volvo Trucks, is gradually converting more of its various country units to UD Trucks.
Distillate Markets
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He’s Back: O’Malley Negotiating Valero’s Delaware City Refinery
Valero Energy officials announced Jan. 22 that they’re in “advanced negotiations” to sell the company’s 210,000-barrel-per-day Delaware City, Del., refinery to PBF Partners, an investment group headed by Petroplus Chief Executive Officer Tom O’Malley.
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Market Report: Distillate Prices Keep Dropping
Middle distillate prices in major world spot and futures markets continued to fall last week on rising temperatures, economic gloominess – triggered by a proposed banking crackdown from U.S. President Barack Obama – and plentiful distillate supply, despite refinery cutbacks.
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Distillate Watch
Distillate spot and futures prices continued to drop.
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Flambeau River Biofuels Inks EPC Deal
Wisconsin-based Flambeau River Biofuels on Jan. 19 signed an engineering, procurement and construction deal with AMEC and Miron Construction for a proposed US$250 million biomass gasification and Fischer-Tropsch diesel plant in Park Falls, Wis.
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Sinopec Expands Mid-Distillate Capacity
Sinopec is expanding crude and middle distillate capacity at its Anqing refinery in eastern China, according to a Reuters report quoting Sinopec’s corporate newspaper.
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Pertamina Hydrocracker Problem Means Diesel Imports to Rise
Pertamina, the Indonesia state refiner, suffered a hydrocracker fire Jan. 16 with the result that diesel imports probably will increase, according to a Reuters report.
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Syngas Inks Power Construction Deal with Vemtec for CTL Plant
Australia-based Syngas officials announced Jan. 18 they’ve signed a memo of understanding with Vemtec Australia for a 114-megaWatt electric power plant construction deal at Syngas’s proposed 15,800-barrel-per-day Clinton coal-to-liquids Fischer-Tropsch diesel project in South Australia.
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CNOOC Expands Diesel Supply in Guangdong
China National Offshore Oil Corp. – third behind Sinopec and PetroChina among oil producers and refiners – has boosted diesel supply to fast-growing eastern Guangdong province by 71% in the last month, according to a report from the official Xinhua news service.
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ClearFuels Tabs BNP Paribas for BTL-FT Financing
Hawaii-based ClearFuels Technology officials announced Jan. 19 that they’ve hired BNP Paribas to act as financial advisor for senior secured debt financing for proposed biomass to liquids Fischer-Tropsch diesel and jet-fuels projects.
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U.S. Ex-Im Bank OKs US$1 Billion for Ecopetrol Projects
The U.S. Export-Import Bank on Jan. 19 announced a US$1 billion “preliminary commitment” to help finance both upstream and downstream projects for Ecopetrol, the mostly state-owned oil company of Colombia.
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Sasol, Tata Push US$10 Billion CTL Project in India
Sasol and Tata Steel officials announced Jan. 18 they want to build a 3.6-million-ton-per-year (80,000-barrel-per-day) coal-to-liquids plant in Orissa, India.
