The India government’s refusal to allow diesel fuel prices to rise along with crude oil prices – combined with the deregulation of gasoline prices – is prompting even more India car buyers to choose diesel.

The Port of Long Beach (POLB) – which along with neighboring Port of Los Angeles is imposing the world’s toughest limits on diesel emissions from trucks, dock equipment, ships and locomotives – on January 18 reported a 25% jump in freight traffic in 2010 versus 2009.

Rolls-Royce announced January 17 that it won a new contract to supply gas turbines and water-jets for 10 of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), which burn U.S. Naval F76 distillate fuel (similar to commercial kero-jet fuel) in gas turbines.

Valero Energy Corp. and Darling International won a “conditional commitment” for a U.S. $241-million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a proposed “renewable diesel” joint-venture plant that would produce all-hydrocarbon diesel from waste animal fats.

Petrobras announced January 12 that it signed a contract for construction of a new diesel hydrotreating (DHT) unit and a new hydrogen generation unit at its Refap refinery in Rio Grande do Sul state.

Iran’s government this month hiked government-subsidized retail diesel prices to the equivalent of US$0.53 per U.S. gallon (/gal), while “extra” supplies beyond the subsidized supplies can be had for the equivalent of US$1.06/gal – still about 245% cheaper than spot-market diesel prices in free-world countries.

Clark County, Nev., announced January 20 that it has begun to take delivery of the Advance Refining Concepts (ARC) “GDiesel” fuel that is produced by a novel processing of natural gas and diesel fuel.

A new hydrocracker at the Grupa Lotos Gdansk refinery in Poland is now producing Euro-5 (10 parts per million sulfur) ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel.

Sasol confirmed January 18 that it has decided against continuing with a proposed coal-to-liquids (CTL) project in Indonesia.

Thanks to a Chinese government decision to restore a consumption tax exemption for “pure” biodiesel made from waste animal fat or vegetable oil, Gushan Environmental Energy announced January 18 that it has decided to restart biodiesel production.

One day after European news reports surfaced that Belarus was cutting diesel exports to the European Union (EU), Belarus Oil issued a statement January 18 denying any such cuts.

The Canadian city of Owen Sound, Ontario, this month voted to scrap a biodiesel fuel program because of high cost and a “considerable” number of engine failures.

India’s massive expansion of cell-phone towers, alongside its chronically unreliable grid power system, is creating a huge call on diesel generator-set power to run the towers – and consequently a huge increase in carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to a new report.

Helsinki-based pulp/paper producer UPM announced January 17 that it has narrowed its choices for a proposed gasification/Fischer Tropsch biomass-to-liquids (BTL) plant to Kaukas, Finland, or Strasbourg, France.

Ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) spot and futures prices rose slightly in the U.S. but started to retreat in Europe last week.

Distillate spots prices moved up slightly in the U.S., but retreated in Europe.