The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on November 9 released its monthly crop reports, in which the agency reported that both corn and soybean production in November was down from the October forecast.

The U.S. spot ethanol market plunged the week ending November 12.

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and The Andersons (ANDE) fell again the week ending November 12, while Bunge Ltd. (BG) moved a bit higher for the second consecutive week.

U.S. fuel ethanol inventories fell the week ending November 12, while production was higher.

Ethanol RINs were flat the week ending November 12, while biodiesel RINs were slightly higher.

NYMEX crude oil dropped the week ending November 12, while refined product futures were mixed.

NYMEX No. 11 sugar futures plunged the week ending November 12.

The price of Brazilian anhydrous ethanol slipped the week ending November 12, while the price of hydrous ethanol was flat.

U.S. cash corn and soybean prices dropped the week ending November 12.

Monthly U.S. ethanol production was higher in August 2010, while inventories (stocks) dropped.

U.S. renewable diesel inventory (stocks) figures declined in August 2010.

Petrobras officials November 12 announced they have formed a partnership and a private company with five companies to develop, build and operate a multimodal logistics system to transport and store ethanol.

With ethanol demand in Brazil expected at reach 60 billion liters in the next five or six years, the country will need to secure investments totaling at least US$50 billion to keep pace, an ethanol company executive said recently.

Neste Oil announced November 15 that it has begun to ramp up production of NExBTL renewable diesel fuel at a new plant in Singapore.

International energy price reporting firm Argus Media Ltd. said the first Argus-based European ethanol swap was traded on November 9.

GreenGold Ray Energies announced November 11 that the company will speed up its land acquisition process because of the European Union’s increased target to have 10% of fuel sold at fuel pumps be biodiesel by 2020.

Bioenergy crop company SG Biofuels announced November 10 that it has established a strategic partnership with Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Ltd., to research and develop a model to process jatropha seeds into a biofuel feedstock.

The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) announced November 9 that investments totaling Cdn$406,900 – involving four separate projects – will support further research into alternative energy sources in the Northwest Territories’ (NWT) capital city of Yellowknife.

Alternative Fuels Americas, Inc. (AFA), a Florida-based farm-to-fuels biodiesel company, announced November 9 that it has secured an option on an additional 200 hectares (494 acres) of land in Costa Rica.

Russia could begin producing biofuel from sawdust to power aircraft, a federal transportation official said November 16.

Philippines Department of Energy (DOE) Director Mario Marasigan said November 8 that a baseline for ethanol importation has not yet been determined.

Solazyme, Inc. and Roquette Frères, the global starch and starch-derivatives company headquartered in France, announced November 8 that they have signed a joint venture (JV) agreement for the production, commercialization and market development of microalgae-derived food ingredients, subject to regulatory approvals and notifications.

Washington, D.C.-based Solena Group announced November 9 that it signed a Fischer-Tropsch technology agreement with Rentech for a proposed synthetic bio-jet fuel project in the United Kingdom.

PetroAlgae Inc. on November 11 announced it has entered into a non-binding offtake supply agreement with Sky Airline, a leading Chilean airline providing passenger, mail and cargo air transportation services.

Enerkem on November 16 announced the appointment of Dirk E. Andreas as senior vice president of Business Development, North America, and the promotion of Patrice Ouimet, the company’s chief financial officer, to senior vice president and chief financial officer.

A new study by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) finds that the European Union (EU) 10% biofuel mandate by 2020 will make climate change worse and wrongly convert 69,000 square kilometers of land to biofuel feedstock production.

Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc. announced November 16 that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected Fulcrum’s Sierra BioFuels Plant to enter the final phase of DOE’s Loan Guarantee Program.

ICM, Inc. announced November 15 that it has signed a contract with Hereford Renewable Energy, LLC, a subsidiary of Murphy Oil USA, Inc., to retrofit an ethanol plant located near Hereford, Texas.

BlueFire Renewables, Inc. on November 10 announced that it has received all permits to allow start of construction of its first commercial project in Fulton, Miss.

Technology and specialty-materials company, Celanese Corporation, November 10 announced that it intends to construct one, and possibly two, industrial ethanol complexes in China to serve the fast-growing Asia region, as well as build a 40,000-ton ethanol plant in the U.S.

Gevo, Inc. announced November 11 that it has received notification that its isobutanol had successfully cleared registration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a fuel additive.

Butamax Advanced Biofuels, LLC announced November 10 the achievement of several milestones in its plan to commercialize biobutanol for the transportation fuel market.

More than 120 crop producers, landowners and USDA representatives will visit DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol’s (DDCE) and Genera Energy’s demonstration-scale facility in Vonore, Tenn., on November 17, as part of the Farm Foundation’s “Renewable Energy Biomass Education Field Days.”

A new study from the University of California, Davis, has said that at the current pace of research and development, global oil will run out 90 years before replacement technologies are ready, based on stock market expectations.

Government, industry and academic leaders must work together in order for the nation to meet mounting energy challenges, according to Thomas W. Hicks, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy and the keynote speaker at Eaton Corp.’s symposium, “Energy Evolution: Transforming the Future of Power,” in San Diego November 8.

Waste-to-energy company Covanta Holding Corp. announced November 9 the offering of a new series of senior unsecured notes in an underwritten public offering. The coupon rate, maturity and other terms of the notes will be determined at pricing, according to Covanta.

Global oil demand in 2011 is expected to average 88.5 million barrels per day (b/d) next year, up 1.2 million b/d over the 87.3 million b/d demand seen in 2010, according to the latest International Energy Agency (IEA) Oil Market Report (released November 12).

Ethanol producer Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings, Inc. on November 9 reported its third quarter 2010 financial results. About a week later, on November 15, the company also named Calvin Stewart to serve as its chief accounting and compliance officer.

Officials with Denver-based BioFuel Energy Corp. reported a third-quarter 2010 net loss of US$1.8 million, versus a net loss of $8.4 million for the same period in 2009.

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. announced November 11 that its subsidiary, Kinergy Marketing LLC, has signed an exclusive marketing agreement with AE Advanced Fuels Keyes, Inc. to sell all ethanol produced by the 55 million gallon per year ethanol production facility located in Keyes, Calif. The company also announced its third quarter 2010 financial results November 15.

Oklahoma-based synthetic fuels specialist Syntroleum announced November 8 a US$4.5 million net loss for third quarter 2010, compared to a net profit of $7.1 million for Q3 2009.

Tesoro announced November 4 that third-quarter 2010 net earnings rose to US$56 million, up from $33 million in third-quarter 2009.

Verenium Corp. reported November 9 a summary of recent company highlights and financial results for the third quarter of 2010. The company reported a net loss from continuing operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2010 of US$11.9 million, compared to a net loss of $5.7 million for the same period in 2009, on a GAAP accounting basis.