South Korean shipbuilder STX Finland Cruise Oy and Viking Line, a Finnish company that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries have signed an agreement for the construction of a vessel powered exclusively with liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The European Commission (EC) announced December 14 that it has approved a request from the Swedish government to grant SEK222 million (€24 million/US$32 million) for the “GoBiGas” biomass gasification/synthetic natural gas (SNG) project in Sweden.

Private investment firm First Reserve Corporation December 20 announced that it has sold its 80% equity interest in the Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO) oil storage terminal to Buckeye Partners, L.P. for US$1.36 billion.

Essar Oil Ltd. has submitted a “credible” bid for purchase of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.’s Stanlow Refinery, according to an unnamed union official cited within a December 21 Reuters report. The sale of the refinery, which has a crude run capacity of 233,000 barrels per day (b/d), shows that Shell is making good on its plan to rationalize its global downstream oil portfolio.

Sweden-based Alfa Laval announced December 20 that it won a SEK 80 million [US$11.7 million] order for heat exchangers for what is describes as the “world’s” first full scale pre-combustion carbon-capture project.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced December 16 that it’s offering up to US$184 million for “advanced vehicle research and development’ including electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).

Fitch Ratings on December 17 issued a “stable” outlook for half the North American refining sector but rated the other half as “negative.”

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced December 16 that it has endorsed cap-and-trade regulation under its AB 32 law that is designed to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CARB said that the new regulation will “drive the development of green jobs and set the state on track to a clean energy future.”

Haldor Topsøe announced December 15 that it signed a deal with BASF’s Catalysts division for the marketing of Topsøe’s line of tail gas treatment catalysts for sulfur recovery units.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on December 16 released the “early version” of its 2011 Annual Energy Outlook (AEO), showing a big increase in natural gas-fired power and a likely decrease in coal-fired power.

Foster Wheeler announced December 15 that it bought the “CEntry” sulfur-recovery technology from FLSmidth & Co.

Intertek announced December 15 that it has opened the new Bilbao Technology Centre (BTC) laboratory in Spain. The new facility has more than 2,000 square meters of laboratory space and expands the company’s analytical testing capabilities in traditional fuels and biofuels, including biodiesel, bioethanol, biomass and biogas, according to the company announcement.

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced on December 16 that it has been awarded the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) 2010 Sustainable Energy Award for its work on biofuels process technology.

On December 16, Bloomberg reported that strong demand for the refined product, naphtha and low supply due to the Chinese fuel switch is driving naphtha’s valuations to levels not seen for years. Noted trading expert Carl Larry told Hart Energy that tight product markets the world over could set up 2011 as “the year of the refiner.”

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced December 14 that it will invest up to US$30 million toward small-scale process integration projects that support the development of advanced biofuels.

Honolulu-based Aloha Petroleum, Ltd. announced December 14 that it has won a US$45 million, one-year contract to supply gasoline and diesel to select military bases on the island of Oahu.

The Canadian federal government’s Renewable Fuels Regulations go into effect December 15, and will add about 2 billion liters of renewable fuels into the Canadian fuel mix, according to calculations from the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA).

These charts show biweekly activity of the ICE Brent Futures and ICE Gas Oil Futures from December 15 to December 29.

A new report from Boston Consulting Group, “What’s Next for Alternative Energy?” has concluded that advanced biofuels are moving closer to being cost competitive with petroleum-based fuels, and will reach that point in the next few years.

The biggest opportunity to lower CO2 emissions is by changing the way in which electricity is generated and the biggest opportunity for this is through the combination of renewables and natural gas, according to Worldwatch Institute’s Powering the Low-Carbon Economy: The Once and Future Roles of Renewable Energy and Natural Gas report authored by Saya Kitasei, the organization’s lead researcher and program manager for its Natural Gas and Sustainable Energy Initiative.

The high-cell-density cultivation of heterotropic algal cells appears to be the most promising economic design for developing biofuels from algae, according to a new study by a Colorado-based business information services firm.