- Key Market Prices
- Key Market Prices
- Public Policy
- Shale-Gas Cannot Replace Coal; US EPA Regulation Better than Cap-and-Trade
- Landfills Turn Trash into Power and Greenhouse Gas Reductions
- Natural Gas Getting More Favored on Capital Hill
- Margins & Economics
- Crude Futures Fall as U.S. Data Disappoints Traders
- Weather Not Cold Enough to Help Oil Refiners
- Fuels & Processing
- Marathon’s Interim Q4 Results: Lowered Refining Margins
- Qatar Entities Further Biojet Fuel Production
- Indian Government Won’t Cover Losses Caused by Price Controls
- Silver Eagle Refinery Restart Scheduled for Late January
- Australia’s Port Boynthon Fuels Application Approved
- Saudi/Shell ULSD Exports Begin This Month
- SynGest Hires Investment Banker for Corn-Cob Gasification Scheme
- Minn. Gasification WTE Project Wins U.S. Grant
- Transportation & Logistics
- China Car Sales to Hit 15 Million Units This Year
- Tata Readying Diesel Variant for World’s Cheapest Car
Fuels & Processing
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Marathon’s Interim Q4 Results: Lowered Refining Margins
Officials at Marathon Oil Corp. provided Jan. 13 an interim update on the company’s operating conditions in the fourth quarter of 2009, which indicated its fourth quarter 2009 refining and wholesale marketing gross margin will be about 1¢ per gallon (/gal) as compared to 12.5¢/gal earned in the fourth quarter of 2008.
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Qatar Entities Further Biojet Fuel Production
Officials with Qatar Airways, Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) and Qatar Petroleum (QP) announced Jan. 10 that they will jointly carry out engineering, economic analysis and move into the development of sustainable bio jet fuel that will also look into ways for production and supply, with the support of Airbus.
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Indian Government Won’t Cover Losses Caused by Price Controls
The Indian Finance Ministry is offering less than half of the compensation sought by the Oil Ministry to cover some US$6 billion in state-owned refiner losses on price-controlled LPG and kerosene sales, according to a Press Trust of India report.
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Silver Eagle Refinery Restart Scheduled for Late January
The CDU at Silver Eagle Refining’s Woods Cross refinery in Utah is scheduled to restart on Jan. 24. The unit experienced an unplanned shutdown in November, but the entire facility is expected to be completely operational by then.
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Australia’s Port Boynthon Fuels Application Approved
Officials with oil producer Stuart Petroleum Ltd. announced Jan. 12 that the South Australian Minister for Urban Development and Planning has formally approved an application to construct diesel receival, storage and distribution facilities at Port Bonython in the upper reaches of Spencer Gulf, Australia.
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Saudi/Shell ULSD Exports Begin This Month
The Shell/Saudi Aramco Sasref joint-venture refinery will commence exports of ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) by end-January, according to a Reuters report quoting Sasref Executive Vice President Raja Ahmad Murad Bin Raja Bahrin.
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SynGest Hires Investment Banker for Corn-Cob Gasification Scheme
San Francisco-based SynGest officials announced Jan. 11 that they’ve hired Stern Brothers to help them raise capital for a proposed US$105 million corn-cob gasification scheme that would produce ammonia fertilizer.
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Minn. Gasification WTE Project Wins U.S. Grant
A US$950,000 grant included in the federal Energy and Water Appropriations Act of 2009 will cover about one-third of the costs for a feasibility study, permitting, design and pre-construction planning for a gasification-based waste-to-energy (WTE) project being developed in International Falls, Minn.
Feature
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Pickens Plan’s Natural Gas Ad Campaign Kicks Off
Advocates of the Pickens Plan, a strategy to wean America off foreign oil, have launched a new ad campaign that began Jan. 14, promoting the use of natural gas as an alternative to imported oil by highlighting the need to act on natural gas legislation pending in U.S. Congress.
Key Market Prices
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Key Market Prices
Transportation & Logistics
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China Car Sales to Hit 15 Million Units This Year
China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) officials are citing predictions that domestic car sales will hit 15 million units this year, up 10% from the record-breaking 13.64 million unit sales in 2009, which were up 46.2% over 2008.
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Tata Readying Diesel Variant for World’s Cheapest Car
The world’s cheapest car – the Tata Nano – is being readied for a diesel version, likely with a 750-cubic-centimeter displacement engine, according to a report from DNA news service (India).
Margins & Economics
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Crude Futures Fall as U.S. Data Disappoints Traders
For the fourth consecutive trading day, crude futures prices declined Jan. 14. The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for February delivery settled at US$79.39 per barrel (/bbl), down 26¢. Brent crude for February delivery dropped 49¢ to close at $77.82/bbl.
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Weather Not Cold Enough to Help Oil Refiners
According to The Wall Street Journal, the recent cold snap didn’t raise energy prices enough to help oil refiners.
Public Policy
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Shale-Gas Cannot Replace Coal; US EPA Regulation Better than Cap-and-Trade
At a Jan. 13 press conference in Washington, D.C., Fred Palmer, Peabody Energy senior vice president-government relations, announced that Peabody – the world’s largest publicly-traded coal company – would support new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “greenhouse” regulations on the energy and power industries, rather than carbon cap-and-trade legislation.
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Landfills Turn Trash into Power and Greenhouse Gas Reductions
Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are recognizing eight landfill methane-capture projects for their innovation in generating renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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Natural Gas Getting More Favored on Capital Hill
Various energy legislation and tax code changes in the coming year could define conventional fuels’ role – and economic health – under national carbon constraints.
