- Key Market Prices
- Key Market Prices
- Public Policy
- NPRA Slams Proposed U.S. Senate Energy Tax: ‘Pay Wall Street by Robbing Main Street’
- EU to Announce Sustainability Guidelines for Biodiesel and Ethanol this Week
- U.S. Senate to Vote on Murkowski Resolution to Curb U.S. EPA’s Global Warming Policies
- Margins & Economics
- Crude Futures Up by 55¢ as Report Showed Oil Inventory Decrease
- Fuels & Processing
- Shell, Virent in Sugar-to-Diesel R&D Scheme
- Valero’s Klesse Optimistic about Global Diesel Markets
- ADM Requests U.S. EPA to Allow 12% Ethanol in U.S. Fuel
- Technip Wins India Refining Expansion Contract
- Air Products/Technip Alliance Wins Hydrogen SMR Contract from PetroChina
- Laurus Inks UCG Deal with CIRI-Alaska
- Researchers Develop Stable Bio-Oil Conversion Scheme
- Partnership Formed for Largest Commercial Fast Pyrolysis Plant
Fuels & Processing
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Shell, Virent in Sugar-to-Diesel R&D Scheme
Shell officials announced June 8 that they’ve bought an equity stake in Virent Energy Systems and simultaneously launched a joint research and development program aiming to convert plant sugars directly into all-hydrocarbon diesel fuel (not fatty acid methyl ester biodiesel).
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Valero’s Klesse Optimistic about Global Diesel Markets
Valero Energy Corp. Chief Executive Bill Klesse said June 8 that while U.S. demand for gasoline is starting to improve, he is more optimistic about global diesel markets during the long term, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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ADM Requests U.S. EPA to Allow 12% Ethanol in U.S. Fuel
U.S. ethanol producer Archer Daniels Midland Co. on June 7 asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow U.S. fuel blends with up to 12% ethanol while the EPA continues its review of an earlier request to raise the U.S. ethanol blend rate to 15%, according to Reuters.
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Technip Wins India Refining Expansion Contract
Technip officials announced June 8 that they’ve won three lump-sum turnkey contracts for Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL), worth a total value of approximately €25 million (US$29.9 million), for the “Phase III” expansion project of MRPL’s Mangalore refinery on the west coast of India.
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Air Products/Technip Alliance Wins Hydrogen SMR Contract from PetroChina
Air Products officials announced June 8 that they’ve won a deal to build a steam methane reformer to provide hydrogen and syngas to PetroChina’s Sichuan refinery, enabling production of lower-sulfur fuels.
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Laurus Inks UCG Deal with CIRI-Alaska
Houston-based Laurus Energy officials announced June 7 that they’ve signed a deal with Alaska’s Cook Inlet Region Inc. aiming to develop an underground coal gasification (UCG) project.
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Researchers Develop Stable Bio-Oil Conversion Scheme
One of the biggest obstacles for converting non-food biomass into a crude bio-oil (for later refining into finished fuels) is bio-oil instability and acidity. But researchers at Virginia Tech announced June 8 that they believe they’ve found a way to solve the problem.
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Partnership Formed for Largest Commercial Fast Pyrolysis Plant
Officials with Ensyn Technologies Inc. and Tolko Industries Ltd. announced June 7 that they have formed a partnership to build the largest commercial fast pyrolysis plant in High Level, Alberta, Canada.
Feature
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London Debuts Fuel-Cell Taxicab Scheme
Intelligent Energy, Lotus Engineering, LTI Vehicles and TRW Conekt officials on June 7 unveiled a fuel cell hybrid-electric taxicab prototype expected to begin commercial service in London in about two years.
Key Market Prices
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Key Market Prices
Transportation & Logistics
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GM, Ford China Sales Growth Cooling-Down
GM-China officials this week reported that their domestic China sales were up 25% in May 2010 versus May 2009, but that was a 9% dip from April 2010 versus April 2009 sales levels, according to a report from Automotive News China.
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GM Launches New Subsidiary to Develop Innovative Technologies
Officials with General Motors announced the launch last week of General Motors Ventures LLC, a subsidiary designed to help the company identify and develop innovative technologies in the automotive/transportation sector.
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Nissan Meets 2010 Sales Target for ‘Leaf’ Electric Car
Nissan officials announced June 7 that they’ve already met their 6,000 units 2010 Japan sales target for the “Leaf” electric car, six months before the car is actually delivered.
Margins & Economics
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Crude Futures Up by 55¢ as Report Showed Oil Inventory Decrease
Crude futures rose slightly June 8 in response to the American Petroleum Institute’s report indicating that crude stocks fell more than expected.
Public Policy
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NPRA Slams Proposed U.S. Senate Energy Tax: ‘Pay Wall Street by Robbing Main Street’
An energy tax increase proposed in the U.S. Senate should be defeated because it would take money from American families, farmers and truckers to provide tax breaks for wealthy Wall Street investment fund managers, National Petrochemical & Refiners Association President Charles T. Drevna said in a letter sent June 8 to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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EU to Announce Sustainability Guidelines for Biodiesel and Ethanol this Week
The European Commission will seek to salvage its beleaguered biofuels policy June 10 by announcing a quality-certification process for biodiesel and ethanol and clarifying limits on fuels from sensitive areas like forests and partly drained peat lands, according to The New York Times.
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U.S. Senate to Vote on Murkowski Resolution to Curb U.S. EPA’s Global Warming Policies
On June 10, the U.S. Senate will vote on a resolution to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from ‘enacting’ controversial global warming policies through the regulatory back door.
