- Key Market Prices
- Key Market Prices
- Public Policy
- CCS ‘Best Practices’ Manual Debuts for Public Education
- U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan: Climate Change Legislation Not Likely to Pass in 2010
- Margins & Economics
- Crude Futures Prices Fall After One-Day Gains
- Niche Refining Opportunities in 2010
- Fuels & Processing
- ICM Inc. Signs Contract with Sunoco to Retrofit Idled Ethanol Plant
- ClearFuels Tabs BNP Paribas for BTL-FT Financing
- ConocoPhillips Interim Q4 2009 Update: Refining Losses, Low Utilization
- Headwaters, Axens Form Direct Coal Liquefaction Alliance
- U.S. Export-Import Bank OKs US$1 Billion for Ecopetrol Projects
- Sasol, Tata Push US$10 Billion CTL Project in India
- Transportation & Logistics
- Mitsubishi Inks Deal for 1,000 Electric Car Charge Stations
- Companies Team to Develop Electric Car for USPS
Fuels & Processing
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ICM Inc. Signs Contract with Sunoco to Retrofit Idled Ethanol Plant
ICM Inc. officials recently announced they have signed a contract with Sunoco Inc. to retrofit an existing, but idled ethanol plant in Fulton, N.Y., 10 miles (16.1 km) south of Lake Ontario and 25 miles (40.2 km) north of Syracuse, N.Y.
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ClearFuels Tabs BNP Paribas for BTL-FT Financing
Hawaii-based ClearFuels Technology officials announced Jan. 19 they’ve hired BNP Paribas to act as financial advisor for senior secured debt financing for proposed biomass to liquids Fischer-Tropsch diesel and jet-fuels projects.
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ConocoPhillips Interim Q4 2009 Update: Refining Losses, Low Utilization
Officials of Conoco Phillips on Jan. 20 indicated the company’s refining and marketing sector results for late last year are expected to be a loss, reflecting low worldwide market crack spreads, weak secondary product margins, narrow light-heavy crude differentials and low utilization due to turnaround activity and economic conditions.
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Headwaters, Axens Form Direct Coal Liquefaction Alliance
Utah-based Headwaters officials announced Jan. 19 the signing of an alliance agreement with Axens to market direct coal liquefaction technology “alone or in combination with refinery residues or biomass.”
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U.S. Export-Import Bank OKs US$1 Billion for Ecopetrol Projects
The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) on Jan. 19 announced a US$1 billion “preliminary commitment” to help finance upstream and downstream projects for Ecopetrol, the mostly state-owned oil company of Colombia.
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Sasol, Tata Push US$10 Billion CTL Project in India
Sasol and Tata Steel officials announced Jan. 18 they want to build a 3.6-million-ton-year (80,000-barrel-day) coal-to-liquids plant in Orissa, India.
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Cutting Back on Capital Budgets, Improving Unit Reliability
Improving maintenance and reliability in refinery operations is an important priority in 2010. With many refiners indicating they will cut back on capital costs, a higher emphasis will be placed on reliably running existing units, such as the fluid catalytic cracking unit.
Key Market Prices
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Key Market Prices
Transportation & Logistics
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Mitsubishi Inks Deal for 1,000 Electric Car Charge Stations
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Mitsubishi Estate Co. announced plans Jan. 19 to build up to 1,000 charging stations for electric cars in Japan by 2012.
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Companies Team to Develop Electric Car for USPS
Officials with AC Propulsion and AutoPort announced Jan. 20 that they will partner in engineering, development and conversion to provide an electric vehicle conversion prototype and report for the United States Postal Service.
Margins & Economics
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Crude Futures Prices Fall After One-Day Gains
The crude oil markets Jan. 20 reversed course from gains made Jan. 19. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery settled at US$77.62 per barrel (/bbl), down $1.40. Brent crude for February delivery remained flat at $77.78/bbl.
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Niche Refining Opportunities in 2010
Projected economics in 2010 seem to indicate a drastic cut in capital projects. Nonetheless, some mega refinery investments are in progress or in the planning stages, such as with the Petrobras US$20 billion refinery in the northeast region of Brazil.
Public Policy
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CCS ‘Best Practices’ Manual Debuts for Public Education
U.S. Dept. of Energy officials unveiled Jan. 13 a “best practices” manual for educating the public about carbon dioxide capture and storage projects.
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U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan: Climate Change Legislation Not Likely to Pass in 2010
U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), said he doesn’t believe the U.S. Senate is likely to pass climate change legislation this year after going through the contentious health care debate. Instead, he said the Senate will focus on a separate energy bill that has more bipartisan support, according to Reuters.
