Japanese oil refiner Showa Shell announced September 15 that it expects to post greater losses on its solar-cell power business this year because of falling global prices and a rising value of the Japanese yen.

SG Biofuels (SGB) announced September 13 that it has teamed with JETBIO, leader of a multi-stakeholder initiative including Airbus, the Inter-American Development Bank, Bioventures Brasil, Rio Pardo Bioenergia, Air BP and TAM Airlines, to accelerate the production of crude jatropha oil as a source for aviation biojet fuel in Brazil.

U.S. Gulf Coast aromatic spot prices were mostly lower and other prices were mixed for the week ended September 16.

NYMEX light, sweet crude for October delivery settled at US$87.96/per barrel (/bbl), down $1.44 on September 16, on pre-weekend selling and in response to a strong U.S. dollar.

Environmental advocacy groups are upset over the September 15 announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that it will miss a deadline for proposing carbon-dioxide (CO2) emission controls on power plants.

Given those potential costs and the dramatic reversal in tack by the administration, Refinery Tracker (RT) contacted John Hofmeister – noted energy expert, former president of Shell Oil Co. and founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy – to find out how the regulations would affect the U.S., the energy industry and energy consumers.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) issued a September 15 statement on the importance of ensuring that Americans have access to affordable energy during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee nomination hearing. The docket for the hearing included the nomination of several staffers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and each got an earful from Murkowski.