- Key Market Prices
- WTI Climbs Past US$100/bbl Mark
- Public Policy
- EU Initiates Anti-Dumping, Countervailing Duty Investigation on U.S. Ethanol
- EGSCA: Banning >3.5% Sulfur Bunker Fuel Won’t Hamper Scrubbing Option
- Margins & Economics
- U.S. Crude Stocks Seen Lower
- Crude Futures Climb US$2.37/bbl on Iran Concerns
- OPEC Crude Output Jumped in October on Higher Volumes from Libya, Other Countries - Platts Survey
- Fuels & Processing
- Shaw Group to Provide Feasibility Study to Rehabilitate Iraq Refinery
- IEA: 8.7 Million b/d Crude Distillation Capacity Growth by 2016
- Technip Wins Sasol-Uzbekistan GTL FEED Contract
- Transportation & Logistics
- Global Market for EV-Charging Systems Worth US$4.3 Billion by 2017 - Pike Research
- Mitsubishi Rolls Out ‘iMiEV’ Electric Car-Sharing in San Francisco
- U.S. DOE Awards More Than US$7 Million to Advance Hydrogen-Storage Technologies
- Nissan Aims to Double ‘Leaf’ EV Sales in 2012
Fuels & Processing
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Shaw Group to Provide Feasibility Study to Rehabilitate Iraq Refinery
The Shaw Group, Inc. announced December 13 that it won a contract by South Refineries Co. – part of the Republic of Iraq’s Ministry of Oil – to provide a feasibility study for the rehabilitation of its 140,000 barrel-per-day (b/d) refinery in Basra, Iraq.
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IEA: 8.7 Million b/d Crude Distillation Capacity Growth by 2016
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest monthly Oil Market Report (released December 13) finds that “precarious” economic indicators and relatively weak fourth-quarter 2011 demand data (especially in Europe) mean that global crude oil demand-growth projections for 2011 and 2012 must be trimmed.
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Technip Wins Sasol-Uzbekistan GTL FEED Contract
France-based Technip announced December 13 that it won the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract from the Sasol- Uzbekneftegas-Petronas “Uzbekistan GTL” consortium for the proposed 1.4 million ton-per-year Fischer-Tropsch (FT) gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant at Qarshi, Uzbekistan.
Feature
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Baker Institute: Chinese Shale Gas Could Rock Asian LNG Markets
Shale-gas development in China could displace liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to China and create pipeline deliveries of gas to South Korea, roiling Asian natural gas markets, according to a report on The Rise of China And its Energy Implications released by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy on December 2.
Key Market Prices
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WTI Climbs Past US$100/bbl Mark
Electric Power
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Better Place, China Southern Power Team Up on EV Battery-Switching Scheme
Israel-based Better Place announced December 12 the opening of a “Switchable Electric Car Experience Center” in Guangzhou’s Pearl River New Town, in a venture with China Southern Power Grid (CSG).
Transportation & Logistics
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Global Market for EV-Charging Systems Worth US$4.3 Billion by 2017 - Pike Research
Pike Research forecasts that by 2013, more than 80 different models of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) will be found on roadways across the globe, and by 2017, more than 5.1 million PEVs will be sold globally.
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Mitsubishi Rolls Out ‘iMiEV’ Electric Car-Sharing in San Francisco
Mitsubishi announced December 8 the debut of an electric vehicle (EV) car-sharing program with its “i-MiEV” car for the San Francisco Bay area in California.
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U.S. DOE Awards More Than US$7 Million to Advance Hydrogen-Storage Technologies
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on December 12 announced more than US$7 million to fund four projects in California, Washington and Oregon to advance hydrogen-storage technologies for use in fuel-cell electric vehicles (EVs).
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Nissan Aims to Double ‘Leaf’ EV Sales in 2012
Nissan business strategy head Andy Palmer announced December 9 that his company plans to double sales of its “Leaf” electric vehicle (EV) to 40,000 units – or 100% of corporate production capacity – in 2012.
Margins & Economics
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U.S. Crude Stocks Seen Lower
Preliminary forecasts predicted a decline in U.S. crude inventories and a build in gasoline and distillate inventories in the week ended December 9.
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Crude Futures Climb US$2.37/bbl on Iran Concerns
NYMEX light, sweet crude for January delivery closed at US$100.14 per barrel (/bbl), up $2.37 on December 13, in response to reports that Iran could conduct military drills to close a strategically important oil-shipping channel.
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OPEC Crude Output Jumped in October on Higher Volumes from Libya, Other Countries - Platts Survey
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) crude oil output jumped by 550,000 barrels per day (b/d) to 30.6 million b/d in November from 30.05 million b/d in October, mainly on higher volumes from Libya, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Angola, a newly released Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts shows.
Public Policy
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EU Initiates Anti-Dumping, Countervailing Duty Investigation on U.S. Ethanol
Following its action on biodiesel earlier this year, the European Union on November 24 initiated anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations regarding U.S. exports of ethanol to Europe and current U.S. policies surrounding ethanol production and use.
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EGSCA: Banning >3.5% Sulfur Bunker Fuel Won’t Hamper Scrubbing Option
Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems Association (EGCSA) executive director Don Gregory told Diesel Fuel News on December 8 that a proposed European Commission ban on marine bunker fuels with sulfur levels above 3.5% starting in 2015 won’t have any impact on the diesel ship-emissions scrubbing option for upcoming Emissions Control Area (ECA) compliance.
