U.S. power giant Tenaska announced December 7 that a Texas state court dismissed an appeal brought by the Sierra Club against a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) air permit for the proposed 600-megawatt “Trailblazer” coal-fired power plant project, which includes carbon-dioxide capture and storage (CCS).

GE announced December 6 that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia-based with Sinergi Perdana to “explore opportunities in generating renewable energy from palm oil waste.”

Sweden-based truck and bus maker Scania announced in late December that it’s slashing output this month in Europe and Latin America because of a “continued slowdown in demand in various markets.”

United Kingdom-based Hamworthy Krystallon announced in mid-December what it described as the world’s first “commercial” installation of its marine diesel seawater emissions scrubbing system on the first of four ships owned by Italy-based Ignazio Messina & Co.

Preliminary forecasts predicted a drawdown in U.S. crude inventories and a build in gasoline in and distillate stockpiles the week ended December 30.

NYMEX light, sweet crude for February delivery settled at US$102.96 per barrel (/bbl), up $4.13 on January 3, tracking a rally in the stock market, and the euro gained against the dollar on economic optimism.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on December 27 finalized the 2012 percentage standards for four fuel categories under its “Renewable Fuel Standard-2 (RFS-2) regulations.

The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) announced December 28 that it hit Lukoil with a R609-million (US$19.1-million) fine for “excessive” prices on diesel and gasoline in 2011.