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State oil giant Saudi Aramco has suspended plans to build a US$2 billion clean fuels plant at its largest oil refinery in Ras Tanura, three industry sources said. The energy project appears to be one of the first suspended in Saudi Arabia in response to the halving of the oil price in the last six months. The Ras Tanura clean fuels project, including a naphtha hydrotreater, was to be part of a second phase of upgrades to Aramco’s refineries, and was originally due to go on stream in 2016. “They withdrew the bidding,” said one source familiar with the matter,...

Historically, standard futures contracts for heating oil allowed for delivery of product with sulfur content up to 2,000 parts per million (0.2%). Beginning with the May 1, 2013 contract, the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) switched its specification for the heating oil futures contract to the ultra-low sulfur diesel specification (ULSD). The ULSD contract is a distillate that contains less than 15 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur, the same specification used for most diesel fuel. Many states in the Northeast require the switch over the next several years (see chart) to lower sulfur heating oil. Switching the contract to...

Despite a steep contango in the forward market, a lack of ULSD in tank continues to support European barge premiums with particular tightness in the prompt market, said market sources Wednesday. Platts assessed 10 ppm ULSD barges at $445/mt on Tuesday, representing a premium to ICE gasoil futures of $28/mt. The premium has increased by more than $10/mt in the past week, according to Platts data. Despite an open arbitrage through much of December that attracted significant volumes of diesel from the US Gulf into Europe, there remains a lack of diesel in storage locations in Rotterdam, Antwerp and Amsterdam,...

Teppco Partners said Monday its refined products terminal at Princeton, Indiana, had run dry of low-sulfur diesel. Liftings of the product were expected to resume Wednesday afternoon, the company said in a bulletin to shippers. Several parts of the US Midwest and southeast have suffered recent refined product shortages. Trading sources pegged the shortages to lagging supplies coming from US Gulf Coast refineries idled due to Hurricane Ike last month and to the international credit crunch, which has prevented large stock-building purchases by buyers in the Midwest and southeast. Teppco has said that intermittent outages were expected at some of...

Teppco Partners' refined products terminal in Princeton, Indiana, will run out of low-sulfur diesel Wednesday afternoon, the partnership said. A resumption of low-sulfur diesel service is expected Friday, Teppco said in an advisory to shippers. Several parts of the US Midwest and Southeast have suffered recent refined product shortages. Trading sources pegged the shortages to lagging supplies coming from US Gulf Coast refineries idled due to Hurricane Ike last month and to the international credit crunch, which has prevented large stock-building purchases by buyers in the Midwest and southeast. Teppco has said that intermittent outages were expected at some of...

Some Central Georgia truck drivers say they could face bankruptcy due to higher diesel fuel costs. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, this week's average price-per-gallon of diesel fuel in the Southeast is at $3.64. That's up 10 cents from last week and more than $1 from a year ago. "The days of truckers getting good long hauls and making good money are over with," said trucker Danny Ashley, a Laurens County native. "The price of diesel fuel is... eating us alive now." As a result, Ashley says he and others in the trucking industry around Central Georgia have...

KALAMAZOO, Mich., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- For decades, diesel engines were associated with plumes of thick black smoke and loud noise created from the heavy machinery and trucks they powered. Carmakers are hoping that image is about to change, however. With the advent of a new, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel that burns 97 percent cleaner than previous low-sulfur diesels, they are looking to significantly increase the number of passenger vehicles that run on diesel fuel. J.D. Power & Associates is expecting the U.S. market for diesels to grow from 3.6 percent this year, or about 600,000 vehicles, to about 9...