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Latest market news

HIF to adopt Honeywell’s SAF technology

  • Market: Biofuels, E-fuels, Hydrogen
  • 11/05/23

US-based synthetic fuel manufacturer HIF Global will be the first company to deploy US engineering firm Honeywell's UOP eFining technology that converts eMethanol into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Green hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2) are combined to produce eMethanol, which Honeywell's technology converts into eSAF that the company said is a "drop-in" replacement for regular jet fuel and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 88pc.

HIF Global will use the technology at its second commercial-scale eFuels facility in the US, which will recycle 2mn t of captured CO2 to produce about 11,000 b/d of eSAF by 2030.

The firm started producing eFuels at its 130,000 litre/yr Haru Oni demonstration plant in Chile since late 2022. It has also received environmental approval for its 200mn USG/yr Texas eFuels plant, using 300,000 t/yr of renewable hydrogen.

Global SAF demand is set to increase with the EU proposing a 70pc share in its aviation fuel blends by 2050, including a 25pc sub-target for eSAF. The US Inflation reduction Act also offers a production tax credit of up to $1.75/USG for SAF.

By Ryan Ang

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11/12/25

EU may crank up coal and steel research funds in 2027

EU may crank up coal and steel research funds in 2027

London, 11 December (Argus) — The European Commission could fund a much larger share of research in the coal and steel industry from 2027, according to a staff working document published yesterday. The EU Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) would fund 70pc of corporate research and 100pc of academic research into green initiatives if the EU moves forth with the proposal. It currently funds 50pc of both corporate and academic research projects, but has struggled to attract participants or meet its spending targets, noting that the "underspending of the project is rooted in a lack of attractiveness of certain aspects of the programme". RFCS spent 57pc of its €43mn ($50mn) budget for large coal projects and only 31pc of its €208mn budget for steel research from 2021 to 2024. Brussels, troubled by a lack of applications, consulted companies and academics this year and found that its spending requirements were the largest barrier. Most were unable or unwilling to fund 50pc of large research projects themselves. RFCS has supported a number of groups hoping to repurpose old coal mines for clean energy. GreenJOBS and Mine-TO-H2, two funding recipients, both plan on making green hydrogen from mine water, while GrEnMine received pilot funding worth €3.5mn to research new ways to store gravitational energy in abandoned mines. Others, such as REM and GI-mine, are working on new methods to capture methane from coal mines. In the steel sector, RFCS has awarded funds to hydrogen power projects such as ProSynteg and HYDREAMS and research groups such as BIOCODE, which hopes to replace up to 10pc of the coal in coke ovens with biomass. The EU dissolved the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) — an agency tasked with making a common European steel market, which eventually led to the creation of the EU — in 2002. The EU used revenues from ECSC assets to launch and fund the RFCS in the same year, and boosted the programme in 2021 by tapping into the assets themselves. By Austin Barnes Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Commodity rail shippers push for more train data

11/12/25
News
11/12/25

Commodity rail shippers push for more train data

Houston, 11 December (Argus) — Industrial shippers of commodities like grain and petrochemicals want federal regulators to widen the scope of proposed rules that would require Class I railroads to report more data on their on-time service performance. US rail regulator the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in September put the industry on notice that it intends to issue rules to require that each of the six biggest railroads, including Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, report two new categories of performance data to the agency. The first would benchmark railroads' shipments against their original estimated time of arrival (OETA) and the second would measure "industry spot and pull" data, or ISP, to determine whether shipments are picked up and delivered within their planned service window. The board action aims to address rail shippers' long-running concerns that unpredictable rail service is a wild card in their supply chains, as many shippers rely nearly completely on rail to get their goods to market. The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), an industry group that lobbies for US refiners and petrochemical manufacturers, applauded the STB for working to address "chronic freight rail service failures." The OETA is meant to track a carrier's targeted arrival time when it dispatches a cargo and then flag the percentage of weekly shipments that reach their destinations no later than 24 hours after an intended target, the STB said in its proposal. The AFPM, whose members include companies like Dow, Occidental Chemical and Ineos who collectively ship about 2.5mn carloads a year, said OETA data should be broken out by region, terminal, and corridor "to reveal localized bottlenecks often masked by system averages." As proposed, the STB's OETA measurement would apply to manifest train service, where trains haul an assortment of railcar types, and not to unit trains, which exclusively haul one railcar type or bulk commodity, such as coal, grain or crude. Grain shippers and the US Department of Agriculture disagreed with the STB's decision to exclude unit train shipments from the OETA measurement. The National Grain and Feed Association, whose members include Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and other biofuels makers, said that late unit train deliveries of commodities like grain, ethanol or coal "can result in proportionally greater harm to the shipper/receiver" than smaller manifest shipments. The USDA agreed that unit train shipments should be included in the OETA measurement, and pointed out that about 75pc of US railed corn and soybean shipments in 2023 traveled in trains hauling more than 75 railcars, which would not be captured by manifest shipment data. Demand for agricultural products is highly seasonal, and missed delivery windows "can halt processing lines, disrupt export programs, and force shippers to carry excess private car inventory to buffer uncertainty," the agency said. The Association of American Railroads (AAR), which lobbies on behalf of Class I railroads, pushed back on industry requests to widen the OETA to include unit train shipments, and told the STB that several railroads do not currently generate the metrics. Adding the reporting requirements "would add regulatory burden, waste resources, and misrepresent service on the network," the AAR said. By Chris Baltimore Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Japanese, Chinese firms partner on marine biodiesel

11/12/25
News
11/12/25

Japanese, Chinese firms partner on marine biodiesel

Tokyo, 11 December (Argus) — Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines (Mol), trading house Marubeni and Chinese state-controlled fuel supplier Sinopec Zhejiang Zhoushan Petroleum have signed an initial agreement to establish a long-term supply chain for marine biodiesel. Sinopec and Marubeni will ensure a stable supply of biodiesel and develop infrastructure infrastructures including ports to store, deliver and supply the fuel, Mol said said on 11 December. Meanwhile, the Japanese shipping firm will use the biodiesel that Sinopec and Marubeni procure in China. China is a key supplier of biodiesel feedstocks, and Marubeni holds the largest share in marine fuel sales to Japanese shipowners in China, Mol said. Biodiesel is a "drop-in" fuel, which is compatible with existing engines on vessels. Mol considers biodiesel as key to significantly cutting CO2 emissions, given that it aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its transportation by 45pc in 2035 compared with 2019 levels, before achieving net-zero emissions in 2050. By Kohei Yamamoto Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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US fuel groups eye compromise in E15 talks

10/12/25
News
10/12/25

US fuel groups eye compromise in E15 talks

New York, 10 December (Argus) — Major US fuel groups agree on the framework for a bill that would authorize a higher ethanol blend in gasoline and revamp a separate program requiring biofuel blending. But there is more work ahead before a final deal can be reached, sources told Argus . The American Petroleum Institute withdrew support earlier this year for a slimmer bill allowing year-round sale of gasoline blends with 15pc ethanol (E15), kickstarting a new round of negotiations. The group has since been pitching the White House and biofuel groups on a larger bill that would both allow E15 and restrict small refiners' ability to skirt biofuel quotas. The oil group, ethanol advocates and fuel retailers last week publicly endorsed the general framework of a bill to allow year-round E15 and limit small refinery blending exemptions, and negotiations are ongoing. The issue has the attention of President Donald Trump, who asked a farmer at a White House event this week if E15 would be "a big deal". The US requires oil companies to annually blend biofuels, while allowing small refiners to seek hardship exemptions. Sales of ethanol blends above 10pc are limited in the summer due to smog rules. Whether the groups can compromise and persuade Congress to act will shape crop demand, biofuel production margins and retail fuel prices in the coming years. Past proposals to legalize E15 year-round, a longtime priority for the ethanol industry, have failed. The idea The American Petroleum Institute's pitch for reining in exemptions is to reduce the number of eligible companies and to make it harder for them to prove distress, according to five people familiar with the group's lobbying. A Trump administration plan that would require refiners without exemptions to blend more biofuels to compensate for refiners with exemptions has raised the stakes of the debate and riled larger oil companies. The oil group has floated restricting exemptions to companies with limited collective refining capacity, excluding larger enterprises like Delek that own multiple smaller units. The group has also proposed scrapping a Department of Energy hardship scoring system that has yielded unpredictable results over the years and that a 2022 Government Accountability Office study found was "critically flawed". Instead, refiners would have to prove that hardship stems directly from the biofuel program, and regulators could offer "proportional" exemptions based on the evidence, three of the people said. The US currently waives either all or half of the blend mandates for refiners that prove hardship. The Trump administration this year granted dozens of requests for exemptions from prior-year mandates, and more petitions are pending. More work ahead While these ideas address longstanding concerns from biofuel and crop groups that waivers curb demand for their products, the American Petroleum Institute also wants to permanently bar regulators from requiring other oil companies offset biofuel volumes lost to exemptions — a tougher sell in the Farm Belt. Another concern is timing. The American Petroleum Institute initially pushed for the exemption changes and ban on redistributing biofuel obligations to take effect next year. But some energy lobbyists want a delay until 2028, fearing that immediate changes could delay the Trump administration's work to finalize new biofuel blend mandates, three people said. New quotas for 2026 and 2027 are already late. Oil interests outside the American Petroleum Institute could also push back if negotiations advance. Refiners so far have been divided. Some want to protect their ability to win lucrative exemptions, while others have long taken issue with special rules for their competitors and hotly oppose Trump's plan to make them blend more biofuels to compensate. Even if the groups reach a deal, convincing Congress is its own challenge. An E15 proposal last year was pulled out of a larger spending package at the last minute , and farm-state lawmakers have been unsuccessful more recently in their efforts to add E15 to a defense bill. One option lobbyists have eyed is adding any new E15 agreement to legislation to fund the government after 30 January. The Renewable Fuels Association, which represents ethanol producers, said that it "continues to have serious discussions with multiple stakeholder groups and we are encouraged by the progress of those conversations". The American Petroleum Institute and ethanol industry group Growth Energy declined to comment. The Environmental Protection Agency said it is "committed to strengthening American energy security and supporting American farmers" but noted that changing rules around E15 and small refinery exemptions "requires an act of Congress". It is not clear how much more ethanol drivers would burn if the US permitted year-round E15. Most gas stations do not currently offer the blend, which advocates blame on regulatory hurdles deterring retailers from investing in new infrastructure. Rising vehicle fuel efficiency and electric vehicle sales have also cut into liquid fuel demand. By Cole Martin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Netherlands slashes 2026 biomarine mandate

10/12/25
News
10/12/25

Netherlands slashes 2026 biomarine mandate

London, 10 December (Argus) — The Netherlands' government will cut GHG reduction mandates for international maritime and inland shipping supplies from the proposed draft earlier this year , according to a communication from the ministry of infrastructure and water management sent to market participants and seen by Argus , citing delays in Belgian transposition causing concerns of an uneven playing field for fuel suppliers. The statement confirmed that the new renewable energy directive (RED) III mandates will come into effect on 1 January, and will apply retroactively from that date if passed later. Maritime fuel suppliers will be subject to a 2.9pc GHG reduction target in 2026 compared with 3.6pc initially, 0.9pc of which will be a flexible credit allowance that can be fulfilled by overcompliance in other sectors. The inland shipping obligation will be reduced to a 2.5pc greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target from a previously announced 3.8pc, with 0.5pc flexible credit allowance. The statement added that obligations from 2027 onwards will apply as previously announced in the draft bill. The previously announced ban on 9B feedstocks for international maritime is to remain in place, with the Netherlands to explore whether the overall Annex 9B biofuels cap can be increased to create leeway. Despite an initial agreement between Belgium and the Netherlands to align on marine targets under RED III, some divergence has already emerged as the Netherlands will treat 9B feedstock biofuels as fossil volumes under the maritime obligation — while Belgium may count such volumes as zero when calculating the overall fuel supply. Initial reactions from market participants pointed to expectations of some marine fuels demand shifting from Dutch ports towards neighbouring ports, as the German cabinet passed a version of RED III legislation today that excludes international maritime from the country's targets. Belgium has also yet to finalise its RED III transposition, with updates to come following the conclusion of a public consultation on 14 November. By Hussein Al-Khalisy Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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