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US red-dye diesel waiver offers limited relief
US red-dye diesel waiver offers limited relief
Houston, 6 October (Argus) — US president Donald Trump's order to temporarily allow on-road use of red dyed diesel is unlikely to significantly cut prices at the pump, despite claims the measure will help truckers and consumers. Market participants said the waiver does little to tackle the main cause of diesel's recent price rise — tight supply. The measure adds no new diesel production, imports or inventories, instead allowing a wider group of consumers to draw from existing off-road stocks. Trump's 5 October executive order permits dyed diesel, normally reserved for off-road use, to be used in highway vehicles . The order defers the federal 24.4¢/USG excise tax on diesel until year end and suggests Congress pass legislation to "eliminate the obligation to pay" the deferred tax. "This targeted action will put money directly in the pocket of American farmers, truckers, and workers," Trump said in the order. But any savings may be smaller than advertised — or not materialize at all — since the federal diesel tax is being deferred rather than cancelled. Although the administration has directed Treasury officials to explore ways to write off the obligation, no such relief has been enacted. The policy's reach is further constrained by state rules. While some states, including Texas, have eased restrictions for on-road use of dyed diesel, most still ban the practice and impose heavy fines, so uptake is expected to vary widely across the country. Distribution logistics form another barrier. Red dyed diesel typically moves through wholesale channels serving agricultural, construction and heating markets rather than retail filling stations. Increased highway demand could tighten off-road supplies and raise costs for farmers and other consumers without adding to total diesel availability. Price data suggest the waiver will fall far short of offsetting the jump in diesel costs. Prices for ultra-low sulphur heating oil (ULSH), often used as a proxy for dyed diesel, are more than double year-earlier levels. US Gulf coast Colonial ULSH averaged $4.43/USG over the past four weeks, nearly 109pc higher than the $2.12/USG average in the same period last year. Some truckers and fuel retailers are also wary of using dyed diesel because of compliance concerns. Industry participants cite uncertainty over how long traces of red dye may remain detectable in storage tanks and fuel systems after use, creating potential issues once the waiver ends. Interstate operators face an added risk if trucks fueled in a state that allows dyed diesel later enter one that prohibits it, where heavy penalties still apply. Since the waiver does nothing to boost refinery output, imports or inventories, the president's move appears more likely to shift demand between fuel pools than to meaningfully cut consumers' diesel costs. By Craig Ross Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Q&A: DCC Energy urges support for BioLPG in RED IV
Q&A: DCC Energy urges support for BioLPG in RED IV
London, 6 October (Argus) — Renewable liquid gases such as bioLPG could play a greater role in decarbonising heating and industry, particularly in sectors where electrification is difficult or costly, but stronger demand signals and long-term policy certainty are needed to support investment and production growth, according to Dublin-based LPG distributor DCC Energy. Argus' Evelina Lungu spoke with Emmanuel Mannooretonil, director of sustainable gas at DCC Energy and a board member of Liquid Gas Europe, about bioLPG supply growth, renewable heating policy and the outlook for renewable liquid gases in Europe. Edited highlights follow. To what extent does the current Renewable Energy Directive (RED) framework support investment in renewable liquid gases, and where are the remaining gaps? RED III sets clear and ambitious targets for renewable energy in transport fuels, which have facilitated significant investment in production over recent years. However its provisions for renewable liquid and gaseous fuels in buildings and industry are framed more as indicative targets for member states. The challenge has been to translate these targets into predictable market signals, ideally at European level, while giving member states sufficient flexibility to deploy the solutions best suited to their national circumstances, including renewable liquid and gaseous fuels. Greater long-term certainty around the role of these fuels would help support investment in large-scale production projects. As well as demand-side policy, supply-side incentives — such as the UK's Revenue Certainty Mechanism being designed for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producers — will also be necessary in order to de-risk investment for producers. This is especially true when considering production growth from technologies not yet available at commercial scale. How do you see BioLPG fitting into the EU's broader decarbonisation strategy for heating and industry, particularly alongside the strong policy push towards electrification? We strongly believe that electrification will be a key pathway for decarbonisation of heating, and indeed DCC Energy is rapidly growing its presence in this segment, including through our solar offer for commercial and industrial customers in multiple European markets. However there are LPG market segments, such as heating for buildings off the gas grid and industries requiring high temperature process heat, where electrification may not be the most practical or cost-effective decarbonisation solution. In these cases bioLPG is an alternative to electrification which can be deployed rapidly, with no changes required to existing equipment and distribution infrastructure. It can deliver greenhouse gas reductions of 80pc or more compared to fossil LPG, and recent research by Frontier Economics found that this can come at a Total Cost of Ownership which is comparable to or even better than electrification. In parallel bioLPG, when produced from locally sourced feedstocks, will contribute to reducing Europe's dependence on imported fossil fuels. European policy should therefore not fall into the trap of focusing on electrification alone as it risks making decarbonisation less accessible for many of the millions of households and thousands of businesses in Europe who rely on LPG today for heating, cooking and hot water. Supply is often cited as a constraint for BioLPG — what progress have you seen in scaling production, and how quickly can volumes realistically grow? Currently most bioLPG is produced as a byproduct of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and SAF production, and so as production of these grows in response to RED III and ReFuelEU Aviation mandates, production of bioLPG will also grow. We however see that, in the absence of firm demand signals for bioLPG, refiners may see stronger incentives to consume bioLPG internally rather than releasing to market, which can limit availability for consumers. Liquid Gas Europe's 2025 analysis finds that supply of renewable liquid gases in Europe could reach between 2mn t and 7mn t by 2040, all derived from locally available feedstocks. These could substitute up to 50pc of current LPG consumption, but reaching these levels is highly dependent on the level of policy support available. Ireland's experience with biomethane policy highlights some of the challenges around EU rules — what lessons should governments take when designing national support schemes? DCC Energy fully supports policy design centred around technology neutrality and equal access for producers of renewable fuels to markets across the EU. However a ‘one size fits all' approach may not be the right solution for all markets, especially those at early stages of development. For example, it is currently uncertain whether biomethane imported into Ireland via the connected UK gas grid will be recognised as counting towards the forthcoming Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO). This means that domestically produced biomethane may be the only eligible substitute for natural gas under the RHO. In this case, the proposed certificate multiplier for domestically produced biomethane would have been a significant factor in the rapid scale up of Ireland's nascent local production to achieve the RHO's objectives. We would urge national governments and the EU to take full account of specific local circumstances in policy design and seek creative and pragmatic solutions which can remove roadblocks to scaling renewable fuels while respecting the principles of technology neutrality and the integrity of the single market. The recently leaked RED IV impact assessment appears to move away from post-2030 heating and cooling sub-targets in favour of technology-specific indicators for heat pumps, geothermal and solar thermal, while a broader heating fuel obligation was discarded. How does DCC Energy view this direction of travel? We see the lack of firm demand signals as the most significant factor holding back investment in and growth of renewable liquid gas production. We recognise that the impact assessment does not necessarily present a final legislative proposal, and believe that there remains a strong case for the commission to revisit the role that renewable liquid and gaseous fuels can play in heating beyond 2030 to complement those technologies named in the leaked impact assessment. Renewable Heating Obligations remain a key part of our recommended approach, whether set at EU level or by national governments — such as are already under development in Ireland and Germany — but we would welcome other measures which create credible demand for renewable liquid and gaseous fuels in applications where electrification is difficult or disproportionately costly. Demand-side measures will also need to be complemented by enabling measures, such as targeted production cost support. Updates to mass-balance and chain-of-custody rules would also be required to recognise the highly decentralised nature of liquid gas supply chains and facilitate the scaling of renewable fuels across the single market — while maintaining robust tracking and certification of sustainability credentials. Providing this combination of long-term demand certainty, national flexibility and robust market rules through RED IV and related policy instruments will be important if Europe is to realise the potential of renewable liquid gases to contribute to its 2040 decarbonisation objectives. Are there specific technologies — such as bioLPG, DME, or waste-to-energy — that you are prioritising with capital allocation, and why? DCC Energy is not an energy producer, but together with SHV Energy we have been collaborating with multiple technology providers and developers to identify production pathways for renewable liquid gases which have the potential to be deployed at scale and made available for long-term offtake by distributors. These might include renewable DME via gasification of biogenic wastes and bioLPG via alcohol-to-fuel processes. We believe that a few different pathways will be required to achieve the industry's growth potential, building on the availability of bioLPG via HVO and SAF production. By Evelina Lungu Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Hormuz crude, products flows average 14mn b/d: Vitol
Hormuz crude, products flows average 14mn b/d: Vitol
London, 6 October (Argus) — Crude and refined product flows through the strait of Hormuz are averaging about 14mn b/d, trading firm Vitol's chief executive Russell Hardy said. Hardy estimated around 12mn b/d of crude and 2mn b/d of products exited the strait in the past 7-10 days, speaking at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London. "That's an important lifeline because most of that crude oil is going to go to Asia and keeping refining runs solid and fill some of the gap China need to fill," Hardy said. Flows of crude and product out of the strait of Hormuz were around 20mn b/d before the US-Iran war disrupted exports from the region. Hardy said it is essential these flows continue to "keep things in balance as we go through the winter" because "there aren't any more inventories to drain in the west." Mideast Gulf producers have boosted exports in the past few months by shuttling oil through the southern Hormuz route and carrying out ship to ship (STS) transfers off Oman and India. But transits through the waterway have become significantly riskier in recent days as Iran has resumed attacks on shipping. "There are more shipowners willing to enter [the strait] and national fleets enter, but obviously there continues to be a huge amount of risk… there is conflict most nights," Hardy said. He said shuttling oil through the strait is very inefficient, requiring numerous tankers and resulting in "parabolic pricing on shipping." By Aydin Calik Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US Supreme Court hears oil sector climate case
US Supreme Court hears oil sector climate case
Washington, 5 October (Argus) — The US Supreme Court's justices appeared split Monday during oral arguments over the fate of dozens of pending lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages from oil companies for allegedly contributing to climate-related damages. The case will decide if Boulder, Colorado, and other cities can continue pursuing lawsuits in state court against oil companies for wildfires, drought and other climate-related effects they attribute to the sale of gasoline and other fossil fuels. Canadian oil company Suncor, ExxonMobil and other oil companies named as defendants in Boulder's lawsuit say the passage of the Clean Air Act effectively preempted state lawsuits related to interstate air pollution. "If Boulder's claims are allowed to go forward, some 90,000 municipalities across the country will have the ability to make national and international energy policy by asking juries to impose catastrophic damages on selected fossil fuel producers," Suncor's attorney Kannon Shanmugam told the court on Monday. In 2011, the Supreme Court already ruled unanimously that fossil fuel companies could not be sued in federal court for climate damages because the Clean Air Act had already given the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the complex "balancing act" of regulating air pollution. But President Donald Trump's decision to disclaim authority over greenhouse gases under that law — an action being challenged in a separate lawsuit — has injected further uncertainty into the case. "It is difficult to decide whether the Clean Air Act preempts these claims when we don't know whether the Clean Air Act applies to greenhouse gas emissions," Boulder's attorney Kevin Russell said. The court's liberal justices appeared unconvinced that the state-level lawsuits could not move forward. The Supreme Court already allows nuisance claims in state court under the Clean Water Act, so "I don't see why we wouldn't permit it under the Clean Air Act either," justice Sonia Sotomayor said. Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative, said the court did not have to "reinvent the wheel" to decide the case because it already said multiple times that air pollution is a federal issue, not a state issue, unless Congress provides an exception. But other conservative justices wondered if that logic still applied. Justice Neil Gorsuch questioned how "nobody can sue at all" when the Trump administration has "disclaimed the power to regulate" greenhouse gases. Another conservative justice, Amy Coney Barrett, appeared skeptical of a claim by Shanmugam, on behalf of Suncor, that "regardless of what EPA says" about its greenhouse gas authority under the Clean Air Act, state courts would be unable to address interstate air pollution under the structure of the US Constitution. "I think that's a little slippery," Barrett responded. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito recused himself from the case, meaning one conservative justice would need to join the court's three liberals justices to create a 4-4 split. If that occurs, a lower court ruling allowing the Boulder case to move forward would remain intact, while other court rulings blocking state-level damages lawsuits against oil companies would remain in place. Colorado's courts have yet to decide on the merits of the Boulder lawsuit. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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