In Washington, the House has approved the NDAA in a 315-107 vote, with provisions to allow the Pentagon to continue its work with biofuels. The Senate must approve the $633 billion bill when they return, sometime after Dec. 27. Earlier this year, the House had attempted to block the biofuels strategy by disallowing the purchase […]
In South Africa, the sugar companies are continuing to put pressure on the government to regulate the price of ethanol to give an advantage to the biofuels industry. The Department of Energy spokesperson Maropeng Ramokgobathi predicted that a pricing regulation would be in place by the middle of 2013, and that the regulation would reflect […]
In Brazil, the ethanol blend may jump back up to 25% as soon as May, after the government cut the blend to 20% earlier this year following a fall in ethanol production. An expected record sugarcane crop next year could see ethanol production reach a three-year high of 6.3 billion gallons.
In South Africa, the Dept. of Energy expects that ethanol prices will be set by the middle of 2013 and will be determined by a break-even price for sorghum-based ethanol produced at an efficiently sized plant. There are two sweet sorghum-based ethanol projects under development but are waiting to see what the established price will […]
In Washington, the D.C. Circuit Court nixed a suit by the American Petroleum Institute against the Environmental Protection Agency over the agency’s 2010 revision to the Renewable Fuel Standard. In addressing the API’s suit, over the EPA’s mandate that obligated parties pay fines for not blending cellulosic biofuels when no cellulosic biofuels to buy had […]
In Washington, the US Department of Energy announced up to $12 million for up to five R&D projects that will improve the carbon, hydrogen, and separation efficiencies in bio-oil production and upgrade processes. The aim of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0000812) is also to boost biofuel yields from non-food-based lignocellulosic feedstocks such as agricultural residue, […]
In Washington, the US Department of Agriculture has updated and improved its USDA Energy website. The portal, which launched in January, includes interactive map, graphing analysis tools, and the USDA Energy Matrix. These instruments enable review of USDA investments, USDA energy programs biofuels and bioenergy data. “Ideally it is a one-stop shop for stakeholders,”USDA Energy […]
In India, oil marketing companies are at last preparing to float a global tender to seek up to 1.1 billion liters of ethanol to comply with the country’s E5 blending mandate. As the companies don’t have the infrastructure to transport or store the ethanol, offers will have to include transport to one of the 350 […]
In the UK, Chatham House says in a new report that major grain-based and oilseed-based biofuel-producing countries could collectively purchase call options from their biofuel industries. This arrangement would act as a virtual global food reserve. These contracts could specify a trigger – based on a price index – which when activated would obligate the […]
In Switzerland, Argentina has formally complained to the WTO about Europe allegedly blocking imports of its biodiesel. The country’s foreign minister claims that the move by Spain to block imports is in retaliation for Argentina nationalizing the local arm of YPF Repsol last year, claiming that a double standard exists between developed and developing countries […]
