Both diesel and gas prices have been slowly creeping upward for the last month and a half, with the last price decrease taking place in mid-December, according to figures from the DOE’s Energy Information Administration. The current diesel price is up 34 cents from a year ago, and gas prices are up 35 cents this week from 2011.

On Monday, U.S. oil futures fell below $97 a barrel, the same day new sanctions were announced against the world’s third-largest exporter, Iran. The sanctions are supposed to make it harder for Iran to sell its oil through traditional banking routes. The idea is to force Iran to sell its oil at a discount, and reduce the oil revenue Iran uses to run its economy and fund its nuclear operations.

Abundant U.S. oil supplies kept prices in check despite the new sanctions against Iran. Crude supplies are expected to keep growing into spring as the petroleum industry ramps up drilling projects.

Brent crude prices rose to $1.35 to finish at $115.93 a barrel in London. The increase is due to winter storms that brought icy temperatures to much of Europe.

Click here to visit Truckinginfo and read the complete story.

T. Boone Pickens, the oilman-turned-gas promoter whose BP Capital owns Clean Fuels, joined Navistar executives to announce a deal yesterday morning at the truck builder’s new headquarters in Lisle, Ill.

The agreement will see Navistar building more International trucks with natural gas engines, while Clean Energy will build more filling stations for truckers who commit to using the comparatively inexpensive and increasingly abundant fuel.

Customers who sign up will pay no extra money for trucks equipped to store and burn natural gas and filling stations for them.

“Progress is being made in alternative fuels,” said Dan Ustian, Navistar’s chairman, president and chief operating officer, who opened the press conference before slipping away to prepare for a stock analysts meeting later that morning.

“It’s always seemed to be government supported. While we hope we can get more money for research and development, this can stand on its own.”

Pickens, who’s been promoting the use of natural gas since 2010, said it’s both a financial and national security matter.

“Prices vary, but this is the cheapest fuel in the United States” at about $2.50 per diesel-equivalent gallon, or about $1 to $1.50 less than diesel, he said. “We cannot pass up this opportunity.

“Heavy trucks are the biggest users of fuel and stand to see the biggest savings” because of gas’s lower cost. “It’s a big deal for our country because we’ve got to get off OPEC oil.”

Clean Energy spent $200 million last year to build fueling stations for both compressed and liquefied natural gas, said Andrew Littlefair, the firm’s president and CEO. That effort will expand under the partnership with Navistar, with $250 million budgeted for this year.

Jerry Moyes, president of Swift Transportation, who participated in the announcement, said he’d like his company to have the first trucks in the program. “We’re very excited about the potential for natural gas,” he said. “We buy millions of gallons (of fuel) every day, so this is a big deal.”

click here to visit Truckinginfo and read the complete story.

For diesel, the only two regions that didn’t see a price decrease were New England, where the average diesel price rose by one tenth of a cent to $4.077, and California, where prices rose by half a cent to $4.121. As usual, California claims the highest average diesel prices in the country.

Crude oil futures settled higher this week after the European Union agreed to an embargo on oil imports from Iran starting July 1.

Light, sweet crude oil for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 1.3%, or $1.25 higher, at $99.58 a barrel. ICE North Sea Brent crude settled up 72 cents at $110.58 a barrel.

The EU embargo, which was widely expected, advances U.S.-led global efforts to restrict Iran’s economic lifeline because of what it says is Tehran’s refusal to halt efforts to gain nuclear weapons.

click here to visit Truckinginfo and read the complete story.

Some companies are seeking permits to ship liquefied natural gas overseas. After Cheniere Energy got a permit last May to ship gas from its Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana, manufacturers using natural gas, led by the Washington-based Industrial Energy Consumers of America, complained that sales to foreign countries may raise prices at home.

The EIA report is a response to an August 2011 request from the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy for an analysis of “the impact of increased domestic natural gas demand, as exports.”

The report found that with expected exports of 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (bcf/day)-the amount of capacity companies have already applied to export-domestic natural gas prices could rise around 24% to 57% above baseline levels, depending on how quickly exports are ramped up and assumptions regarding the U.S. shale gas resource base.

U.S. natural-gas prices are at record lows. In face, Chesapeake Energy Corp., the second-largest U.S. natural-gas producer, will cut output and idle drilling rigs, reports BusinessWeek.

However, even without the exports, natural gas prices will increase under all scenarios considered by the DOE’s Energy Information Administration.

“Rapid increases in export levels lead to large initial price increases that moderate somewhat in a few years,” the agency said in the report. “Slower increases in export levels lead to more gradual price increases but eventually produce higher average prices during the decade between 2025 and 2035.”

click here to visit Truckinginfo and read the complete story.

“The Low Carbon Fuel Standard is an essential part of California’s program to move away from dirty fuels and toward a clean energy future,” says Mary Nichols, CARB chairman. “These changes streamline the program. They ensure that we accurately account for every gram of carbon released during the extraction and transportation of unrefined fossil fuels, no matter where they come from.”

CARB says one key amendment will improve how the regulation accounts for the carbon intensity of crude oils. The carbon intensity of crudes can vary significantly with heavy crudes generally having a higher carbon footprint. The proposed amendments require that the carbon intensity of crudes be fully accounted for just like other fuels under the program. The provision also incentivizes innovation by providing credits for specific actions to reduce the carbon intensity of crude oil.

The amendments also clarify which regulated parties receive low carbon fuel credits for the electricity used to charge electric vehicles. For residential charging, the electric utilities will be eligible for the credits, as they appear best suited to send the credit value back to electric vehicle owners in the form of rebates, time-of-use rates or other incentives. For public access charging, companies that install and service charging units in public settings such as malls or parking structures may receive the related credits. Finally, businesses that install private access charging stations for employees, or fleet operators that operate at least three electric vehicles, also may be eligible for credits.

click here to visit CCJ and read the complete story.

Diesel fuel will climb to average $2.95 a gallon this year before rising to $3.16 in 2011, the Department of Energy said.

Trucking’s main fuel averaged $2.46 a gallon last year, DOE said in its monthly short-term energy outlook released Wednesday.

The projection is in line with a previous department forecast. DOE’s latest weekly price survey released Feb. 1 showed a 5.2-cent decline to $2.781 a gallon.

Click here to visit Transport Topics and read the complete story.

Heavy-Duty Air Cleaner Ideal for High Dust Environments

Racor Division of Parker Hannifin Corp. noted that its composite heavy-duty air cleaner is designed and built to meet the heavy-duty engine air intake system requirements for gasoline and diesel powered equipment used in high dust environments with excessive vibration and extreme temperatures. Features and benefits include high efficiency and dust holding capacity, durable high strength polymer composite light-weight construction, and dual position restriction indicator port mounting. The composite air cleaners can be mounted vertically or horizontally, the company said.

For additional information, request bulletin number 7755 or visit http://www.parker.com.

[source - fleetequipmentmag.com] ]]> http://www.myettnews.com/2009/07/racor-offers-composite-heavy-duty-air-cleaner/feed/ 0 http://www.myettnews.com/2009/04/fretting-over-fuel/ http://www.myettnews.com/2009/04/fretting-over-fuel/#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:01:23 +0000 Rhonda Flathman http://www.myettnews.com/?p=291

Fuel Holds Steady for Now

Though fuel prices have held steady for nearly a month now, concerns remain among transportation experts on what the future may hold. Last year’s spikes in diesel came on so quickly that companies could not anticipate and prepare for them.

Though diesel fuel prices are relatively low and stable at the moment – they’ve remained steady for four weeks now, no more than a penny above or below $2.22/gal., down nearly $2 compared to the same period in 2008 – transportation experts continue to worry about how fuel prices are going to behave down the road, especially for truckers.

“It’s really not so much the actual price of diesel fuel but price volatility,” Bob Novack, associate professor at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, told FleetOwner. “If trucking companies are able to anticipate and plan for fuel price increases and decreases, then fuel causes less of an impact on their bottom line and – by extension – freight rates.”

The problem last year was that fuel prices went up so fast for so long that truckers and shippers alike could not compensate for them, he explained. “It caught everyone in a bind. High fuel prices drove carriers out of business, while escalating fuel surcharges blew shipper freight budgets away.”

That’s why Novack added a special session on fuel prices to Penn State’s 19th Annual R. Hadly Waters Supply Chain symposium being held at the university this week.

And as a result of more volatile fuel prices, shippers and carriers alike are trying to develop a more equitable way to calculate fuel surcharge, according to Schneider Logistics is its annual “State of the Industry” report issued earlier this month.

“Currently, fuel surcharge programs involve a particular fuel surcharge rate being applied to the miles ran in a given time period – i.e. monthly or weekly,” the company – a division of truckload carrier Schneider National – said in its report. “This type of program is effective in a stable fuel market. However, in a market where fuel prices are rapidly increasing, this type of program does not fairly compensate the carrier for the increased cost of fuel. Conversely, in a market where fuel prices are rapidly decreasing, the shipper may incur significantly higher fuel surcharge costs.”

This situation is leading to the development of fuel surcharge programs based on the true market cost of fuel per freight movement – programs that involve proprietary software that can calculate actual fuel costs on a per lane basis, for a given day, Schneider Logistics said. “This type of fuel surcharge program may become the norm if the volatility in fuel costs continues,” it noted.

Concerns over fuel price volatility remain– despite predictions that both global and U.S. oil consumption should continue to decrease throughout 2009, mainly due to the ongoing global economic downturn.

According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), global oil consumption dropped by approximately 50,000 barrels per day by December 2008 and is projected to drop another 450,000 barrels per day in 2009, continuing the downward pressure on world oil prices. U.S. domestic oil consumption dropped 1.2 million barrels per day in 2008 when compared to 2007 consumption levels; and an additional 200,000 barrels per day in 2009.

“It appears that the current trend of low crude oil prices will continue as long as the global economic downturn continues,” the EIA, part of the U.S. Dept. of Energy, said in its short-term outlook released this month. “Based on a number of different reports, most experts believe the economic downturn will continue through 2009, and maybe into the first quarter of 2010,” added EIA. “The one wild card that could push oil prices higher would be geopolitical conflict.”

[source - fleetowner.com] ]]> http://www.myettnews.com/2009/04/fretting-over-fuel/feed/ 0 http://www.myettnews.com/2009/04/tone-down-biodiesel-mandate-truckers-tell-rulemakers/ http://www.myettnews.com/2009/04/tone-down-biodiesel-mandate-truckers-tell-rulemakers/#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:10:18 +0000 Rhonda Flathman http://www.myettnews.com/?p=251 Two Canadian trucking groups are calling for a more standardized approach in the way mandatory biodiesel programs are being introduced. Among the chief concerns are how higher grades react with older engines.

SURREY, B.C. — The BC government and Ottawa need to drastically change the way they plan to roll out their mandatory biodiesel programs or risk watching truckers shut down their rigs, say two of the nation’s largest trucking groups.

In a letter, the BCTA urged Blair Lekstrom, minister of energy, mines and petroleum resources, to plug up holes in the Renewable Fuel Requirement, which requires that the entire provincial diesel pool contain an average of 5 percent biodiesel annually starting in January 2010.

The problem with the rule, as exclusively reported in the April issue of Today’s Trucking (also available online as this week’s web feature) is that the actual blend at the pump is left free to vary between the stated value based on customer demand.

Not surprisingly, some large commercial customers with market leverage will be able to demand little to no biodiesel content, leaving the supplier no choice but to comply with the B5 average rule by dumping biodiesel blends higher than B5 onto customers with less buying power. Truckers come to mind.

That’s a big problem for carriers in colder climates, where notorious cold flow and gelling issues associated with higher biodiesel blends on older engines can be a major issue. Also, most engines are not approved for blends higher than B5 and truckers who unknowingly fill up with B10 or B15 could find themselves with warranty dilemmas.

[source - todaystrucking.com]

]]> http://www.myettnews.com/2009/04/tone-down-biodiesel-mandate-truckers-tell-rulemakers/feed/ 0 http://www.myettnews.com/2009/04/fuel-saving-flaps/ http://www.myettnews.com/2009/04/fuel-saving-flaps/#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:40:42 +0000 Rhonda Flathman http://www.myettnews.com/?p=246 A new trailer wheel flap could boost tractor-trailer fuel economy up to 0.5 miles per gallon, according to the company. Lightweight and reasonably priced, Andersen Eco-Flaps were found to improve fuel economy by 1.7 percent during SAE testing.

In 2006, the Transportation Research Center in Ohio conduct an SAEJ1321 fuel test on the product and found the flap improved tractor-trailer fuel economy by 1.7%. Originally developed to reduce the water spray kicked up by trailers, Anderson found his device improved the aerodynamic signature of the trailer as well, partially from weight savings as well as by reducing drag.

Andersen said Eco-Flaps weigh three to 3.5 lbs. per unit, compared to the 18 to 30 lb. standard rubber flaps used on trailers. Initial cost, however, is the big difference, he said. While rubber flaps can cost as little as $4, rising to $15 to $20 at the truckstop sales counter, Andersen said his product is $25 for the 27-in. model and $27 for the 30-in. model.

But by improving fuel economy, the payback on that initial investment is rapid, Andersen said. He said in fleet service, the Eco-Flaps demonstrated a savings of slightly more than 1 gallon per 100 highway miles. This was demonstrated on standard Class 8 equipment running 260 million miles as logged by 50 customers in 2008, he noted.

[source - fleetowner.com]

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