Everllence ethanol-capable marine engine passes R&D testing for Vale ore carriers

Everllence said its B&W G80 engine, the first built to run on ethanol, passed verified R&D testing at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' engine and machinery division in Korea. The engine is bound for the third of ten Very Large Ore Carriers that Shandong Shipping ordered for charter to Brazilian miner Vale, with delivery set for early 2027. For US ethanol producers this is a demand signal years out, not something that touches your rack price this quarter.

The engine

The G80 already ran on fuel oil and methanol, and now on ethanol as well, including any blend of the two. Bjarne Foldager, who heads Everllence's two-stroke business, called it a milestone that turns the platform into a flexible tri-fuel engine.

Marine demand is a new outlet for ethanol beyond the gasoline pool. US corn ethanol has leaned on exports and E15 for growth, and a shipping buyer that can burn ethanol adds one more bid. That only matters if ethanol pencils out against methanol and fuel oil at the bunker, which today it mostly doesn't. One tested engine on one charter is a long way from real volume.

Indiana's tax hold

Gov. Mike Braun extended Indiana's energy emergency Thursday, keeping the state's gasoline usage and excise taxes suspended through Oct. 6. Had he let the order lapse before it expired Sept. 5, motorists would have paid an extra 61 cents a gallon this month. The renewal covers Labor Day weekend.

For jobbers moving product into Indiana, 61 cents at the rack is real money, and the on-again pattern makes pricing and margin planning harder the closer you get to each expiration date. Watch how the next one gets handled.

Grangemouth SAF

The UK prime minister said Grangemouth could become "the home of sustainable aviation fuel," and the SNP is pressing Andy Burnham for a concrete plan. Petroineos, the INEOS-PetroChina venture, closed the refinery in April last year with about 400 jobs lost and now runs the site as an import terminal for finished fuels.

A foreign SAF buildout doesn't move US numbers on its own. It matters here through feedstock. Used cooking oil and tallow trade globally, so added SAF capacity anywhere pulls on the same low-carbon feedstock pool that US renewable diesel plants already buy from. More buyers for the same fats could firm those prices.

What to watch

Whether ethanol ever clears as a marine bunker fuel on price rather than as a one-off test. How Indiana handles the next expiration after Oct. 6, and whether other states copy the suspend-and-renew move into the fall. And whether a Grangemouth SAF plant, if it gets past a pledge, starts competing for feedstock US plants depend on.