Renewable fuels take a bite out of US diesel consumption

Flat demand: A customer refuels at a petrol station in Hercules, California. Total consumption of petroleum and renewable fuel oils has been flat over the last year. — Bloomberg

BIODIESEL and other renewable diesel fuel oils are displacing a small but growing volume of petroleum-derived distillate fuel oil in the United States, especially in California and other parts of the West Coast.

The result of this policy-driven change is that manufacturing and freight activity is correlated with total petroleum and renewable fuel oil supplied rather than just petroleum distillates alone.