Syntroleum Stock Gets Boost From Chrysler

Syntroleum Corp. shares rose 13% Wednesday after Chrysler Corp. said it will join an effort to develop sulfur-free diesel fuel from natural gas using Syntroleum technology. The shares rose $1.38 to $11.88. Syntroleum’s stock is down a third since shares began trading Aug. 10 on Nasdaq after its merger with SLH Corp. Low crude prices have prompted oil companies to cut back on capital expenditures needed to implement Syntroleum’s technology. Syntroleum already has licensed the technology to Texaco Inc., Atlantic Richfield Co. and Enron Corp. Chrysler’s involvement, announced at a Society of Automotive Engineers meeting in San Francisco, represents a further endorsement. Tulsa, Okla.-based Syntroleum estimates that new designer fuels could sell for less than $1.50 per gallon. The company’s process is based on work by German chemists in the 1920s that helped fuel Nazi machinery during World War II. Syntroleum, once privately held, agreed in March to merge with its largest shareholder, publicly traded SLH Corp.