A unique process and catalyst is described that operates efficiently at low pressures for the direct production of a high cetane diesel type fuel or diesel type blending stock from stoichiometric mixtures of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This invention allows for, but is not limited to, the economical and efficient production high quality diesel type fuels from small or distributed fuel production plants that have an annual production capacity of less than 100 million gallons per year by eliminating traditional hydrocracking and other costly upgrading processes. This catalytic process is ideal for distributed diesel fuel production plants such as biomass to fuel production plants and stranded natural gas to diesel fuel production plants, and other applications that require optimized economics based on supporting distributed feedstock resources.