News of the Day

01.10.08

WORLD

Investment bank Lazard Ltd. has created an alternative energy team comprised of bankers from its industrial, energy, utilities and agriculture areas, as it expects to see more deals among oil and alternative energy companies. Lazard’s global head of power and energy said that some oil producers would look to diversify by acquiring alternative energy companies, such as ethanol, biofuel, and synthetic fuel producers.

NORTH AMERICA

Primafuel, a biofuel production company based in Long Beach, CA, was awarded a $164,000 grant from the California Air Resources Board to fund development of a 60 mgy biodiesel plant in West Sacramento.

A proposed biofuel plant in Mossy Head, FL has been approved by the Walton County Commission. Gulf Coast Energy Inc. will build and operate the ethanol and biodiesel plant that will use rendered chicken fat and soybean oil to make biodiesel, and wood waste to make ethanol.

PetroSun announced that its subsidiary, PetroSun BioFuels Refining, has entered into a joint venture to construct and operate a biodiesel plant near Coolidge, AZ. The refinery will have a 30 mgy production capacity and will produce biodiesel from algae oil. Construction should start during the third quarter of 2008.

Food processing giant Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is set to become one of the first US companies to attempt to capture and store its carbon emissions, confirming it is working on a major carbon sequestration project at one of its facilities in Illinois. The company said it has teamed up with the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) and the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) to work on the project which aims to capture emissions from ADM’s ethanol plant in Decatur, IL.

In Missouri, the 30 mgy Prairie Pride biodiesel plant in Nevada has commenced operations. The $90 million facility is situated on a 210 acre location in Vernon County, NV.

In Ohio, POET will open its 65 mgy corn ethanol plant in Leipsic today. The $105 million project is Ohio’s first ethanol plant and is located in the Iron Highway Industrial Park which is served by multiple rail freight companies.

SOUTH AMERICA

Heaven Petroleum has received the first license to commercialize biofuels in Peru from the country’s Ministry of Energy. Biodiesel production is due to start in Lurin soon as a plant is operational.

EUROPE

Germany’s Renewable Energy Federation said the impact of higher taxation on biofuels was clearly seen last year, as the biofuel share of Germany's overall fuel consumption rose only slightly from 6.6% in 2006 to 7% in 2007. The group said the tax increase on biofuels at the start of this year threatens the survival of the sector's mid-size companies, and the use of renewable fuel saved the equivalent of over $12 billion in environmental damage last year.

Mercuria's Polish subsidiary J&S Energy will build two biodiesel plants in Poland with a combined production capacity of 200,000-300,000 mty--one in Opole in southwestern Poland, and the other in Stobno in the northwest. Poland plans to introduce tax incentives for blended biodiesel, although this will requires approval from the EU Commission because it would be a public subsidy.

ASIA / PACIFIC

In Malaysia, the central government has released emergency stocks of palm oil and ordered producers to step up output by 30% after a wave of panic buying prompted by shortages and price increases. The world’s largest producer of palm oil has introduced rationing after experiencing a spike in demand associated with Chinese New Year. The price of palm oil, a key biofuel feedstock, rose to $1098 per ton.

The Chinese government responded to growing public anxiety about inflation by announcing that China would freeze energy prices in the near term, even as international crude oil futures have continued to surge. The new effort to fight rising prices comes with inflation hitting an 11-year high in China. A recent nationwide public opinion survey found that “rising prices of consumer goods” ranked as the top public concern.

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