Friday Edition

06.27.08

GLOBAL

The CPO sector continues to be resilient against economic uncertainties and high commodity prices, and upstream players are in for record earnings due to rising palm oil prices that are offsetting increased operating costs, said CIMB Research.
Ethanol prices have the potential to move higher over the next six to 24 months, but ethanol margins are expected to remain under pressure from soaring corn prices, Goldman Sachs reported today. The next major catalyst for the ethanol producers is likely to be upcoming reports from the USDA that update the 2008 corn harvest following floods in US Midwest, the bank said according to OPIS.

NORTH AMERICA

Aurora Biofuels in northern California secured $20 million through a second round of funding led by existing investor Oak Investment Partners, Biodiesel Magazine reports. The funds will be used to further its work on algae-based biodiesel.
Kansas State University has been given a $98,560 grant to study the manufacturing of algae biofuels in the ocean. The grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation.
Denver-based BioFuel Energy’s two new 115 million gallon per year ethanol plants in Nebraska and Minnesota have started production. Both plants are located near Cargill grain elevators next to Union Pacific railroad mainlines. Cargill will market the ethanol from the new plants.
Biométhodes of France has signed an agreement with Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties for multiple technologies that convert biomass to ethanol and hydrogen. The biomass to hydrogen technology will be developed in France and tested in a biohydrogen fuel cell prototype and small-scale model car.
SOUTH AMERICA
Brazil's biodiesel program has a long way to go before it is economically competitive, according to the Brazilian Agriculture Minister. He added that palm oil is the only feedstock source that has proved competitive because of high soybean prices. He believes that the country will be able to produce biodiesel from jatropha over the next five to ten years.
In Brazil, farm consultancy group Agroconsult expects soy planting to increase 4.4% in the 2008-09 crop season, to around 22.4 million hectares, depending on credit available for farmers, Dow Jones reports. The country’s government needs to provide at least $2.5 billion to help soy farmers pay for rising costs for the 2008-09 soy crop.
Petrobras is unveiling its biofuel production unit Petrobras Biocombustivel and presenting new production technologies under development, Dow Jones Energy Service reports. Among the new technologies are cellulosic ethanol and synthetic biodiesel pilot plants to be operational by 2010, Petrobras said. Petrobras is also likely to include a biomass unit at its planned $11 billion oil refinery in the state of Ceara in northeastern Brazil.
EUROPE
Petrotec AG has put its biodiesel plant in Emden, Germany into full production, with annual capacity of 100,000 mt. In addition to production facilities, the plant contains a refinery, storage tanks, a laboratory and its own loading and unloading unit for inland and ocean-going vessels on the harbor pier.
Austrian Biodiesel International announced its sixth biodiesel plant was officially opened in the port of Ferrol, Spain. The plant has production capacity of 200,000 mt, which makes it Spain’s largest plant.
Seaweed from Ireland’s coasts could be used for biofuel production, scientists say. The manager of the Irish Seaweed Centre said that Ireland is poised to become an important player in the next generation of biofuel production, as the country has 16 commercially useful seaweed species and its location could be a major selling point to the world market.
The UK’s Business Secretary has set out a national renewable energy blueprint designed to reduce carbon emissions and enable the UK to meet its proposed 15% renewable energy target by 2020.
Virgin Atlantic, Boeing and Air New Zealand are attempting to develop the world's first green fuel from pond and seaweed for the aviation industry. Virgin Atlantic hopes to be operating partly on algae-based fuel within five years.
ASIA / PACIFIC
The Agriculture Secretary of the Philippines welcomed the recent declaration by officials of 180 countries to develop the biofuels sector within the context of global food security. The declaration from the Food and Agriculture Organization Summit had called on industrialized economies to assist developing economies like the Philippines produce biofuels from non-food crops.
Malaysia will not allow the clearing of forest areas for new palm oil plantations to avoid accusations that palm oil expansions are destroying forests. The Prime Minister said that with more effective management and new technologies, production can increase by 30%.
In Thailand, the Charoen Pokphand Group is considering developing wind and solar power projects to save costs and maintain profitability amid a sharp rise of energy prices. The Charoen Pokphand Group is already involved in biomass power projects that use chicken and pig manure.
Moody’s gave a positive rating outlook for the Asia Pacific's palm oil industry over the next 12 to 18 months due to strong balance sheets.
Toyo Engineering Corp.’s Thai entity Toyo-Thai Corp. will construct a 792 gallon per day pilot jatropha biodiesel plant in Lombok, Indonesia.
Industry players participating in a jatropha conference urged Indonesia’s government to establish a market price for crude jatropha oil to draw more investment into the country’s developing biofuel sector.
The director of the Surfactant and Bioenergy Research Center (SBRC) at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture in Indonesia said the development of jatropha was still well below target levels. The use of Jatropha remains limited because of widespread doubt among farmers and investors about its economic feasibility, experts said.

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