Friday Edition

10.24.08

GLOBAL

Oil fell below $64 a barrel on Friday to new 16-month lows, as concern about a global economic downturn took the steam out of an OPEC agreement to cut output by 1.5 million barrels a day, Forbes reports.

Trading in the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq futures markets was limited Friday after they suffered their maximum allowed drops. The halt in trading came after markets worldwide fell to multi-year lows amid mounting worries of a global recession.

NORTH AMERICA

The Farm Belt in the US Midwest, one of the hottest parts of the US economy in recent years, is cooling as it faces lower crop prices and high production costs, the Wall Street Journal reports. Many farmers worry that the combination of lower crop prices and high costs will soon usher to an end one of the most flush periods in American farm history.

Special tax exempt ‘Gulf Opportunity Zone Bonds’ of $100 million have been issued to Dynamic Fuels to fund a biodiesel plant in Geismar, LA. The plant will produce high quality diesel and jet fuels from animal fats and greases, according to the company.

In Connecticut, an auction for the F&S Oil biodiesel plant and equipment in Cheshire will proceed despite the withdrawal of the only known bidder. An undisclosed $1 million bid had been received, but the buyer backed out after requesting a three-week delay in the auction to consolidate its capital position.

Monterey County, CA transit officials are in the midst of an experiment to fuel buses with biofuel from locally grown mustard plants. By December, Monterey-Salinas Transit officials hope to have refined mustard-seed oil from about 3000 pounds of seeds.

At the waterfront festival in Oyster Bay, NY, 275 gallons of cooking oil used for frying oysters, french fries, and funnel cakes at the annual Oyster Festival were given to Island Biofuel for biodiesel refining.

First United Ethanol has begun production at Georgia’s first 100 million gallon per year ethanol plant in Mitchell County, GA. FUEL's subsidiary, Southwest Georgia Ethanol is operating the ethanol plant which has rail access through Norfolk Southern and CSX.

SOUTH AMERICA

Petrobras Biocombustiveis has made its first delivery of nearly 20,000 gallons of biodiesel produced at its Quixada plant in northeastern Ceara state. The Quixada plant was launched in August 2008.

EUROPE

Germany’s government has passed an amendment to its biofuels law which blocks imported palm and soybean oil-based biodiesel from being counted towards German biofuels blending mandates if they are produced non-sustainably or have benefited from foreign tax advantages.

In the UK, government-owned company, the Carbon Trust, has launched the Algae Biofuels Challenge to commercialize algal biofuel. The Company will initially commit $5-$10 million, along with government funds.

GreenFuel Technologies detailed a multi-year deal worth $92 million to build greenhouses that grow algae for biofuel. The algae will be fed sunlight and carbon dioxide from the Holcim cement plant near Jerez, Spain.

The EU Parliament has adopted proposals to force local governments to look at the environmental impacts when buying vehicles. The proposals are expected to be approved by member states.

ASIA / PACIFIC

China Clean Energy announced that start-up of its Jiangyin biodiesel plant has been delayed and commercial production is not expected until the second quarter of 2009.

Malaysia's October palm oil stocks are expected to climb 4.6% to a record level of 2.04 million tons as output still rose despite the holiday season amid a marked slowdown in shipments, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. Palm oil production in Malaysia will likely rise 0.7% to 1.59 million tonnes in October.

AUSTRALIA

Bioworks Australia’s 1000 gallon per day biodiesel plant in Pingelly is three weeks from commencing fuel production after 15 months of delays due to community and environmental studies. The plant will allow local farmers to produce their own biodiesel from the canola and Indian mustard crops they grow.

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