George Soros to invest $300 million into biofuels in Argentina
Quicknote bioenergy business
Via Treehugger. Argentinean Federal Planning minister, Julio de Vido, revealed in New York the interest of the group lead by Hungarian financier and philanthropist George Soros in developing biofuels in Santa Fe province, Argentina. The investment would be "between 250 and 300 million dollars", he informed after meeting with Soros’ son -Jonathan Soros-, and it would be oriented to produce bio-fuel from corn and sugar cane.
The plant would be settled in Santa Fe province, one of the closest to Buenos Aires and one of the main centers for farming activities in the country. More specifically, it would be set at Venado Tuerto city. The project would employ "1,300 people directly and among 8,000 to 10,000 people indirectly", the minister considered, and anticipated a production of 200 million liters of ethanol.
The Soros group was already involved in real estate investments in the country and then got to manage over 170 thousand hectares of country land in several Argentinean provinces. It has now strong investments in cattle, soy, corn, wheat, sunflower, and milk production. Though their biofuel interest has a background with the buying of an ethanol plant in Minas Gerais -Brazil-, they surely saw an opportunity in Argentina after the recent fuzz about the biofuel law declared by the government -- approved in 2004 and re-approved in April with a different text (see earlier post).
The law sets tax deduction incentives for the production of biofuels, and makes mandatory for all liquid fuels from petrol to contain 5% of ethanol or biofuel. Though it might seem a positive initiative, the duplicate approval left a sour feel to it. On the other hand, it’s no surprise the project takes place in Santa Fe province, since it is home to several bioenergy initiatives. Major oil companies have projects for soy conversion into biodiesel, and oil companies such as Repsol have plans for millionaire investments.
Months ago, Jim Rogers, an associate of Soros said that investing in tropical commodities (sugar, palm, cattle, corn, wood) will beat all other forms of investment, including those in petroleum (earlier post). George Soros is the latest in a series of big investors to take an interest in the biofuels industry. Before him, Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, Richard Branson, Larry Page and Sergei Brin all made investments or have shown interest. Of those, Soros is the first one to make a large investment outside the United States [entry ends here].
ethanol :: biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: Soros :: Argentina ::
Via Treehugger. Argentinean Federal Planning minister, Julio de Vido, revealed in New York the interest of the group lead by Hungarian financier and philanthropist George Soros in developing biofuels in Santa Fe province, Argentina. The investment would be "between 250 and 300 million dollars", he informed after meeting with Soros’ son -Jonathan Soros-, and it would be oriented to produce bio-fuel from corn and sugar cane.
The plant would be settled in Santa Fe province, one of the closest to Buenos Aires and one of the main centers for farming activities in the country. More specifically, it would be set at Venado Tuerto city. The project would employ "1,300 people directly and among 8,000 to 10,000 people indirectly", the minister considered, and anticipated a production of 200 million liters of ethanol.
The Soros group was already involved in real estate investments in the country and then got to manage over 170 thousand hectares of country land in several Argentinean provinces. It has now strong investments in cattle, soy, corn, wheat, sunflower, and milk production. Though their biofuel interest has a background with the buying of an ethanol plant in Minas Gerais -Brazil-, they surely saw an opportunity in Argentina after the recent fuzz about the biofuel law declared by the government -- approved in 2004 and re-approved in April with a different text (see earlier post).
The law sets tax deduction incentives for the production of biofuels, and makes mandatory for all liquid fuels from petrol to contain 5% of ethanol or biofuel. Though it might seem a positive initiative, the duplicate approval left a sour feel to it. On the other hand, it’s no surprise the project takes place in Santa Fe province, since it is home to several bioenergy initiatives. Major oil companies have projects for soy conversion into biodiesel, and oil companies such as Repsol have plans for millionaire investments.
Months ago, Jim Rogers, an associate of Soros said that investing in tropical commodities (sugar, palm, cattle, corn, wood) will beat all other forms of investment, including those in petroleum (earlier post). George Soros is the latest in a series of big investors to take an interest in the biofuels industry. Before him, Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, Richard Branson, Larry Page and Sergei Brin all made investments or have shown interest. Of those, Soros is the first one to make a large investment outside the United States [entry ends here].
ethanol :: biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: Soros :: Argentina ::
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