<body> -------------------
Contact Us       Consulting       Projects       Our Goals       About Us
home » Archive » Bioenergy_economics
Nature Blog Network


    QUICK NOTES

    Spanish company Ferry Group is to invest €42/US$55.2 million in a project for the production of biomass fuel pellets in Bulgaria. The 3-year project consists of establishing plantations of paulownia trees near the city of Tran. Paulownia is a fast-growing tree used for the commercial production of fuel pellets. Dnevnik - Feb. 20, 2007.

    Hungary's BHD Hõerõmû Zrt. is to build a 35 billion Forint (€138/US$182 million) commercial biomass-fired power plant with a maximum output of 49.9 MW in Szerencs (northeast Hungary). Portfolio.hu - Feb. 20, 2007.

    Tonight at 9pm, BBC Two will be showing a program on geo-engineering techniques to 'save' the planet from global warming. Five of the world's top scientists propose five radical scientific inventions which could stop climate change dead in its tracks. The ideas include: a giant sunshade in space to filter out the sun's rays and help cool us down; forests of artificial trees that would breath in carbon dioxide and stop the green house effect and a fleet futuristic yachts that will shoot salt water into the clouds thickening them and cooling the planet. BBC News - Feb. 19, 2007.

    Archer Daniels Midland, the largest U.S. ethanol producer, is planning to open a biodiesel plant in Indonesia with Wilmar International Ltd. this year and a wholly owned biodiesel plant in Brazil before July, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The Brazil plant is expected to be the nation's largest, the paper said. Worldwide, the company projects a fourfold rise in biodiesel production over the next five years. ADM was not immediately available to comment. Reuters - Feb. 16, 2007.

    Finnish engineering firm Pöyry Oyj has been awarded contracts by San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. to provide services for the first bioethanol plant in the Philippines. The aggregate contract value is EUR 10 million. The plant is to be build in the Province of San Carlos on the north-eastern tip of Negros Island. The plant is expected to deliver 120,000 liters/day of bioethanol and 4 MW of excess power to the grid. Kauppalehti Online - Feb. 15, 2007.

    In order to reduce fuel costs, a Mukono-based flower farm which exports to Europe, is building its own biodiesel plant, based on using Jatropha curcas seeds. It estimates the fuel will cut production costs by up to 20%. New Vision (Kampala, Uganda) - Feb. 12, 2007.

    The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has decided to use 10% biodiesel in its fleet of public buses. The world's largest city is served by the Toei Bus System, which is used by some 570,000 people daily. Digital World Tokyo - Feb. 12, 2007.

    Fearing lack of electricity supply in South Africa and a price tag on CO2, WSP Group SA is investing in a biomass power plant that will replace coal in the Letaba Citrus juicing plant which is located in Tzaneen. Mining Weekly - Feb. 8, 2007.

    In what it calls an important addition to its global R&D capabilities, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is to build a new bioenergy research center in Hamburg, Germany. World Grain - Feb. 5, 2007.

    EthaBlog's Henrique Oliveira interviews leading Brazilian biofuels consultant Marcelo Coelho who offers insights into the (foreign) investment dynamics in the sector, the history of Brazilian ethanol and the relationship between oil price trends and biofuels. EthaBlog - Feb. 2, 2007.

    The government of Taiwan has announced its renewable energy target: 12% of all energy should come from renewables by 2020. The plan is expected to revitalise Taiwan's agricultural sector and to boost its nascent biomass industry. China Post - Feb. 2, 2007.

    Production at Cantarell, the world's second biggest oil field, declined by 500,000 barrels or 25% last year. This virtual collapse is unfolding much faster than projections from Mexico's state-run oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos. Wall Street Journal - Jan. 30, 2007.

    Dubai-based and AIM listed Teejori Ltd. has entered into an agreement to invest €6 million to acquire a 16.7% interest in Bekon, which developed two proprietary technologies enabling dry-fermentation of biomass. Both technologies allow it to design, establish and operate biogas plants in a highly efficient way. Dry-Fermentation offers significant advantages to the existing widely used wet fermentation process of converting biomass to biogas. Ame Info - Jan. 22, 2007.

    Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited is to build a biofuel production plant in the tribal belt of Banswara, Rajasthan, India. The petroleum company has acquired 20,000 hectares of low value land in the district, which it plans to commit to growing jatropha and other biofuel crops. The company's chairman said HPCL was also looking for similar wasteland in the state of Chhattisgarh. Zee News - Jan. 15, 2007.

    The Zimbabwean national police begins planting jatropha for a pilot project that must result in a daily production of 1000 liters of biodiesel. The Herald (Harare), Via AllAfrica - Jan. 12, 2007.

    In order to meet its Kyoto obligations and to cut dependence on oil, Japan has started importing biofuels from Brazil and elsewhere. And even though the country has limited local bioenergy potential, its Agriculture Ministry will begin a search for natural resources, including farm products and their residues, that can be used to make biofuels in Japan. To this end, studies will be conducted at 900 locations nationwide over a three-year period. The Japan Times - Jan. 12, 2007.

    Chrysler's chief economist Van Jolissaint has launched an arrogant attack on "quasi-hysterical Europeans" and their attitudes to global warming, calling the Stern Review 'dubious'. The remarks illustrate the yawning gap between opinions on climate change among Europeans and Americans, but they also strengthen the view that announcements by US car makers and legislators about the development of green vehicles are nothing more than window dressing. Today, the EU announced its comprehensive energy policy for the 21st century, with climate change at the center of it. BBC News - Jan. 10, 2007.

    The new Canadian government is investing $840,000 into BioMatera Inc. a biotech company that develops industrial biopolymers (such as PHA) that have wide-scale applications in the plastics, farmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Plant-based biopolymers such as PHA are biodegradable and renewable. Government of Canada - Jan. 9, 2007.


Creative Commons License


Friday, October 13, 2006

Palm biodiesel viable with crude oil at US$58

The commercial viability of many kinds of biofuels hinges on the price of crude oil. Green fuels based on low yielding crops, such as corn or rapeseed, survive when the price per barrel of crude reaches record highs, like it did a few weeks ago, when oil hit US$77/barrel. But now, with prices down US$20/barrel, not many biofuels from the North can compete. Subsidies and market distortions are needed to keep them alive.

Not so with tropical biofuels. Golden Hope Plantations Bhd chief executive Datuk Sabri Ahmad announced that "It is feasible [to produce palm oil based biodiesel] if crude oil stays around US$58 per barrel and crude palm oil (CPO) continues to be traded within the RM1,450 to RM1,500 [€314/US$394 to €324/US$407] per tonne range." Currently, CPO is trading slightly above RM1500 per tonne [MPOC daily prices].

Golden Hope is Malaysia's plantation group with the largest number of biodiesel plant projects in hand – three in Malaysia and one in the Netherlands. Once operational by end-2007, the plants are expected to generate an annual production of about 400,000 tonnes. The group is reportedly looking at setting up biodiesel plants in China, South Korea and Indonesia:
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: Demand for biodiesel was not only driven by crude oil prices but also regulatory and environmental reasons, Sabri said.

He said Europe and the US were supporting the move for alternative energy. "Many are putting up legislations to make it mandatory for biofuel usage," Sabri said, adding that no petroleum tax was imposed on biodiesel in Europe.

He said from this year onwards Europe was expected to increase its palm oil uptake to about one million tonnes as the commodity was widely used as feedstock for power generation.

Earlier Sabri, who is also a Mentakab Rubber director, said the company would invest about RM30mil to expand its land bank to 10,000ha from the current 2,263ha as part of efforts to sustain its earnings.

"I believe a quick way to increase land bank is via acquisitions of existing plantations but, for green fields [unworked pristine land], we will look at Sabah, Sarawak and Indonesia," he said.

Sabri said Mentakab Rubber currently had over RM 20million in cash. “However, we plan to finance future acquisitions using both internally-generated funds and other financing instruments,” he added. Mentakab Rubber’s performance for the current financial year ending June 30, 2007 was expected to be better than the last financial year, he said, given the prospect of higher CPO prices.

"For the final quarter of this year, we expect the price of CPO to strengthen at RM1,550 per tonne. It is set to be traded at at least RM1,700 next year given the growing usage of the commodity as an alternative fuel," Sabri added.

posted by Biopact team at 1:05 PM  

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home