Update: Looks like this Tie-up is not pushing through, check here.
The Philippines PNOC Alternative Fuels Corp and NRG Chemical Engineering announced that they have joined together to build some biofuel processing facilities as well as the corresponding farms that will supply the feedstock. NRG will have majority ownership of the to-be formed company with a 70% share.
According to the report, the warchest will be used to build both a biodiesel plant and ethanol plant. With Jatropha Curcas to act as feedstock for the biodiesel plant.
The two firms plan to build a 3.5 million metric tonne biorefinery at a cost of $455 million, and a $600 million plantation for jatropha, a plant material which is used in producing biofuels. They also plan to build a 300,000 metric tonnes bioethanol plant at a cost of $200 million.
In line with this, UK’s D1 Oil’s local subsidiary has been going around the Mindanao island of the Philippines offering Jatropha Curcas Planting materials, technical assistance and the all in important Marketing contract to farmers so that they will be enticed to plant Jatropha Curcas for biofuel feedstock. The rep also mentioned that once they get 500 - 1000 ha of growers, they will set up a processing plant in the country. Cool eh?, all I can say to them is… if you build it, they will come! haha
What was also interesting to note in the report is that Jatropha Curcas seeds are being sold for P10/kg in the Philippines (last year it was P8/kg). Once production goes full steam I am inclined to think that the price will drop. The report also gave some income figures, Php 15,000/ha on the first year and Php 30,000/ha upon maturity of the plant.
All I can say is that the British sure have taken the lead in investing in the emerging Philippine Biofuel Industry. Prior to NRG Chemical, it was reported that British company Bronzeoak was planning to setup an ethanol plant in Bukidnon in Mindanao. I wonder if these two companies have any relations?
PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp CEO, Peter Abaya, also pointed out the following developments in the South East Asian Biofuel Sector in his press conference:
Category: Misc, Bioethanol, JatrophaIndonesia is targeting a 10 percent domestic usage of biofuels by 2010 while the Malaysian government has approved 52 biodiesel licenses, with a cumulative capacity of five million tons. On the other hand, Natural Fuel, a biodiesel manufacturer headquartered in Australia, invested $130 million to build the world’s largest biodiesel facility in Singapore. Here in the Philippines, the Biofuels Act was signed into law on January 12, 2007 and this is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.[source]
December 15th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
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REBL 19052