The Daily Biofuels Summary for August 29

Top Story: In Arizona, Diversified Energy and XL Renewables have formed a partnership and licensing agreement for an algae production system. The Simgae system is expected to produce 100-200 tons of algae per acre, with oil production costs projected at $0.08-$0.12 per pound. XL Renewables is constructing a $250 million biodiesel plant east of Phoenix.

Producer News: US BioEnergy Corp. (USBE) announced the acquisition of Millennium Ethanol for $133.3 million in cash and stock….Hampton became the second Minnesota town this year to reject an ethanol plant. The planned facility would have produced 40 million gallons of ethanol a year. Investors are now considering other locations….Abengoa Bioenergy announced the first US-based cellulosic ethanol plant, which will be located in Kansas. The $400 million ethanol project will produce 85 million gallons per year of corn ethanol and 30 million GPY of cellulosic ethanol made from corn stover, wheat straw, milo, switchgrass and other cellulosic feedstocks….In California, American Biodiesel will receive $8 million in low-cost funding from the state government for a Stockton-based biodiesel plant….In Massachusetts, BioEnergy International closed $61.6 million in funding for its planned ethanol plant expansions in Louisiana and Pennsylvania up and running. The investment was provided by Plainfield Asset Management, Camulos Capital, Itera Ethanol LLC, and Context Capital Management.

International News: Petrobras, the Brazilian state oil company, announced that it expects to commence cellulosic ethanol production in 2011 and begin large-scale production by 2015….Amelot Holdings (AMHD) and Pan-Am Biofuels announced a joint venture to develop a 2,000-acre Jatropha plantation in Costa Rica. The plantation will produce up to 3 million gallons of jatropha oil (CJO), a bio-diesel feedstock….In India, officials stated that they could not see implementing a 10% ethanol blending mandate because they have supply shortages in meeting the 5% mandate. The Times of India reports that supply of ethanol is expected to be 60 million gallons, well short of the 130 million gallons needed to fulfill the 5% blending requirement….Cargill, which is doubling production capacity at its Cevasa (Brazil) sugar processing plant to 1.2 million metric tons in 2008, said Brazil will need export markets for ethanol to avoid an oversupply of the market. Cargill expects to produce ethanol at Cevasa for export markets. In Saskatchewan, Cargill announced that it would double its canola oil processing capacity.

Policies & Policymakers: An article in CNS News quotes more than 200 tax breaks and $5.5 billion in direct subsidies for the corn ethanol industry. The article goes on to state that ethanol provides 3.5 percent of US fuel, but consumes 20 percent of the U.S. corn crop.

Consumer and Fleet News: In Florida, DrivingGreen has distributed a greenhouse gas emission calculator for use by consumers and fleets. Consumers and fleets owners can then purchase greenhouse gas offsets which are used to support agricultural projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, managed by AgCert International and verified by SES-Inc….In Ireland, Maxol announced that it will replace unleaded gasoline with with an E5 blend at 150 Maxol service stations across Ireland. The fuel will retail at the same price as standard unleaded petrol….In Ohio, Kroger (KR), VeraSun Energy (VSE), and Enterprise Rent-A-Car announced increased availability of VeraSun-branded VE85TM ethanol. Kroger will sell VeraSun-branded VE85TM at pumps in 20 Kroger locations in Ohio and Kentucky. Enterprise Rent-A-car said Tuesday it will designate its locations in Troy, Cincinnati and Grove City as “VE85/FlexFuel branches,” making available E85-fueled vehicles available for rental.

Financial News: The Biofuels Digest Indexâ„¢ (BDI), a basket of 21 major public biofuel stocks, fell nearly two percent yesterday to 98.06 points as fears of a US recession were stoked by increasingly gloomy news from consumer confidence surveys and the Federal Reserve….The broader markets fell slightly harder, with the Dow Jones industrials down 2.1 percent to 13401.85, the S&P 500 down 2.35% and the Nasdaq down 2.37%….Smaller cap stocks in the index were more volatile, with Earth Biofuels (EBOF.OB) down 25% to $0.06, GreenShift (GSHF.OB) down 11% to $0.03 and Better Biodiesel down 7% to $1.50. An announcement was made earlier in the day that Earth Biofuels had discontinued participation in a Washington state biofuels plant, and the company’s partner in the venture claiming that Earth Biofuels had defaulted on an investment obligation….Among the few winners today, NewGen Technologies (NWGN.OB) was up 7% to $0.16, Intrepid Technology (IESV.OB) up 2% to $0.043, and Aventine Renewable Energy (AVR) was up 1% to $13.63, while Texcom (TEXC.PK), Green Energy Resources (GRGR.PK) and Bio Solutions (BSLM.OB) were unchanged for the day….The markets reacted poorly to release of transcripts from the Feb’s August 7th meeting which showed pessimism at the Fed over the housing market….Meanwhile, the US Conference Board reported that consumer sentiment dropped to its lowest point in a year, and a report from Case-Shiller reported that US housing prices were down 3.2% in the second quarter amidst rising inventories.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Richmond signs agreement with US Biofuels that will utilize city landfill methane

WHIO-TV reports on an agreement signed by the City of Richmond with US Biofuels to build an ethanol plant. The City will sell methane gas from the city landfill to the new venture. The capture and use...

Biofuels Digest Index drops 1.05 percent to 84.91 as ethanol wilts; BDI closing daily values for last year available for download

The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, lost 1.05 percent to close at 84.91 as ethanol stocks were battered.  For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) fell 0.63 perce...

AP publishes summary of waste cooking oil biodiesel; US supply forecast at 771 Mgy

The Associated Press published a summary of the state of biodiesel production from waste cooking oil, including the proposed Bermuda Biodiesel Project that would produce 500,000 gallons of biodiesel f...

Daily Summary for Friday August 3

Top Story: California released its new Low Carbon Fuel Standard, to reduce CO2 emissions from fuels by 10 percent by 2020. The Standard includes support for E85 ethanol blends, as well as increased av...

NCGA publishes summary of renewable tax provisions included in Wall Street bailout bill

The National Corn Growers Association published a summary of the tax provisions and credits for renewable energy passed in last week's Wall Street bailout bill. Among the provisions, the Alternative F...

Nine Oregon counties to convert to B2 biodiesel August 1

In Oregon, nine counties are preparing for a B2 biodiesel conversion, saying that the energy difference between B2 and standard diesel was negligible and that there were measurable environmental and l...