D1 Oils to close UK plant, focus on Africa, India jatropha plantations

In England, D1 Oils officially announced that it would close its rapeseed oil biodiesel plant in Teesside and lay off 40 workers until it could sell the plant. The company said that it would close plants in Middlesbrough and Merseyside that are unable to compete with US imports and concentrate on development of its 500,000 acres of jatropha in Africa and India. The jatropha is planted in partnership with BP, and will begin yielding jatropha oil later this year with full scale production by 2011.

D1 Oils completed a $32 million capital raise, primarily from existing shareholders, and had said it would exit the UK biodiesel refining business and concentrate on its plantation and science businesses, including its JV with BP.

“We believe that UK (biodiesel) demand will largely be met by subsidized US imports. We do not see the UK as offering a viable location for refining and trading to meet domestic demand for the foreseeable future,” the company said in a statement.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

AllAfrica surveys African bioenergy development

In Africa, All Africa is running an investigative series on neo-colonialism in biofuels project development, as well as tough times for feedstocks such as jatropha. "Two years ago singer-songwriter...

D1 Oils expands jatropha plantations to 257,000 hecares; aims for 1,000,000 as oil deliveries commence

In England, D1 Oils reported that it has 257,370  hectares of jatropha under cultivation in India, Southeast Asia and Africa under its joint venture with BP. D1-BP Fuel Crops said that it has now ...

DEG to back 11 jatropha research plantations in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda

In Kenya, the German investment and development bank DEG announced that it would support the organization of eleven jatropha plantations in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, with a focus on researching oppo...

India’s Tata acquires 35 percent of JOil for $16 million; will assume marketing role for jatropha seedlings

In India, Tata Chemicals announced that it would acquire a 35 percent stake in JOil, a jatropha company, for buys 35% in Singapore’s JOil for $16.5 million. The deal will give Tata exclusive marketi...

India’s Khaitan Group seeking biofuels acquisitions; forms JV with D1 Oils for 55,000 hectare Indian jatropha plantation

In India, B M Khaitan Group companies Eveready Industries India Ltd (EIIL), McLeod Russel India (MRIL) and McNally Bharat Engineering are reported on tradingmarkets.com to be seeking biofuels acquisit...

De-Ord launches jatropha, waste oil biodiesel plant in England

In England, De-Ord Fuel opened a new 100,000 GPY biodiesel facility in Mansfield that will use jatropha and waste vegetable oil as feedstocks. The company will distribute fuel to bus and truck fleets....