Europe, the Americas and South-East Asia are firming as markets for players in the state’s rapidly growing biofuels sector amid expanding worldwide demand for alternative energy supplies.
Europe, the Americas and South-East Asia are firming as markets for players in the state’s rapidly growing biofuels sector amid expanding worldwide demand for alternative energy supplies.
West Perth-based Jupiter Energy Ltd plans to spin-off its Malaysian biodiesel project to wholly owned subsidiary Jupiter Biofuels via an in-specie distribution of shares to existing Jupiter Energy shareholders, subject to shareholder approval.
In an update of its biofuel activities, the company also plans to lodge a prospectus this month to raise $70 million to fund the construction of its plant in Kuantan.
Shareholders will maintain about 36 per cent interest in the project after the raising.
The company is also in the midst of finalising negotiations with European-based biodiesel technology provider, Desmet Ballestra Oleo, to acquire a biodiesel plant expected to have an initial capacity of 250,000 tonnes per annum. Jupiter said the plant would have the ability to use either crude or refined palm oil as its feedstock.
“A 250,000 tonnes per annum plant has the capacity to produce some 280 million litres of biodiesel per annum, when running at full capacity,” the company said.
Desmet Ballestra is currently building plants in Western Europe, North and South America and South-East Asia, including Malaysia.
Jupiter Energy executive director Geoff Gander said Jupiter Biofuels was currently developing a business plan to pursue opportunities for the production and sale of biodiesel in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Biodiesel is one of the fastest growing markets in alternative energy,” he said.
Recently, Jupiter Biofuels was granted a licence by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority to build the 250,000tpa biodiesel plant.
The company finalised an option earlier this year to lease six hectares of land in Kuantan Port, on which the production facility would be built.
Meanwhile, Australian Renewable Fuels has expanded its biodiesel activities with the opening of the state’s largest biodiesel plant at Picton, near Bunbury.
The plant has an annual production capacity of 45 million litres of biodiesel, which has been sold under a four-year offtake agreement to Westfuel, a Western Australian fuel distributor with the contract estimated to have a value of up to $200 million at current spot prices.
The plant is the second to be commissioned in Australia this year by the company following the opening in March of a South Australian plant at Largs Bay, which has a design capacity of 45ML a year.
The company said it was still planning to complete its forecast roll-out of five plants for construction in Australia, which would lift the company’s total production to more than 225ML of biodiesel in Australia and contribute to greenhouse gas abatement of almost 600,000 tonnes per year.
Perth-based biodiesel company Mission Biofuels Ltd last month received approval from the Malaysian government over the 100 per cent pioneer tax status for its additional 200,000tpa biodiesel facility adjacent to its current site at Kuantan Port.
The company said the five-year tax exemption would exempt all statutory income generated by the additional facility from payment of Malaysian corporate income tax of 28 per cent, upon the expansion facility fulfilling certain conditions.
“Mission Biofuels has commenced pre-engineering activities and is undertaking a feasibility study on the expansion facility which will be completed by the end of September 2006,” the company said.
The company has also incorporated a new wholly owned Malaysian subsidiary, Mission Biofuels Sdn Bhd, and has requested the Malaysian government issue the manufacturing licence and the pioneer status approval for the additional 200,000tpa capacity in the name of the new subsidiary.
