biodiesel comes to southeast asia

General NEWS

www.re-focus.net January/February 2006 reFOCUS 9

Biodiesel comes to Southeast Asia

Singapore, Southeast Asia's

most urbanised country, could

be the site of the region's first

biodiesel plants. Three compa-

nies involved in the international

agricultural trade have

announced plans to build two

plants on the petrochemical hub

of Jurong Island worth at least

S$84 million. (US$1=S$1.7). A

joint venture between

Singapore's Wilmar Holdings

and US agricultural giant Archer

Daniels Midland Company

(ADM) will invest S$50 million in

a 150,000 tonnes/year plant

scheduled to come onstream by

December 2006. It could be

expanded to 300,000

tonnes/year. Germany's Peter

Cremer GmbH said its first

phase 200,000 tonnes/year

plant - costing US$20 million - is

due to start up in early 2007.

Both plants will largely use palm

oil imported from the region

which produces more than 80%

of the world's palm oil.

Biodiesel production could help

open up an oleochemicals clus-

ter on Jurong Island, which cur-

rently is dominated by oil, petro-

chemicals and chemicals compa-

nies. Both companies, which ini-

tially will export the bulk of their

plants' output to the West,

expressed the hope that

Singapore would encourage

greater biodiesel consumption.

They added they were interest-

ed to build a chain of biodiesel

plants in other Asian countries.

Amid growing concerns with

energy security, India's leading oil

and gas companies are laying the

groundwork to become biofuels

producers and suppliers in the

coming years. The Petroleum

Ministry, which is driving the pro-

gramme, has set an ambitious

target for biodiesel and biofuels

to eventually meet 20% of

India's diesel demand.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

(ONGC), Hindustan Petroleum

Corporation (HPC), Bharat

Petroleum Corporation (BPC),

Indian Oil Corp and Reliance are

at various stages of setting up

contract farming deals and biofu-

els production and distribution

facilities throughout the country.

The oil companies are concluding

deals with plantation groups to

grow the oil-rich jatropha crop in

the states of Tamil Nadu,

Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana,

Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Jatropha is a hardy crop that can

grow in arid regions. The oil

extracted from its seed can be

mixed with conventional diesel

for use in internal combustion

engines. State ONGC, which

accounts for 80% of India's oil

and gas production, said it

expects to develop biofuels and

wind power within two years to

complement its fossil fuels port-

folio. Chairman Subir Raha said

the company plans to include

biofuels production units at its

proposed petroleum oil refineries

in the states of Andhra Pradesh

and Rajasthan. He said Andhra

Pradesh has promised support for

a biofuels plant while discussion

will soon begin with the

Rajasthan state government. The

Andhra Pradesh government

plans to convert most of its

15,000 state-owned vehicles to

use biodiesel by February. It is the

first Indian state to cultivate jat-

ropha, pongamia and neem on a

large scale for biodiesel produc-

tion. In Rajasthan, ONGC has

received official approval for

building a 7.5-million tonne/year

refinery at Barmer district

through a joint venture between

its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery

Oil companies preparing to enter biofuels businessand Petrochemicals Limited

(MRPL) and UK's Cairn Energy.

ONGC plans to build an export-

oriented refinery at Kakinada in

Andhra Pradesh. The 55 billion

rupees plant will have a capacity

of 5.5 million tonnes to 7.5 mil-

lion tonnes a year. (US$1=45

rupees). Mr Raha said the biofu-

els units will be integrated into

the refineries from the design

stage. The Andhra Pradesh gov-

ernment has agreed to help

source jatropha and sweet

sorghum as feedstock for ethanol

production, he said. The compa-

ny has also submitted a proposal

to the Rajasthan state govern-

ment to cultivate jatropha as a

feedstock for biofuels.