Company GTL Resources PLC
TIDM GTL
Headline Gains Australian Funding
Released 07:00 9 Oct 2003
Number 6894Q






RNS Number:6894Q
GTL Resources PLC
09 October 2003

Immediate Release: 07.00am 9 October 2003

GTL Resources PLC ("GTL")

GTL gains Australian Government infrastructure funding of A$35.4 million


The Chairman of GTL Resources PLC has today confirmed the company will proceed
to finalise the construction and financing of a 1million tonne p.a. methanol
plant on the Burrup Peninsula in regional Western Australia.


The decision was confirmed following an offer from the Australian Government to
provide support for vital common use infrastructure for the region. The value of
this investment incentive is up to A$35.4million and is subject to final
documentation.


The GTL project value is in excess of A$700million and will create 600 jobs
during construction and 85 once operational.


"Today marks a new beginning for the Australian methanol industry," said
Chairman, Mr Peter Middleton.


"This project is the primary focus for GTL. It is the right size for Australia
and the right size for the international market," said Mr Middleton.


The company has secured a 15-year sales agreement for 100% of the output.


Australia is uniquely placed to develop methanol with strong reserves of natural
gas and proximity to large markets in Asia.


Construction is expected to begin in Q1 2004. Once operational, the GTL project
is expected to be in the top ten exporters from Western Australia.


GTL is grateful for the support of the Federal Agency, Invest Australia, and the
Western Australian Government in the process to date.


GTL will continue to work closely with both the Federal and State Governments in
delivering this project.

For further information:


London:

GTL Resources PLC
Peter Middleton, Chairman +44 (0)20 7493 3393

Buchanan Communications
Tim Thompson / Catherine Miles +44 (0)20 7466 5000


Australia:


Parker & Partners Public Affairs
Melissa Cheesman +61 (0)414 254 717


Notes to Editor:


GTL Resources plc:


The name GTL Resources plc (GTL) reflects the Company's core activity, which is
the application of technologies for the conversion of stranded natural gas into
marketable liquid products. Gas to Liquids...G-T-L.


GTL Resources plc is a publicly listed company on the Alternative Investment
Market of the London Stock Exchange.


GTL is the sponsor of the project and has created two subsidiary companies
registered in Australia, GTL Holdings Australia Pty Limited, from which the
equity portion of financing will be derived and Liquigaz Pty Ltd, the company
which will manage the project.


Gas to liquids and methanol:


Gas to Liquids is a term encompassing a number of processes, whereby gas
previously without a market can be exploited as a liquid thus creating
commercial value. In our case we are talking about converting gas into methanol.


Australia has the necessary requirements to support the development of a Gas to
Liquids industry; large gas resources, easy access to potential markets and a
low level of country risk.


Methanol is a clear, colourless liquid, a basic chemical building block used to
produce formaldehyde, acetic acid and a variety of other chemical
intermediaries. Methanol is also widely used to make MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl
ether) an additive used in cleaner-burning gasoline. It is used in the
production of plastics and as such has the potential to spawn a plastics
industry.


Methanol is produced from natural gas through a process of steam reforming,
synthesis and distillation.


The project:


The aim of the project is to construct a plant just north of Withnell Bay,
Dampier Western Australia capable of converting stranded gas into methanol. The
plant will be capable of producing approximately one million tonnes of methanol
per year for sale within the Asia market, the fastest growing methanol market in
the world.


The key facts on the project are:


Construction of a A$700million plus, 3,000 tonne/day methanol plant at
Dampier on the Burrup Peninsula, WA;
Production and exports of 1million tonnes per annum valued up to
A$350million;
600 jobs during construction and 85 once operational; and an
Off-take agreement in place already for 100% of the product for 15 years.


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

My friend says I should invest in this company now & wait 12 months to reap the benefits, what does anyone else think?

err I'm looking a little shorter than that (is\ that you L/SB)? parrot on hand cant type

Goldfinger - thanks mate - as soon as you sold, the price went back up! (Yet another pint from me!)

Moving at last!

Yes lets hope this movement is sustained, any news anyone ?

No Adie, I've already done a reccie, but can't find anything. Just waiting to see whether the bid price will go up another notch or whether the buy price will have to drop a tadge. I've a feeling though that there must be something coming, after all, it's been so dormant (to say the least) and now today's flurry. I receive RNS automatically, so if something turns up will post it here. BEST OF LUCK

Level 2 solid at 3 v 3 (9.25 - 10)

No MM movement in last 30 minutes

Thanks SB - been looking for you an' all!!!

Only snippet I can find is a bit about concerns over domestic gas and increasingly importing gas, but wouldn't think this would account for rises on GTL today and here is not their market. Dunno.

Thank linzi for information, yeah been holding stock for a while and seen price drop, hopefully will recover abit now.

For you Adie - tho this is jsut a mere drop in the ocean, just enough to treat his bit on the side to a decent break ...

RNS Number:7238R
GTL Resources PLC
05 November 2003

DEALINGS BY A SIGNIFICANT SHAREHOLDER



1) Name of Company



GTL RESOURCES PLC



2) Name of shareholder having a major interest



MR. KEVIN J. ALEXANDER



3) Please state whether notification indicates that it is in respect of holding
of the shareholder named in 2 above or in respect of a non-beneficial interest
or in the case of an individual holder if it is a holding of that person's
spouse or children under the age of 18 or in respect of a non-beneficial
interest



NOTIFICATION IN RESPECT OF SHAREHOLDER NOTED IN 2 ABOVE



4) Name of the registered holder(s) and, if more than one holder, the number

of shares held by each of them. (If notified)



MR. KEVIN J. ALEXANDER



5) Number of shares disposed of



800,000 ORDINARY SHARES



6) Percentage of issued Class

0.28 %



7) Class of security



ORDINARY 1P SHARES



8) Date(s) of transactions



5 TH NOVEMBER 2003



9) Date company informed



5 TH NOVEMBER 2003



10) Total holding following this notification



MR. ALEXANDER HOLDS 7,950,399 ORDINARY SHARES



11) Total percentage holding of issued class following this notification



2.78%



12) Any additional information



13) Name of contact and telephone number for queries



ROGER HARRIS - 020 7493 3393



14) Name of authorized company official responsible for making this notification



ROGER HARRIS





Date of Notification 5 TH NOVEMBER 2003

Thanks linzi, most helpful, still some way for me to recover my original investment 13p.

Hi AdieH. Are you still holding GTL ? I went in at 8.2p a couple of weeks ago (don't ask me why but I've been advised it'll be worth it !)
However, and it's been on the slide ever since. Just wondered if you or anyone else was holding GTL and what you think will happen to the shares and when.

I don't know how accurate this is but someone said that there should be some news flow druing April ? :(

Just a GUESS as I know nothing about it other than they convert gas to liquid
and they think there will be market for it.Such a new idea is bound to take
time to take off so perhaps it will be a great winner for Long Term Holders.

rgds aj

At Last ! some good-ish news that is having some positive on the share price,(now up nearly a penny today.) Lets hope the share price continues in a northly direction when the markets recover in a day or two ! Say 12-15p for starters ? and higher when the financing arrangements get released :)

skyhigh

I have been watching this stock for ages
What is the good news?
jal

There is no good news. First news since November which everybody was waiting for so everybody gets excited. I've been watching this stock for ages also. Still could not put timescale on when contract would be signed......5 months have passed since November. I would expect the price to slip back if no news is forthcoming over the next month. At the right price jump on because this will go places......sometime this year.

OK, you're all right ! There is no good news ! Price has gone down a 1/4p already today. I believe it will come good in the end so will continue to hold (on back burner!).... :(

Yeah do hold if you can, I think this will be a little gem and not many people know about it......If contracts are signed and more news about a possible middle east project maybe 20p + by the year end.....or do you think I am optimistic. Any buys below 7p is a bargain. I would not be surprised if there is no news for the next 1/2 months and the price will slip back down. If not I'll sell my methane to them!!

are gtl staying low because of rumours of new things happing at the company

this week ? ?

New deal announced today. Construction of a methane plant in Oman. Sp rising (with some strange buying patterns). Have been monitoring this one for a few months now. Was going to top up if it got down as low as 5p. Missed that opportunity!

Looks like some MM activity in todays trades. All the 'unknown trades' are priced exactly at 6p.

GTL will be presenting at the 'GTLtec 2004' conference in Doha (Qatar) on 1dec04 (4-4.30pm local time). Peter Middleton will be giving an update on GTL's project in Oman... Might generate a bit more interest, simply by reaching a wider audience. But it would be good to get some more details at the same time. Exposure at this sort of event, concerning what is a very trendy technical area at the moment, could prove a very effective tool at smoothing out any sticking points there might be in the financing of GTL's Salalah project.

see the following article for the importance of Gas to Liquid Technology:

http://www.falklandnews.com/public/story.cfm?get=2997&source=2

COLIN PHIPPS TALKS OF RISING FALKLANDS OIL PROSPECTS



A Report for BBC World Service Calling the Falklands by Deborah Vogle (DV) 09 NOV 2004



The high price of oil at the moment is worrying economists and city analysts here in London, as they fear it might push up the general level of inflation. Last month prices reached a record high at $55.00 a barrel. Now they are down to just under $50.00 still very high. So, the long awaited results of the latest exploration in the Falklands could be encouraging. The seismic survey carried out by Desire Petroleum in the North Falkland Basin is the second, which has been done in the area but this time it was a 3D seismic survey rather than a 2Dimentional one. And that, according to Dr. Colin Phipps (CP) Chairman of Desire, produces a far more accurate picture. So what. I asked him, did the picture show?



CP: The whole purpose of the 3Ds was that we had already ascertained from exploratory drilling that we had a very rich source rock in the North Falkland Basin. The most important thing was to find out whether and where a reservoir had developed. And, the thing about 3D is it does enable you to take out vertical latitudes. I wont go into it in detail but you are able to manipulate 3D data to indicate the likelihood or otherwise of there being reservoirs. They also have direct hydrocarbon indicators that the possibility of a seismic response, which doesnt actually tell you theres oil and gas but its indicative of oil and gas and we have looked at those as well. The results of the 3D survey have been that we have been able to identify the development of reservoir rocks. And, there are also oil and gas direct hydrocarbon indicators. The gas one is particularly interesting now because, when we first drilled gas was at a price, which never would have been economic to develop in the Falklands. But at current gas prices, even gas would be economic, so it adds a further dimension to the potential of the basin.



DV: How exactly would that be used?



CP: The Gas would have to be brought on shore and it would be subject to what is known as Gas to Liquid Technology (GLT), which effectively turns gas into diesel oil. And, its very high quality diesel, which you can put in your Land Rover straight away and drive off with it. And, there is something of a premium attached with it. And, that is one of the reasons of this gas to liquid technology that has made a lot of remote gas fields much more potentially profitable than in the past. Its a relatively new technology.



DV: So, can you put a figure on the likely output of this area?



CP: Its very hard to say. The number of prospects that we have identified is quite large six to ten. The potential of the prospects and let me be clear, potential doesnt mean to say that there is oil there or gas there of that size. But the potential is for discoveries up to a billion barrels in size. A billion barrels is a giant field in world terms.



DV: This is potentially very exciting news. Or is the stock market responding to it?



CP: Today Desire share price went up from 28 yesterday to 37.5 at the moment. But it jumps about a bit and in the end, the stock market reaction is only going to be justified by drilling and finding some oil.



DV: But it is a good time. You mentioned the gas price being good but also the oil price is good.



CP: The oil price is sensational at the moment. I dont believe it could stay up there but most of the economics that we have done on the North Falkland Basin have been on the level of $16.00 oil or $20.00 oil. Of course, today, we are looking at the high $40s. So it would be extremely possible, really, to find something. But even at $25.00 oil, its very profitable.



DV: So, whats the next step then?



CP: We really have to make a decision as to whether or not we are going to farm out these other partners. We are talking to a number of companies who are looking at the 3D data now that its been completed. Or, of course, we have to consider whether or not we should raise money in the market ourselves. The market is very strong at the moment and a lot of our shareholders are saying that they would like us to that. We have some decisions to make over the next sort of month or so as to what is going to be the best route for shareholders to take. One way or another, what we are hoping to do is to drill sometime next year.

This share is clearly under-valued given the strategic future of the oil and gas industry - just think about it - you have all these oil and gas companies finding GAS as well as oil and there is going to be a premium on technologies that can package the GAS as a more convenient and shippable product - not all gas fields can be hooked directly into their distribution networks - DYOR

Anyone fancy a punt @ 4.75, seems over sold? Two M/M buys today..

Price dropped quite a bit yesterday for no apparent reason. They had their AGM on 17 Nov but haven't posted the results of this yet, which is also a bit suspicious. I searched all over the web yesterday trying to find any news items - but there wern't any. So no explanation.

However in my serach I did notice one thing. A lot of older news stories were predicting methanol production in Australia to commence toward the end of this year. Currently, as I understand it, they haven't even begun developing the Australian site. So it looks as though they are a long way behind schedule. But the potential is huge.

Thanks -StarFrog for your input, like you say huge porential, one to watch..

could this recent purchase be a signal of actually getting a deal signed fr one of the plants. we have been waiting long enough

topped up this morning, if the boss is buying 250k then he must be hopeful of signing / starting, or totally daft which apparently he is not.

Something is going on with GTL.

I have been monitoring this stock for the last month or so, trying to decide whether I wanted to top up or not (can't go much lower surely?). Then last night at the close of play, a massive X trade went through of 35,779,524 shares that was reported as a BUY at 1.75p. This represents about 10% of the issued capital.

Who was it, and do they know something that we dont? Without any further information to hand I decided to take the bull by the horns (no pun intended) and have topped up this morning. Will I regret it?

DYOR etc. LOL

Hi Starfrog,bought at 10.5 along timeago,suffering over 80 percent losses, then bought 100k today to cut projected breakeven target s.p. down to3.01, is somenews imminent.

Minx,are you around ,any news.

Been monitoring these, seems to be heavy buying from last Thursday onwards.
No sells as yet recordered this morning.

GTL Resources PLC
28 June 2005


For Immediate Release 28 June 2005


GTL Resources

("GTL" or the "Company")

STATEMENT RE SUSPENSION

GTL Resources (AIM:GTL) announces that the Company is in advanced discussions to
acquire a controlling interest in Illinois River Energy with a view to
constructing an ethanol plant in Rochelle, Illinois, which will produce 50
million gallons of ethanol per year once construction is completed, expected in
October 2006. If successful, this will lead to a reverse transaction pursuant to
the AIM rules. As a consequence of GTL Resources entering into these
arrangements and the Company's recent share price appreciation, the Board has
requested that the London Stock Exchange suspends trading in the Company's
shares until the nature of any future strategic collaboration can be clarified.

The total cost of the acquisition and plant construction is US$80 million,
funded by US$47 million debt, which is in place, and a 60/40 debt equity split
subject to a fund-raising and shareholder approval at an EGM.

Commercial contracts have been agreed and site permits for construction have
been approved.

Star frog ,Minx, where are you ,see the news today, a reverse t/o.

interesting, thats really good news now i might get back some of the 2.70/share I paid for this dog

lol

mbugger - I'm still here.

At last some news (I think!). I had wondered about the rise in price over the last few days and was deciding whether to top up again. I didn't - missed the boat. Lucky some people got in just in time. And there were large volumes being bought. Insider knowledge?

But is a reverse takeover necessarily good news? Note that in the RNS it says '....subject to a fund raising...' Such statements always worry me.

But ever the optimist, fingers crossed and all that lets see what happens over the next few days. LOL

Hi star frog, i topped up at 10 a.m. just in time,last reverse t/o iwas involved in was BLO , now NPE.[ IN TO BLO AT5 AND NPE IS NOW 12,SIGNS ARE GOOD for GTL.

Morning mbugger

Glad to see you had a good result with the last reverse t/o. Let us hope that the same will happen here. I've been in this stock since August '03 (at just below 11p) and have topped up a few times on weakening sp. I now only need an sp of 4p to break even. But this was never my intention. I still believe that this stock has great upside potential - but always seems to be floundering due to lack of any real news. For example, when is the methanol project in Australia going to come to fruition? Have they actually started building anything yet? At the moment, there business plan seems to be negotiating new contracts for methanol plant production based on their model, but never any word about these plants being physically realised.

Fingers crossed for good news in the upcomming days. LOL. :-)

Good evening Starfrog, around 10.5 over ayear ago, thoght GTL was hibernating for areason,also asyou said in March TOP BOSS bought 250000 shares.So last week i decided to calculate anew b/e SP target when i rang for 1.75 was told gone up 0.5 last friday morning , bought at 2.26, then tuesday decided to top up at 2.85 , then 1 hour later dealing suspended.if director buys 250000 in a company like gtl who is apparenly asleep/ dead ,sp down to 1.75 from 11 over many monthes,then jump in.

Is it trading again?

Sampson - Yes, it is trading again, though the price has dropped off somewhat from the closing value before suspension. There is also some news. The final results are also published today and don't (IMHO) sound too great for the short term investor. Of primary note is that the Australian methonal plant has still not advanced any further:

"The Australian methanol project remained stalled by the current reticence of gas
field owners to commit to the necessary long term contracts. The project is on
hold pending negotiation of a suitable gas supply contract and more favourable
exchange rates."

More interesting (and could be good for the medium to longer term investor) is the announcement of the acquisition of the controlling interest in Illinois River Energy. This, however, requires funding and hence the announcement today of a placing and open offer:

"GTL Resources plc (AIM:GTL), a project development company focused on projects
relating to alternative fuels, today announces the acquisition of a controlling
interest in Illinois River Energy, LCC ('IRE'). GTL has entered into an
agreement pursuant to which it has conditionally agreed to subscribe for a
controlling interest of approximately 90% of IRE. IRE will construct, own and
operate an ethanol plant at Rochelle, Illinois, USA. The plant will have an
estimated capacity of 50 million gallons per year and is likely to be completed
in 2006.

GTL will acquire the proposed interest in IRE through its wholly owned
subsidiary, GTL USA. The transaction and wider construction project is estimated
at $79 million and will be financed by a combination of debt and equity. The
equity of approximately $32 million will be provided by GTL USA.

1,424,694,230 Placing Shares and 495,305,770 Open Offer Shares have been placed
at a price of 1.25p per Ordinary Share. Following the admission of the existing
and new Ordinary Shares, GTL will have a market capitalisation of 28.4m.

The Acquisition is classified as a 'reverse takeover' under the AIM Rules by
virtue of the size of the transaction. As such it is subject to the approval of
Shareholders which is to be sought at an Extraordinary General Meeting."


Note the placing price of 1.25p - this probably explains the drop in the current sp. Haven't had time to read through all the announcement yet (and decipher exactly what is going on) so I am not sure if there is any favourable exchange mechanism for our existing shares.

Thanks for that very interesting :-)
Seems to be doing ok this morning, up 57% percent this morning.
Of course it could dip but at least people are still interested in buying it.

Sampson - I had a chance to read through the acquisition/placing proposal last night and I am not as downbeat about it as I was yesterday when they returned from suspension. In a nutshell, the company appears to be re-focusing their strategic objectives (note - not changing them). The projects involving the construction of methanol plants (Australia in particular) are taking too long to come to fruition. Hence, GTL are turning their attention to ethanol plants which are quicker to construct and should be cash generative in a quicker period of time. The bit that I liked most from their proposal document is:

"The Company intends to investigate opportunities to expand further within the
ethanol industry in the United States or other suitable markets by selective
acquisition of low cost production facilities. The Directors believe the Company
can act as a potential consolidator of ethanol plants in a particularly
fragmented market."

This could work out as a very good strategy. Everybody is aware of the increasing cost of crude oil and ever increasing environmental legislation, both factors which will help push the market for alternative energy sources. Getting in right at the begining and becoming the big player would appear to be a prudent move. (IMHO)

As for us existing investors, the terms of the placing permit existing shareholders on the register prior to August 3rd to buy 5 new shares at a price of 1.25p for every 4 existing shares already held. The new shares will rank equally alongside the existing shares. This is not a discount. It's simply an invitation to increase your stock by 125% at a fixed cost.

As to the increase in the sp today and the number of buys going through, this is encouraging. Consider this. All the buys today (and yesterday, and the next few days) will not qualify for the 1.25p purchase price in the placing offer (shares bought after 3 August). The price these shares are being bought at is also well over the 1.25p level. So who is buying these shares and why? In my opinion, this probably is not the action of existing large institutional investors (why buy at 2p+ when you can get them at 1.25p later?). So my guess is that these are purchases by new investors and institutions. But they are buying shares in a company who are proposing to increase the authorised share capital by nearly 650% which of course should dilute the share price. Why would they do this? Obviously these investors have looked at the business plan of GTL and decided that this company is a good investment in the middle to long term. I would agree with that.

On a personal note, I intend to take up my full allowance of new shares.

Hi StarFrog, if this is areverse t/o -what is the name of new company starting on sept. 1 after egm.and who is doing the r. t/o,any views.

Have you had any notification about the option to buy? I hold GTL and want to hold the extra shares. Ethanol produced from corn is definitely the way to go

Snip,no notice yet , wait for news from your s/ broker, hope to buy 1.25 times holding at 1.25 pence a share,and r t/o awaits.

mbugger - as far as I am aware there will be no change to the company name. It will still be GTL. This 'reverse take-over' isn't what it sounds like. It is only because GTL trades on AIM and under their rules this transaction constitutes a reverse take-over. Something to do with the fact that a smaller company is taking over the majority stock of a much larger company as measured by market capital.

Star/f ,gtl has a small market cap., now what is the new post r t/o market cap estd. to be and projected or expected s.p. on sept. 1-i have not seen any figures, any views.

Star/f,sorry new m/cap is 28.4 million sterling ,in afx.

I.C.share mag have asmallbit about GTL open offer and reccnds o/offer to be taken up at 1.25 pence at 5/4.

Any views on sp. drift towards o offer price1.25, and projected sp. after sept 1 deadline if m/cap goes from about 3 million sterling to about 28.4 million sterling,how many new shares in circulation.

mbugger - started to look at this, but not enough time to get a handle on it yet. Great 5 year chart - for a recovery stock!

1.25p looks tempting, just as a punt, but need to read through the RNS re Illinois River properly before making any moves. Any recent broker notes/recommends out there?

sd

S/DOG,tried to take up o/offer today,but told by s/broker o/offer only available to u.k. residents, therefore o/offer appears to be very restrictive, i have abig holding but res. in ROI. My av. down to 2.9 before o/offer.

money left my sipp today and new shares will be in my account on friday

p+f target for GTL is 5 at the moment

news today

GTL Resources plc ('GTL' or the 'Company') was notified on 7 September 2005 by
British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme that it is interested in 134,699,071
shares. This represents 5.9 per cent. of the issued share capital of the
Company.

Appears to be 2 seperate RNS,are they the one and same wrt.134m. shares bought,any views Snip

anybody got any thoughts on the recent volume of trades the last few days

A bit late in answering your question dubreekie but my guess is that the increase over the last few days is down to Bush's State of the Union address in which he stated that American society is adicted to oil and too dependant on it and that it was about time that they started to look for alternative energy sources. The president cited Ethanol and Methanol as alternatives to oil and hinted that the US would start actively encouraging the development of industries that produce these fuel alternatives.

Now guess what. GTL are busy developing a huge Ethanol production plant in the US (and have been for some months):

"On 6 September 2005, GTL Resources acquired a controlling interest in Illinois River Energy to build an Ethanol plant at Rochelle Illinois. Construction of the plant commenced on 12 September 2005. It is expected that Ethanol will start being produced in Q4 2006. The site is in a prime location in respect of corn supply and Ethanol marketing.

The companys objective is to benefit from the USA governments legislation of August 2005 that renewable fuel consumption must double to 7.5 billion gallons per annum by 2012."

I've held these boys since Q3 2003, buying in at nearly 11p, and have regularlly bought in on dips to lower my zero return price (I know this goes against the first and second rules of trading, chocolat ;-) but rules are there to be broken!). I'm holding on ethical grounds and for a long term investment. I am up 21% overall already though. Whoopee!

Just in small profit,passed b/e s.p.2.9,right on-starfrog.

Fantastic day up 6 %
does anybody have any news/following this share

thanks
lindos

news is i bought at 10p oVer 2 year ago,giVe me a call in another 7p thanks.

Plant update available at http://www.gtlresources.com/ethanol_projects.htm

Good too see weather has not hindered progress. Roll on Q4

Oily

Now is the time to av. down,lower b/e s.p., hurry Cellby.

whats with todays big buys? two times 5 million seperate trades.

more big trades again today. SP heading north. hmmmm

Taken from ADVFN

mentioned as top tip in FT.com today...link

At the bottom of the page as top tip.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f4476108-cc1b-11da-a7bf-0000779e2340.html

Bought into these today after dumping mdy looks like good prospects for the future also an FT tip.

FT tip

GTL Resources, an Aim-listed company. It raised money to build an ethanol plant in the US. Raw materials costs have risen but the price of ethanol has gone through the roof. The earnings potential should be spectacular. We bought at 1.25p. They are now around 3.25p.

New ethanol plant due to be completed in q4/06, also talk of doubling plant size,big issue in usa,great future, right on driver.

huge buy volumes over the last few days!

If youve had a good day please consider giving a donation to the lads dressed as Elvis racing 350 miles to the North Pole on behalf of Great Ormond Street Hospital It makes the London Marathon seem like a stroll in the park!
To donate or view how theyre getting on visit
http://www.elvispolarchallenge.co.uk/
thanks for your time

Cellulosic ethanol will eventualy reduce costs

From Business Week Europe on Yahoo! Finance ...............

Friday May 19, 01:23 PM
Ethanol: Myths and Realities
By Alex Halperin

With high gas prices making alternative fuels increasingly attractive, no alternative fuel has received as much attention as ethanol. Some hail the fuel, which can be derived from plants including corn, wheat, barley and sugarcane, as a savior of American Advertisement policy, while others see it as a fad popularized by its heavily subsidized corporate backers.

The reality is complex. Though still a tiny industry compared to gas, ethanol could become a more prominent part of the U.S. and world fuel supply in coming years.

Still, as ethanol's public profile rises, there's plenty of misinformation swirling around and a host of questions. What exactly is ethanol? How is it made and used? And is it really a viable alternative to gas? Here's what you need to know now.

What exactly is ethanol?

The fuel is derived from plants through a fairly straightforward process. In one common method Corn, is first ground into a fine powder, mixed with water, and then heated. An enzyme is then added to convert the mixture into sugars before yeast is added to ferment it. The resulting liquid, called "beer," is about 10% alcohol. A distillation process then separates the alcohol from the rest of the mixture before the remaining water is removed. The result is essentially pure alcohol. A small amount of gas is added to render the liquid undrinkable. Then the fuel can be used by itself or as a supplement to gasoline to power cars.

Ethanol has three advantages, at least in theory: It's renewable, it can be domestically produced, and it burns cleaner than gas. The world's largest producers of ethanol are the U.S., which makes it primarily from corn, and Brazil, which mashes the stuff out of sugarcane.

Beyond high gas prices, why is everyone talking about ethanol?

It's becoming an increasingly important part of the fuel supply, and has the potential to become still more crucial. President George W. Bush and members of Congress have expressed support for ethanol use. And this spring, refiners in parts of Texas and the Northeast have been replacing a gasoline additive called MTBE [for methyl tertiary-butyl ether] with ethanol. MTBE, a chemical used to oxygenate fuel, can contaminate drinking water. And Ethanol which does not present the same danger, can serve the same purpose in fuel.

That's not all. The 2005 energy bill requires that the U.S. boost its ethanol production to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012, up from about 4 billion in 2005. This sounds like a whole lot of ethanol, but bear in mind, last year the U.S. slurped up almost 140 billion gallons of gas.

Are there any problems with ethanol?

Oh, yes. Ethanol can't travel in pipelines along with gasoline, because it picks up excess water and impurities. As a result, ethanol needs to be transported by trucks, trains, or barges, which is more expensive and complicated than sending it down a pipeline. As refiners switched to ethanol this spring, the change in transport needs has likely contributed to the rise in gas prices. Some experts argue that the U. S. doesn't have adequate infrastructure for wide ethanol use.

Also, ethanol contains less energy than gas. That means drivers have to make more frequent trips to the pump.

Doesn't producing ethanol on a large scale use a great deal of energy?

Yes. Some ethanol skeptics have even argued that the process involved in growing grain and then transforming it into ethanol requires more energy from fossil fuels than ethanol generates. In other words, they say the whole movement is a farce.

There's no absolute consensus in the scientific community, but that argument is losing strength. Michael Wang, a scientist at the Energy Dept.-funded Argonne National Laboratory for Transportation Research, says "The energy used for each unit of ethanol produced has been reduced by about half [since 1980]." Now, Wang says, the delivery of 1 million British thermal units [BTUs] of ethanol uses 0.74 million BTUs of fossil fuels. [That does not include the solar energy -- the sun shining -- used in growing corn.] By contrast, he finds that the delivery of 1 million BTUs of gasoline requires 1.23 million BTU of fossil fuels.

Producing ethanol could get more efficient soon as new technologies help farmers get more corn per acre of land and allow ethanol producers to get more of the fuel from the same amount of corn. The companies developing new corn technologies include chemical giant Dupont (DD) and Monsanto (MON), which sells genetically modified seeds as well as chemicals for protecting crops.

So where can I find ethanol?

There's a good chance you're using it already. It's mixed into gas in many regions of the country including the corn-belt Midwest, and states like California and New York which had already banned MTBE. The regions making the transition this spring are the Northeast and parts of Texas.

Cars in the U.S. can normally drive on E10, a mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline, that is sometimes called gasohol. It's how Americans usually take their ethanol. Relatively few cars available here are "flex-fuel," meaning that they can run on much higher concentrations of ethanol. The fuel E85, which is 85% ethanol, is sold at some gas stations concentrated in the Midwest.

Is ethanol cheaper than gas?

Surprise, surprise, it isn't. The move this spring by more regions to use ethanol means that demand has spiked, driving up prices. On Monday, the New York harbor price was around $3 per gallon compared with about $2.28 for gasoline [before being mixed with ethanol]. In other words, for now ethanol is helping to increase prices at the pump, not to push them down.

So ethanol production and distribution are also controlled by market forces, right?

Only to a certain degree. In addition to heavily subsidizing the ethanol produced domestically, the U.S. government levies a 54 cent per gallon tariff on imports from other countries, such as Brazil, a lower-cost producer. This, of course, discourages the U.S. from importing cheaper ethanol.

Why not eliminate the tariffs?

Well, the idea behind the tariffs is to foster domestic production of ethanol. But amid the ongoing furor over high gas prices the idea of repealing the levy has gained momentum in Washington. Though it would probably annoy ethanol producers like agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM - news) (ADM), removing the tariffs could have some benefits. It would help ease price pressures and would likely encourage Brazil to boost its ethanol production. However, it's probably not a short-term solution.

Brazil is undergoing an ethanol revolution far more drastic than that in the U.S. Flex-fuel cars which can run solely on ethanol are widely available and the ethanol supply is short enough that the government recently reduced the mandatory ethanol content in gasoline from 25% to 20%.

"Brazil is the model" for how ethanol can be brought into use, wrote Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) (C) analyst P. J. Juvekar in a recent report. But while buying ethanol from Brazil could be useful in the future, it's not going to reduce the pain of a road trip this summer.

What companies stand to benefit from increased ethanol use?

There is a crop of American ethanol producers. ADM is by far the largest, pumping out about one-quarter of the U.S. total. MGP Ingredients is one of the many smaller companies involved. Verasun Energy and Aventine Renewable Energy, two other producers of note, have recently filed to go public.

What can we expect to change in the future?

At present commercial corn-based ethanol comes from corn kernels. One of the more exciting ethanol prospects on the horizon is cellulosic ethanol, which can be made from a number of plant by-products, including cornstalks. Although it's unlikely to be commercially available for at least a few years, cellulosic ethanol eventually could help substantially reduce costs. In other words, your car in the future could run on the refuse of farms across the U.S.

The chart is looking much better after the small bounce last Friday but significant on the overall prospecs for the days ahead.

The Indicators MACD, RSI and Slow Stochastic had reached bottom (oversold) and now moving higher.