Gas to Liquid
Commencement of Operations Started 28/12/2006
The strategy of GTL Resources plc is to produce liquids such as methanol and ethanol from stranded gas, corn and other feedstocks with quality counterparties. GTL manages all aspects of a project: finance, feedstock supply, production and marketing.

In line with its strategy of seeking to develop and exploit markets for alternative fuels, GTL has, since the beginning of 2001, concentrated primarily upon developing methanol projects, principally in Australia, and, more recently, ethanol project work. The Board has recognised the strategic benefits of acquiring a cash generative asset on a shorter time scale than the typical methanol construction time of three years. In furtherance of this strategy, on 6 September 2005 GTL Resources acquired a controlling interest in Illinois River Energy (IRE) to build an ethanol plant at Rochelle, Illinois, through its wholly owned subsidiary, GTL USA, which has been established for the purpose of investing in ethanol projects in the USA. GTL USA has invested in IRE by way of a subscription for units of IRE pursuant to the Unit Purchase Agreement.

This project has the advantage that the Plant is expected to produce revenues on a shorter time scale and at a significantly lower capital cost than the methanol plant in Australia.

The Company intends to further expand within the ethanol industry in the United States or other suitable markets by selective acquisition of low cost production facilities. The Company sees itself as a potential consolidator of ethanol plants in a particularly fragmented market.

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.

New Plant

Construction started at Rochelle, Illinois site in September and production from the 50 million gallon per annum ethanol plant is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2006. Following unusually mild weather in Illinois the project has progressed well and is on schedule and on budget. Whilst the Companys main efforts centre on the successful delivery of the US ethanol project at Rochelle, the potential expansion of that site to 100 million gallons is being investigated. In addition and consistent
with GTLs stated strategy for the expansion of its interests in the ethanol industry, other ethanol opportunities have also been identified and will be analysed. Pictures Of The Site Under Construction March 27, 2006 http://www.illinoisriverenergy.com/html/construction.html


Arden
http://gtlresources.com/documents/ArdenAnalystResearchNote.pdf
http://www.gtlresources.com/documents/ArdenAnalystResearchNote.pdf
BBC News Item On Ethanol
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4940000/newsid_4948400/bb_wm_4948456.stm

Ethanol Priceshttp://ethanolmarket.aghost.net/
Ethanol as a Transportation Fuel
http://energy.ca.gov/afvs/vehicle_fact_sheets/ethanol.html

Annual report for 2006
http://www.gtlresources.com/documents/GTLAnnualReport2006_001.pdf
Pics from Ethanol Producer Magazine of GTL's plant.
http://ethanolproducer.com/plant-images.jsp?plant_id=302&image_id=59
Commencement of Operations Started 28/12/2006
http://www.gtlresources.com/
Economics of Ethanol
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/ID/ID-339.pdf
2 July 2007 GTL Resources FY pretax loss narrows, plans 13 mln stg placing to fund expansion
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200707020705014067Z.html
GTL Web Site
http://www.gtlresources.com/

Here is an interesting comment from the BBC web site today

"I bought petrol from the Tesco petrol station in Ponders end enfield, on wednesday 21st Feb. The car had been running fine and getting good petrol cunsumption which i now do not get. It was apparent there was something wrong almost immediately i left the forcourt as the car would be slow to pull away and stutter between 30 -40 which it didn't used to do before i filled up.

P.S. Tesco have openly said to the media that they sell a bio-ethanol mix of petrol. Could this be the reason."

possibly or at least that will be the public perception ....... however, both DOO and BFC make bio-diesel not petrol

Here is another one on the BBC site

"I've not yet experienced any problems with fuel from Tesco, but have been concerned to read several comments about percentages of bio-ethanol being added. Is this common practice? And what effect does this have on the engine and it's systems?"

Bio-ethanol stocks look being well out of favour now.

Quote another source then I will listen. The BBC should be shut down In my opinion.

Personally i doubt anyone in the US is going to read from the BBC or even hear about these incidents and as a result we shouldnt really give a shit becuase its the americans we're selling to not the brits!

GDP, that's not the point. If the fuel doesn't do cars any good then it won't do AMerican cars any good. however, I am sceptical that there is a problem, as naturally the fuel producers will have tested the stuff before putting it onto the market.

Are there any AA members or motoring magazine subscribers out there who might be able to get some expert opinion on this?

I would have thought that a 15% ethanol mix such as that being introduced in the USA shouldn't be a problem, but then again, I'm not an auto engineer. FWIW Brazil has been using gasohol, a petrol-alcohol blend made using distillates from cane sugar fermentation, for donkey's years, and I'm sure it doesn't constitute a danger to Brazilian cars.

Corn and ethanol prices both moving in the right directions, though! (if you ignore the tiny drop on ethanol today, but corn is off a fair bit.)

Soul hate to be crude in my answer but how in the world would President Bush, amongst other leading figures in the world, make speech's that specify targets for renewable fuels which involve Ethanol?

How would cars in Los Angeles be running?! They nearly all run on E10/E15 by law after their smog problems.

Why would GTL and 10's of other companies be builidng ethanol plants and investing millions in Ethanol if the bloody stuff doesnt work!!

Why would the problems at morrisons etc only surface today and effect only a few cars?!

WHY WHY WHY!

Then it sounds as if we agree with one another. Just because one person's car got a case of the kangaroo hops it doesn't mean there's a fault with ethanol. I'm sure one or two cars must be unable to cope with the stuff, just as one in a million people is probably allergic to custard, but I don't think it's going to sink fuel-ethanol blends as a prospect for the future.

anyone care to enlighten me?

More to the point, could someone please kick the SP up the BTM? :o))

Have you read through the Arden Report Soul?

unless i am much mistaken, ethanol mixes are very common elsewhere in the world, and certainly in Brasil, most cars are fitted to take either (i.e. both) petrol and ethanol, it being the drivers choice depending on which is cheaper at the pumps on a given day

Tesco had admitted that they commonly put 5% ethanol in their petrol to make it cheaper. They apparantly say on their web site somewhere that they run some Morrison forecourts which might explain the problems being linked to Tesco and some Morrisons. It has been suggested that Tesco may have sold petrol with more than 5% to increase their margins or at least to be able to sell it cheaper.

Tesco introduced a 5% bioethanol mix into standard unleaded petrol In May 2005 with no problems at all. The fuel has been tested in cars that have failed over the past two days, if it was a case of too much Ethanol then I'm sure this would be very easy to detect. Latest new item's seem to indicate the problem lies elsewhere.

GDP
I do agree that BBC news seems to be a mouth piece for the Government, a tad bias one could say.

what s that corn graphs price in?
As in how much is 436'2 ?? Is that 436 cents = 4.36 dollars?

current prob is likely to be sub-standard ethanol or even base petrol

Looks like I missed all the fun yesterday I was out all day when we had the ethanol crisis of cause the stuff works its been working for years this will all be forgotten in a couple of days GTL cant get the blame for Tescos using blue strip petrol. The lower this gets the more I will be able to add to my portfolio Not worried.

Several race teams use ethanol so it can't be that bad!

laurie
Dead right it's in the header.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4940000/newsid_4948400/bb_wm_4948456.stm

GDP, I haven't yet had time to read the Arden report. The corn price is in cents/bushel.

Today's European edition of the FT mentioned in the commodities column that ethanol production in the US is seen as likely to outstrip current demand.

But if that's the case, why does the ethanol price still seem to be climbing rather rapidly?

I'm no expert on commodities but I believe the price of Oil has risen sharply recently and this is usually reflected in ethanol prices - also as oil rises so does the price of gas (Needed to make ehtanol in one of the production stages) meaning that the cost of making ethanol is rising too which usually results in a rise in the price of ethanol.