The main activity of Biofuels is the large scale production and exploitation of biodiesel and glycerine following the construction and commissioning of the initial plant.

Biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils and, as an environmentally friendly product, can make a significant contribution towards reducing green house gases and meeting Kyoto targets.



RNS's from BFC can be viewed at:

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/index?search_type=3&words=bfc&go.x=17&go.y=8

http://www.biofuelscorp.com/

talking about what ?

Edging to 100p. Next week should be interesting.

I live in the Algarve,Portugal where the largest concentration of eucalyptus trees is to be found,in Europe.
For the last three years there has been systematic,criminal activity resulting in the destruction of 5% of Portugal's forests,most damage occuring to the eucalyptus plantations.As Portugal was grossly ill equipped to cut and transport such an enormous quantity of burnt timber,the job was farmed out to the old enemy,Spain....believed to be the brains behind the forest fires.The Spanish contractors bought the timber at below market prices and then sold it on for a tidy profit.
Spanish companies BOUGHT thousands of hectares of burnt Portuguese eucalyptus plantations at absurdly cheap prices and it is said that the next crop of trees which will be cut in about eight years'time ,will be processed by German companies( who will buy the timber directly from Spanish owners)and used to make bio-diesel.The Portuguese stand to lose all of the benefits that their eucalyptus plantations could have brought to them!
This is a conspiracy theory doing the rounds at the moment...but I brought it to your attention in order to offer eucalyptus as an alternative source of bio-diesel to palm,rapeseed etc.

Since Eucalyptus rawstock seems to involve destroying the tree and I imagine the trees take some years to grow to maturity, I do not see how this can compete, as a renewable source of bio-fuel feedstock, with annual crop-bearing sources, like palm oil and jatropha beans.

Keep the trees and attract bees and tourists with them - it will be more profitable for the Portuguese landowners I am sure.

sd

Biofuels surges on talk of refinancing deal

Biofuels Corporation surged 25pc yesterday as dealers speculated that the biodiesel group was negotiating a refinancing package.

The talk was that the company, which is paying about 1m a month in a hedging agreement which overestimated diesel prices, is trying to agree more favourable terms with Barclays bank.

Biofuels shares have crashed since the company revealed on April 29 that prices in Germany - its key market - were lower than expected. Only six weeks earlier it had raised money at 230p a share. Yesterday the stock recovered 19 to 96p.

Traders also gossiped that next week Biofuels will announce the date of its full-year results - thought to be July 14. They speculated that management would not release a date unless it had firmer news on sales contracts. Dealers are hoping it will also confirm that completion of its Teesside plant, which has had delays, now remains on track.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/06/11/cxmktrep11.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/06/11/ixfrontmarkets.html

wilbs

Biofuels Corporation PLC
13 June 2005


Biofuels Corporation plc

Notification of results


Biofuels will announce results for the year ending 31 March 2005 on 14 July
2005.


There will be a presentation to analysts at 10.30 that morning at the offices of
College Hill, 78 Cannon Street, London, EC4N 6HH.


13 June 2005

Enquiries:


College Hill 020 7457 2020
Mark Garraway


wilbs

Dear Stockdog,

thanks very much for your feedback/ideas

regards

Sean Sutcliffe

Short and polite - just.

Don't take it personal , it seems like a standard reply.

Biofuel increasingly competitive if oil surge lasts
Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:32 AM ET

By Sybille de La Hamaide
PARIS (Reuters) - Biofuels would be increasingly competitive if crude oil prices, which are back near all-time highs, were to go beyond $60 a barrel, officials at the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.

Soaring oil prices have encouraged major consumers worldwide to sharply increase their use of "green" biofuels, made from sugar cane, vegetable or grain oils.

But in most parts of the world the additional costs for producing biofuels make the fuel uncompetitive without hefty tax rebates from governments.

"Biofuels are getting more competitive due to the surge in oil prices but these would need to be somewhere between $60 and $100 a barrel for biofuels to be competitive without subsidies," IEA biofuel specialist Lew Fulton said after a seminar on biofuel options.

U.S. crude oil futures hit another all-time record on Monday at $59.52 a barrel as worries over fuel demand festered amid limited U.S. refinery capacity.

An exception is Brazil where ethanol, made from sugar cane, is competitive without subsidy when oil prices are at $35 a barrel, said Brazil's ambassador to Paris, Sergio Silva do Amaral.

The IEA renewed its estimate that all biofuels -- ethanol and biodiesel -- had the potential to reach 10 percent of world fuel use for transport by 2025.

But Fulton said a more realistic estimate was that global ethanol consumption should be between four and five percent of gasoline use by the end of the decade.

"That would be a very big achievement but a lot will depend on oil prices," he said.

Last year the world produced about 30 billion litres of fuel-ready ethanol from fermenting and distilling mainly sugar or corn. In oil terms, that's more than 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), two percent of global gasoline use.

The European Union last year set a non-binding target of 5.75 percent biofuel content by 2010, but missed a more modest 2 percent target this year; Japan allows the use of up to 3 percent ethanol, but does not require it.

The United States, the world's top oil consumer and No. 2 biofuel producer, set a target of doubling ethanol production to 8 billion gallons by 2012 -- over 500,000 bpd and more than 5 percent of current gasoline use.

wilbs

A major factor could be the Chinese starting off with very high bio-diesel quotas for all the personal car ownership about to happen. They could get DOO to JV with them on planting milliions of hectares of jatropha beans and JV with BFC to build a few large-scale plants - then pass a law to say all private vehicles must use at least 25%-50%(??) bio-diesel. It would also have a massive positive impact on their balance of payments.

Without this, when car-ownership in China reaches 50% that of the West, 5% bio-diesel will not amount to a piss in the ocean (or more aptly a fart in the sky).

IMHO - you tell 'em Wilbs (interesting post btw - almost oracular - good old Sybille)

sd

SHARE MAGAZINE

"BIOFUELS PLANT FINALLY READY TO OPEN by: Susanna Twidale

Investors are anticipating that Biofuels Corp (BFC:AIM) will announce that its Middlesborough plant, which has been hit with delays, will finally be ready to open at the results due 14 July.

There is also speculation that the company will announce it has secured more favourable terms for its refinancing deal with Barclays Bank. The company is thought to be losing money on a poor hedging deal that overestimated future diesel prices and the shares have plummeted from
highs of 311p in March to lows of 70.5p in May. The stock has seen a
resurgence in trade over the last few weeks with investors
hoping that the good news will come and bring with it a
recovery in the share price."

Nice one mm. Ive not even opened my mag yet.

thanks, mm - looking good for Bastille Day? Stormin'!

A bit of a long read but it is sunday!!

Posted on Sun, Jun. 26, 2005


Indiana plays catch-up in biofuels race

State sets goals for ethanol and biodiesel

By Jenni Glenn

The Journal Gazette


Dozens of communities in other states are celebrating the construction of ethanol and biodiesel plants the source of millions of dollars in investment, jobs and added value to farmers crops. But Indiana has been slow to join the party, said Andy Miller, state director of agriculture.

The state has just one ethanol plant and no biodiesel plants, despite the fact that Hoosier farmers ranked third in soybean production and fifth in corn production in the nation last year.

The state unveiled a new strategy last month designed to encourage agribusinesses to manufacture ethanol and biodiesel fuel in Indiana, Miller said. The state Department of Agriculture and Indiana Soybean Board have set the goal of turning the state into the Texas of alternative fuels. The states strategic plan for agriculture, released May 17, set a goal of producing 100 million gallons of biodiesel and tripling ethanol production in the state by 2010.

Several proposed plants could help steer Indiana in that direction. Indiana Bio-Energy LLC plans to open a $125 million ethanol plant in Wells County by the end of next year. A subsidiary of the Louis Dreyfus Group has proposed a $100 million agricultural-industrial park in Kosciusko County that could eventually include an ethanol plant and a biodiesel plant larger than any currently operating in the country.

Miller said Indiana has been slow to enter the renewable energy field. The state is the last major corn state to have a major presence in the ethanol industry, he said. The states lone ethanol plant, New Energy Corp., is in South Bend and can produce 102 million gallons of ethanol a year, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade association for ethanol producers.

I wont say were late to the game in ethanol, but were pretty close to being late, Miller said. This markets still got a lot of upside potential for growth.

The fuel, made from processed corn, is either mixed with gasoline or used alone to power cars. The nation produced 3.41 billion gallons of ethanol last year, a 21 percent increase from 2003, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

Biodiesel use also is growing quickly, said Jenna Higgins, spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board in Jefferson City, Mo. Biodiesel is made from soybean oil and then blended with diesel fuel to power trucks. An estimated 25 million gallons of the fuel was blended for use last year. Higgins said that was a large increase from the 500,000 gallons used in 1999.

Demand for biodiesel is expected to rise from 30 million gallons in fiscal year 2004 to at least 124 million gallons a year, thanks to a tax incentive that makes biodiesel price- competitive with diesel fuel, according to the Indiana Soybean Board.

Most of the plants producing the renewable fuels are in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and other states in the western Corn Belt, said Wells County farmer Randy Plummer, an investor and member of the board of directors for the Wells County ethanol plant. The first plants headed to the western Corn Belt states, in part, because their corn prices tend to be lower than those in Indiana, said Plummer, who is also a Wells County commissioner. The states also offered incentives such as tax breaks to encourage plant construction, he said.

Progress has been slower in Indiana, Plummer said.

Were, Id say, coming out of the gate, and the rest of the horses are about halfway around the track, he said.

Iowa, the national leader in ethanol and biodiesel production, has 16 ethanol plants and three biodiesel plants, said Lucy Norton, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. Seven more ethanol plants and another biodiesel plant are under construction in the state.

To draw those plants to Iowa, state groups organized monthly meetings where experts spoke to potential plant owners about the financing, technology and other aspects of constructing a plant, Norton said. The Iowa Department of Agriculture, the Iowa Corn Growers Association, the Iowa Farm Bureau and the Iowa Department of Economic Development set up the meetings held from 1999 to 2001. Norton said the meetings made the difference in persuading people to invest in plants in Iowa.

It takes a partnership with the state and the industry, she said.

A supply of inexpensive corn is important for making an ethanol plant profitable, said Monte Shaw, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Renewable Fuels Association. Iowa ranked first in corn production and second in soybean production last year, according to Indiana Agricultural Statistics, the state division of the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Indiana has the ingredients for a successful renewable fuels industry, Director of Agriculture Miller said. The state has the grain needed to support plants, as well as the railroads needed to transport renewable fuels to market.

Indiana is closer to the crucial East Coast market than other Midwestern states, Plummer said. Ethanol is used widely in New York and Connecticut to replace an octane additive in gasoline banned by the states. The states proximity to this market helped make the Wells County plant a viable investment, he said.

The state is staying involved in the development of new forms of bio- energy and improvements on existing technology, Miller said. Purdue Universitys research on bioenergy will help the state stay on the front end of new advances in the field, he said.

Despite being a little late on some of the initiatives, we can still be a leader going forward, he said.

Miller declined to provide an exact number of proposed plants in the state, but he said he hears almost daily from new groups interested in building plants

Not all of the proposals will come to fruition, Plummer said, although he is confident his group will be able to raise $25 million in grants or in the form of second-lien loans, which can be paid off after the buildings mortgage, to pay for the Wells County plants construction. Indiana Bio-Energy LLC conducted a feasibility study to make sure the plant would be profitable and increased the proposed size to ensure it would be, Plummer said. Some of the proposals may not make it past the feasibility study because they would not make money, he said.

The amount of capital needed to enter the industry is growing, Miller said. Large corporations, such as the Louis Dreyfus Group that may build in Kosciusko County, are entering the industry in increasing numbers while the number of investor-funded plants is falling, he said.

Indiana is working to increase the use of renewable fuels as well as production. About 3 percent of the gasoline used in the state has some ethanol blended in it, Miller said. The Department of Agricultures goal is to increase that to 10 percent by 2010.

An increase in usage would raise the price farmers receive for their grain. When consumers demand 100 million gallons of biodiesel fuel, soybean prices rise about 10 cents a bushel, according to the Indiana Soybean Board.

The state already has a convenient way of supplying biodiesel to dealers, the National Biodiesel Boards Higgins said. Countrymark Cooperative LLP, based in Indianapolis, has four biodiesel terminals where the soybean-based fuel can be mixed with diesel directly from a pipeline as it is poured into a truck for transport. There are only 12 such terminals in the country, but dealers prefer to use them instead of mixing their own fuel, Higgins said.

We would consider Indiana a leader in biodiesel because of their strong distribution network and high-profile users, Higgins said. The city of Fort Wayne uses a blend of biodiesel fuel in its diesel trucks.

Most of the biodiesel used in Indiana is manufactured in Ohio or west of Chicago. But there is still room in the growing renewable fuels market for Indiana to become an industry leader, said Michael Ladisch, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette. Ethanol use alone has the potential to increase by 50 percent in the future, he said.

The best time to get in the business is when ethanol is expanding, he said. In other words, the market is increasing, so this is the time to get market share.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethanol production

Indiana lags behind several of its Midwestern neighbors when it comes to ethanol production. Indiana ranked eighth among the states in terms of ethanol production capacity, calculated in million of gallons produced a year, as of January.

Iowa1,262.5

Illinois816

Minnesota523.6

Nebraska523

South Dakota456

Wisconsin210

Kansas149.5

Indiana102

Missouri100

Tennessee67

Michigan50

North Dakota33.5

New Mexico30

Texas30

Kentucky25.4

California8

Wyoming5

Ohio4

Colorado1.5

Washington0.7

Total4397.7

Source: Renewable Fuels Association

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/11990974.htm

wilbs

Thanks wilbs, an interesting read.

Cheers, Madison

New York, June 24. (PTI): The UN has launched a new initiative to help developing countries exploit their renewable energy potential, such as fuels derived from agricultural crops.

Under the BioFuels Initiative, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will coordinate various activities carried out jointly with other UN agencies, the private sector, NGOs and applied research centres, to build capacity in production, use and trade of biofuels.

Biofuels such as bioethanol, biodiesel and biogas, which are derived from crops such as sugar beet and sunflower, are an ecological alternative to conventional fossil fuels which are not expected to last long.

The UN estimates that petroleum is not expected to last more than 50 years while could last 60 years. But coal reserves could last upto 200 years, according to current projections.

Careless use and consumption of fossil fuels has caused climate change and high concentration of air pollutants in major cities, according to the world body.

I have never quite seen anything as volatile as this share price. Was interested in buying on outlook grounds especially when looking at the price of oil. But now I'm getting scared of it. What on earth causes the wild swings. Do I smell a tipster at work? Talking it up. Principle and idea seem right and should be profitable. McG

McGavock,

Im no expert,but most of last week - right upto close on Friday the mm's were driving this up,taking any stock they could get there hands on,and clearly filling a large order,i feel today has been a big shake and the upward momentum should now continue.
Today must have seen a clean out of some weak holders or T+ trades hoping for a quick buck,only thing for it is to see what the morning brings.

Jams ahead for carmakers


Financial Times, 27 June 2005 - The automotive industry is possibly the most global industry there is, with almost 60m cars and light trucks sold in 2003. In the UK alone, it contributes Pounds 8.4bn added value to the economy, according to the Department for Trade and Industry.

But the big European and North American producers face massive structural problems, pensions deficits, overcapacity, mature markets and falling prices. With a few exceptions, notably Toyota and Honda, carmaking is just not profitable, says Dr Paul Nieuwenhuis of the Centre for Automotive Research. Despite the huge overall volumes, production of many individual models is well below 100,000 per year, "so they just don't make any money," he says. Carmakers will find some relief in the emerging demand from markets such as China, India and Indonesia, but ultimately "they have to start making different types of car", says Dr Nieuwenhuis.

Carmakers must also face up to the challenges of rising oil prices and their products' contribution to air pollution and global warming. Regulatory threats include the EU's end of life vehicles directive, Brussels' emissions trading scheme and congestion charging schemes such as that introduced in London.

A report by Merrill Lynch and the World Resources Institute released earlier this month says: "The global need to address energy security concerns and the impact of climate change on the earth's environment is intensifying pressure on the auto industry to create vehicles with higher fuel economy and lower emissions."

The industry has a number of options, according to the report. These are:

* Create new vehicle types (hybrids such as the Prius)

* Modify traditional vehicles with alternative power sources (hybrid, diesel, hydrogen internal combustion engine etc.)

* Develop new technologies to enhance existing engines and transmissions

* Improve exhaust treatment

* Design lighter vehicle structures

* Shift production toward smaller vehicles.

These trends are going to work in favour of some manufacturers more than others - Ford and GM's focus on SUVs has put them at a disadvantage, while Honda and Toyota's focus on hybrids has left them well-placed.

In the long term, hydrogen fuel cells are seen as the answer to the industry's pollution problems, as they only emit water. However, there are still problems with how to produce the hydrogen and the lack of a hydrogen delivery infrastructure.

As a result, fuel cell-powered cars are unlikely to be on the road until 2020, and will not be widespread until the 2050s, according to Steven Blackman, head of Ernst & Young's automotive unit.

In the meantime, flavour of the month are hybrid cars, which have both electric batteries and a petrol engine, making the car more fuel-efficient and reducing emissions. While Toyota's Prius leads the way, several other hybrid cars are on or coming to market, and Merrill Lynch suggests Hyundai is also well-placed to capitalise on demand for hybrids.

But in the short term, refining existing technologies is a more fruitful way of cutting emissions. These "incremental" technologies are relatively unsung, says Duncan Austin, of Generation Investment Management, but they generate a relatively quick payback.

Companies well-placed in this sector include Borg Warner, a US parts company that derives 70 per cent of its revenues from fuel efficiency products, and Magna International, which has a technology for creating stronger, lighter vehicle bodies.

Ibiden, of Japan, and France's Faureccia make filters that remove the particulates from diesel, and they are also predicted to benefit from the current investment climate, while Aisin Seiki, a Japanese parts maker, is well placed in incremental technologies such as variable valve timing.

Another promising area is in alternative fuels. Biofuels can be added to petrol or diesel engines as a 5 per cent blend with little or no alteration needed in engines or petrol pumps. There is little technical difficulty in running vehicles entirely on biofuels - indeed in Sweden, two-thirds of orders for the new Saab 95 are for the version that runs on 85 per cent bioethanol derived from sugar cane, according to Charles Burt of Olive SRM, a strategic risk consultancy.

As with fuel cells, there is no infrastructure in place. However, a scheme in the north east of the UK, One Green Route, is developing a network of branded forecourts to sell biodiesel to private motorists. There is also great potential for vehicles that can be fuelled at depots, such as council vehicles, buses and commercial vehicles in specialised applications such as airports.

Companies hoping to benefit from moves towards alternative fuels include Biofuels Corp, which floated last year and raised an additional Pounds 32.7m earlier this year. It plans a biodiesel processing plant up and running by September. D1, another biodiesel group that listed on the Alternative Investment Market last October, estimates that by 2010, EU demand for the fuel will be 10.5bn litres. Meanwhile, British Sugar, facing EU reforms that will slash sugar prices, is planning the first bioethanol plant in the UK.

http://www.sustain-online.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?MenuId=1&ClickMenu=&doOpen=1&type=DocDet&ObjectId=MTU2MDM

wilbs

Great post wilbs- Investment in new energies, alternative fuels, etc is a must, regardless of profitability.
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com//050628/323/fm62l.html