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/

I'm in as of this morning at 2.38p...onwards and upwards.. looks good for next yr (imo)

I was all set to buy another 100,000 this morning, but the state of the US dollar makes it look as though potential profits could drop on the basis of weaker currency, and that makes me wonder if GTL's SP could drop further. At least the ethanol plant's expenses - and also its customers - are also dollar-based, but the reporting of GTL's profits isn't going to look as good if the dollar slides further.

Any views?

Yes i made that point either earlier on this thread or on D1. I thought that if the dollar continued to slide then surely GTL's expectation of being profitable at 20$ is wildly misplaced as with a weaker dollar the relative value of oil would be considerably less.
Also any returns made in the U.S. to us will suffer with such a weak dollar.
But i assume GTL could hedge against this? or would that set a course for BFC time?
Not sure what you think Soul, but even so i think GTL still's worth a sizeable punt. in for 140'000 at 2.04p so i'm happy to sit and if it ever returned to that area i'd buy as many more as i possibly could.

GDP, I thought the point with a weaker dollar was that it produced a higher oil price, as we saw over the last year or two, so if anything GTL ought to see ethanol prices rise if crude also rises (which would be nice given the strength of the price of corn!!).

Certainly metals prices were up yesterday on dollar weakness, acccording to ft.com; crude was a bit undecided, but that could have been due to OPEC comment. All the same, crude is a dollar or two higher than it was a few weeks back , i.e. $60 rather than around $58.

Anyhow, don't take my word for it as I am not an economist. Am planning to watch and wait on this one - still weighing up whether to bag my intended purchase now or wait and see if the next day or two brings a further shake-out.

Sorry guys ! I bought in this morning hence, the reason for the sp drop... my timing is always bad..however, I bought in on 1 6/12month view so hope to see a good return at some stage ! (imo)

Skyhigh, no need to apologise as you have just done me a favour: I decided to get my 100,000 as the spread just narrowed:

GTL Bid: 2.2p Offer: 2.3p Change: -0.125

In at 2.3p exactly - I think there's probably too much good news in the pipeline for the SP to slide very far.

And recovering slightly:

GTL Bid: 2.25p Offer: 2.4p Change: -0.05

Results statement says that they are taking their time over whether to build more plants. This should please the market. Less uncertainty.

Highlights


Construction of Illinois River Energy ('IRE') 50 million gallon ethanol
plant progressing well with plant startup expected in December 2006
IRE plant capex plus initial working capital is expected to be within the
$80m budget
IRE plant staff are in place and their training will be completed in
December 2006
Applications for permits to increase IRE capacity to 100 million gallons
have been submitted
Appointment of Richard Ruebe as CEO, GTL Resources USA Inc
Loss before tax US$1.9m (6 months to 30 Sep 2005: Loss US$2.4m)
Loss per share US$0.0008 (6 months to 30 Sep 2005: Loss US$0.0011)
Loss reduction largely attributable to UK fixed cost savings

http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200611290700278690M.html

this could be mega only one way up.

Positive AFX summary, 'significant' inflationary pressures nothing we didnt already know. But i would have hoped this would have caused a spike, there's still a trading day left though.

potts
Im wouldnt worry about spikes I want to see a steady rise in the sp through out 2007 and beyond accumulating when funds permit.

Am now doubly glad I got in yesterday, seeing that the SP has moved up to cover my purchase price :o) GTL Bid: 2.3p Offer: 2.4p Change: 0.025

Volume traded is a bit on the low side (800K so far), although I guess much of the news in the statment had already been anticipated.

Looking forward to the plant coming on-stream early December, plus the approvals of the extension to the IRE plant should also give a lift.

Soul i think we can hope, and expect, to not see the S.P. return to these areas again, (Apart from the consolidation), and buying opportunities will hopefully become around the 2.5p mark and higher.

soul traders "much of the news in the statement had already been anticipated".

I think the bit about them taking their time about new sites is new. This, imo, is the best bit of news in the statement. There was a lot of uncertainty about new sites and how much they would have to pay, possibly over the odds. Now that has been put on the back burner we should motor into next year! I reckon that the board has been as shocked as anybody by the low share price and now realise they can't simply raise shedloads of cash without proving themselves first.

Good point, Bolshi. I am convinced, or at least optimistic, that the SP is due a big re-rating. If there is any kind of justice in the universe then the mkt cap ought soon to outstrip that of RVA, which is currently bigger at around 77 mil, but producing much less than the intended capacity of GTL's first plant. So December to January's activites ought surely to produce a 50% SP rise in short order.

GDP - I am sure you're right, although why the consolidation should produce a drop in the SP is not clear to me. I would anticipate the cosmetic transformation from a penny stock, plus hopefully, and more materially, a possible narrowing of the spread, would attract the attention of more insitutional investors and produce a rise.

I agree - and am happy that for the first day in a while every stock in my portfolio is showing Blue.

LOL - lots of (in my case) green on my portfolio too!!

7 Million + sales just gone through.

Potts blue are nice the last few weeks were superb, but this week has been horrific.
Today so far mixed red and blue on my portfolio.

gdp im not worried about dollar to pound ratios as i look at it like this the sooner were debt free thw sooner we can get more money for bigger plants all over the world

also if were closer to being debt free there will be take over attempts imho
so use what we dont get to pay off the dollar loan quicker imho