Finnish oil company Neste to invest billions in biodiesel ...

Finnish oil company Neste to invest billions in biodiesel ...
Helsingin Sanomat - Finland
... state-owned oil refining company Neste Oil has announced its plans to invest billions of euros in erecting several new biodiesel production facilities in ...

Click Here to Make $20-$75/Hour for Your Opinion

Finland's state-owned oil refining company Neste Oil has announced its plans to invest billions of euros in erecting several new biodiesel production facilities in various locations in Europe during the next ten years. The company aims to become the world's leading biodiesel producer.
Neste declared its new strategy on Wednesday, immediately prompting investors to start purchasing the company's shares. As a result, the Neste stock price strengthened by just under five per cent in Helsinki.

The strategy is based on the European Union objective set for 2010, by which time 5.75 per cent of European transport should be powered by renewable fuels. In other words, the biodiesel market is based on an administrative provision by the Union.
According to Neste President and CEO Risto Rinne, the programme is challenging. "The plan was made public so that we do not have to report on every single investment separately, or to declare our intentions secret. It is a question of openness."

At this stage the company is refraining from announcing the exact number of the planned new refineries. "Primarily we are aiming for the European market, but production facilities may also be built where the raw material comes from."
Neste is currently building a 170,000-ton-a-year biodiesel refinery in the city of Porvoo in Southern Finland. The facility is scheduled for opening in the summer of 2007. Rinne reveals that there are plans to erect a second biofuel refinery in Finland as well, presumably also in Porvoo. The tareget of becoming the world's largest refiner is currently not that unrealistic, since production is currently splintered among numerous small players. Nevertheless it will require projects on a conspicuously larger scale than at present, with annual output in the millions of tons.

Biodiesel can be produced from vegetable oil - such as rapeseed, soy, or palm oil - or from animal fat, in other words lard. The final consumer product will consist of biodiesel mixed with regular mineral oil-based fuel.

Energy research director professor Mikko Kara from the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) views the investment plan announced by Neste as "mega news".
"The idea of spending billions of euros on biodiesel is rather wild. Such investments are always based on political decisions, which translates to added risks", Kara notes.
In Kara's view the idea of shipping palm oil from Southeast Asia to Europe is not without risks. "China, for one, is not going remain an onlooker in biofuel development. Sooner or later the raw material shipments will find their way over there as well."

Click Here to Make $20-$75/Hour for Your Opinion