Thursday, March 10, 2011

20110310 0902 Biofuels Related News.

CONIFEX PLANS BIOMASS PLANT AT MACKENZIE SAWMILLS
VANCOUVER, March 8 (Reuters) - Conifex Timber  will spend C$45 million ($46 million) to build a biomass energy facility linked to the Mackenzie, British Columbia, sawmills it is in the process of re-opening, the company said on Tuesday.
The western Canadian forestry firm also reported a loss of C$3.9 million, or 26 Canadian cents per share, in the fourth quarter, as it worked through the restarting and upgrading of its mills in Mackenzie and Fort St. James.

GERMANY PUSHES AHEAD WITH NEW BIOFUEL POLICY
BERLIN, March 8 (Reuters) - The German government said on Tuesday it would hold firm on the phase-in of a high-biofuel petrol despite its widespread unpopularity among motorists, sending shares in biofuel companies higher.
The new fuel, called E10 for its 10 percent bioethanol content, has been shunned by motorists over concerns it may cause engine damage, at the risk of setting back Germany's carbon emissions goals.

NESTE SEES NEGATIVE MARGINS THIS YEAR
SINGAPORE, March 8 (Reuters) - Finland's Neste Oil  is bracing for negative returns from its biodiesel fuels business this year on high feedstock costs, but the company expects global demand to surge, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
Neste Oil is in talks with Singapore companies to carry out possible trial runs of biodiesel-powered vehicles for public use, but Europe will remain the dominant consumer of renewable fuels in years to come, Matti Lievonen told Reuters in an interview.

BIOFUEL APPEAL STOKES BULLISH PALM PRICE OUTLOOK
KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Reuters) - Malaysian plans to subsidise biofuel and the launch of the world's biggest biodiesel plant in Singapore promise to give a  fillip to the renewable fuel industry worldwide, planters and traders in the Malaysian capital said on Tuesday.
The moves come as key feedstock palm oil soars to multi-year highs, riding crude oil prices driven higher by fears of spreading unrest in the Middle East that has cut Libyan exports.

MALAYSIA TO SUBSIDISE PALM-OIL BASED BIOFUEL AT THE PUMP-SOURCES
KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Reuters) - Malaysia will subsidise palm oil-based biofuel at the pump to keep the price at the same level as petroleum diesel, two industry sources with knowledge of the plan told Reuters on Tuesday.
The world's No. 2 palm producer appears to be reviving its biodiesel industry as palm oil output is set to recover, keeping biofuel feedstock prices competitive and potentially presenting less of a subsidy burden for the government.

CLIMATE CHANGE, BIOFUELS THREATEN FOOD SECURITY-FAO
MILAN/ROME, March 7 (Reuters) - Climate change bringing floods and drought, growing biofuel demand and national policies to protect domestic markets could drive up global food prices and threaten long-term food security, the United Nations said.
High and volatile food prices are a growing global concern, partly fuelling the protests that toppled the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt this year. The aftershocks have been seen across North Africa and the Middle East from Algeria to Yemen.

GERMAN GOVT TO HOST SUMMIT OVER BIOFUEL ON TUESDAY
BERLIN, March 4 (Reuters) - The German government, moving to reassert control over a planned roll-out of high-biofuel gasoline that threatens to unravel, said it would host a summit on Tuesday next week with all participants in the project.
A spokeswoman for BP , the main producer of the fuel in Germany, told Reuters the oil giant had suspended production at its two refineries in Gelsenkirchen and Lingen because of poor sales.

BIOFUELS ONLY MAJOR WAY TO DECARBONISE ROAD FUEL-BP
LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - Biofuels represent the only way to significantly reduce carbon emissions in road transport fuel and are likely to account for at least 12 percent of supply by 2030, an official with oil giant BP  said on Wednesday.
"There is no other alternative that I can really subscribe to in terms of decarbonising road transport," Olivier Mace, head of strategy, regulatory affairs and communications at BP unit BP Biofuels, told a conference organised by Agra Europe.

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