Increased feedstock prices and government policy decisions continue to hamper the emerging biofuels industry in 2007, with all listed Western Australian biofuel companies recording losses last financial year.
Increased feedstock prices and government policy decisions continue to hamper the emerging biofuels industry in 2007, with all listed Western Australian biofuel companies recording losses last financial year.
Perth-based Mission Biofuels Ltd this week announced the commissioning of its 100,000 tonne per annum biodiesel refinery in Kuantan Port, Malaysia, after reporting a loss of $1.82 million for 2007.
The company expects the plant to be completed by mid-September, with the first shipment of biodiesel due at the end of the month.
Its second biodiesel plant, to be located next door to the current facility and with a capacity of 250,000tpa, is scheduled to come online in August 2008.
The group recorded its first sales revenue in 2007, through the sale of jatropha curcas saplings in India, and the sale of feedstock to a biodiesel refiner in China.
Finance director Peter Williams told WA Business News the company would eventually look to be 100 per cent reliant on jatropha, a cheaper alternative to crude palm oil.
Mission’s Indian subsidiary this week signed an agreement with an Indian district controlled entity granting it exclusive access to jatropha seeds over the next three years, putting the company on-track to achieving its target of planting 40,000 hectares of jatropha for 2007.
“One of the benefits of jatropha is that it’s inedible, so its not competing with crude palm oil in the food industry,” Mr Williams said.
“It also has a life of 45 years, and it’s grown in arid and wasteland so it doesn’t take up the fertile land.”
West Perth-based Sterling Biofuels, which delayed commencement of production at its $21 million Malaysian-based biodiesel facility due to a spike in the price of palm oil, recorded a net loss of $2.96 million.
Sterling is also assessing the use of jatropha as an alternative feedstock to palm oil, but affirmed that at this stage it would remain a primarily palm oil based producer.
Subiaco-based Natural Fuel Ltd posted net loss after tax of $47.8 million, which included a non-cash impairment charge of $21.1 million against the carrying value of its proposed US plant in Houston.
The company was forced to reassess the commercial viability of its proposed Houston plant, after the Texas government decided not to renew its biofuels incentive program, which would have contributed US20 cents per gallon (or 3.7 litres) for up to 18 million gallons (or about 68 million litres) per year.
Locally, the company celebrated its first export shipment of 8.8ML of biodiesel from its Darwin facility, the first ever export shipment of Australian biodiesel.
The results came as managing director Richard Selwood announced his resignation from management and board roles with Natural Fuel Ltd.
South Perth-based Australian Renewable Fuels reported a $33 million net loss after tax, after generating an 806 per cent increase in operational revenues of $13.7 million.
The loss includes the impact of an impairment adjustment to ARF’s Australian assets amounting to almost $29 million.
Meanwhile, a report released this week by APAC Biofuel Consultants said the outlook for biofuels was improving, as the cost of major biodiesel feed stocks such as tallow, canola and palm oil moved down from the highs of earlier this year.
It forecast Australian biofuels production capacity would double this year to more than 600ML, and could top 1,000ML a year by mid-2009.