Wilmar Plans Biodiesel Plant in Indonesia by 2007
Date: 03-Jul-06
Country: SINGAPORE
The US$20 million biodiesel plant in Riau, Indonesia, will have an annual capacity of 250,000 tonnes, with the potential for further expansion as the firm seeks to capitalise on demand for biofuels to cut costly oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions.
"Feedstock for this project is mainly palm oil," said a spokeswoman from Wilmar Holdings, a Singapore-based edible oil producer and refiner.
Indonesia is the world's second-largest palm oil producer and plans to develop another 3.0 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of plantations in the next five years, partly to meet biofuel demand.
Wilmar's plant will be the first in Indonesia if it comes onstream ahead of a US$25 million joint venture between plantation company Pt Bakrie Sumatera Plantation TBK and construction firm Pt Rekayasa Industri, scheduled for the middle of 2008 with an annual capacity of 60,000-100,000 tonnes.
Wilmar Holdings also has a joint venture plan with Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) to build a biodiesel plant in Singapore, but both companies are still considering the feasibility of the project, said the spokeswoman.
The S$50 million (US$31.5 million) plant was originally expected to be completed by end-2006 to produce 150,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of biodiesel, before expansion to 300,000 tpy.
(US$1=S$1.587)
