Chemrez plans 2nd biodiesel plant next year
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
By Jenniffer B. Austria
Chemrez Technologies Inc., the largest premium coco-biodiesel producer in Asia and the Pacific, plans to construct a second biodiesel plant costing some P2 billion over the next three years.
Chemrez chief operating officer Dean Lao Jr. told reporters in yesterday’s listing ceremony that the company needed to construct a second plant to expand capacity, especially once the National Biofuels Board decided to increase the mandated biofuel blend from 1 percent to 2 percent.
Trading in the shares of Chemrez resumed yesterday with the listing 340.91 million new shares at P4.40 per share, equivalent to 24.4 percent of the biodiesel firm’s outstanding capital.
Share price of Chemrez opened at P5.50 and peaked to P5.80 before closing at P5.20 per share.
“The P5.50 opening price is a very pleasant surprise. I hope it keeps going up. We thought it would open at P5.20,” Lao said when asked about the strong opening of the stock.
The Biofuels Act, which will likely be signed into law before the end of the year, requires a minimum 1 percent biodiesel blend in all diesel engines. It also ordered the sale of at least 5 percent bio-ethanol (for gasoline engines) within two years.
Lao said the company was discussing with oil companies about the supply of biodiesel.
Chemrez’s plant has an annual capacity of 60-million liters of biodiesel, or barely enough to meet export and domestic demand.
It plans to de-bottleneck the plant next year to increase its production capacity to 72 million liters a year. Lao said the project would entail minimum capital expenditure and was expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2007.
posted by philpower @ 11:54 AM,
