Nov 30 2007
INEOS Enterprises has today announced a further success in its ongoing project to more than double biodiesel capacity at its Baleycourt Site in Verdun (France) from 110,000 to 230,000 tonnes by 2008.
Following clearance by the European Commission, a new joint venture has been created that will move forward with the investment of more than €70 million in a new oilseed crushing unit and vegetable oil refining plant at the site. The new biodiesel facility, in the heart of France’s second largest oilseed producing region, will allow around 400,000 tonnes of locally produced rapeseed to be transformed into oil and then biodiesel.
The joint venture, to be known as INEOS Champlor, is comprised INEOS Enterprises, farming co-operative group SICLAÉ, and oil-seed crushing group C.Thywissen. In addition to the site based investments, local farming co-operative EMC2 is also investing in a dedicated silo at an adjoining site that will serve the needs of the facility.
Dr Harry Deans, CEO INEOS Enterprises comments: “This new joint venture is a significant development in our ongoing investment programme at Baleycourt that will substantially strengthen our position in the French market and is a platform for further significant growth in Europe. This is a major milestone in our plans to become Europe’s premier biodiesel supplier with more than two million tonnes of biodiesel output from new Europe-wide investments by 2012, with at least half of this by 2010.”
INEOS Enterprises has been producing biodiesel at Baleycourt for more than ten years. The investment at the site is in direct response to the French government’s commitment to increase significantly the proportion of green fuels used over the coming years. In March
2005, the site obtained a quota to supply the French market with biodiesel; this volume has since grown significantly whereby the entire increased capacity of the site will now service the French market.
SICLAÉ is a holding company owned by three major farming cooperatives - Champagne Céréales, EMC² and Nouricia. SICLAÉ collects cereals and rapeseed from farmers in the Lorraine and Champagne Ardenne Region.
Comments Laurent Jubert, Director General of SICLAÉ: “We have been involved in the INEOS Champlor project from the beginning, strongly supporting the application for quotas and now securing the supply of rapeseed. We expect to offer our farmers the opportunity to benefit from the profitability of this strategic industrial development.”
C Thywissen operates the largest independent oil mill in Germany and in 2002 the Company applied its oilseed crushing expertise to biodiesel production. This latest partnership with INEOS Enterprises builds on the Company’s success in previous joint ventures; most notably they operate a 240,000 tonnes biodiesel production unit at Marl, Germany.
Significant progress has already been made with the expansion project, with the new refining and crushing operations expected to come on line in the second half of 2008.