More palm-oil biodiesel plants popping up in Asia

Indonesian corporation Sinar Mas Group is planning to build two massive new palm-oil biodiesel plants for fuel export to Europe and the U.S. The first of the two is to be built on the Indonesian island of Sumatra with an annual capacity of 400,000 tonnes with the second to be built in Malaysia with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year. The plants should both be up and running by the end of 2008.

Earlier this year, Sinar Mas Group's palm-oil arm entered a US$5.5 billion agreement with Chinese oil giant CNOOC and Hong Kong Energy Ltd to produce biofuel in Indonesia.

Analysis: Big money is being spent in Asia to produce biodiesel for export to western nations. Palm-oil based biodiesel producers have clearly seen the profits generated by crude oil producing nations and decided that they would like a slice of the global energy pie. I just hope the forests don't go under the knife to get B5 blends to the bowser.

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[Source: The Edge Daily]

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