Malaysia’s Lereno biodiesel start-up by June ‘07

14 August 2006 05:28  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Lereno, a Malaysian biofuel producer, is to start up a $100m (€78.4m) project by early June next year and is in discussions with a Singapore company to build a second unit, a senior company official said on Monday.

Construction on its first 60,000 tonnes/year biodiesel project at the port of Lumut, Perak State, Malaysia, is scheduled for end-April next year, said David Long, the company’s chairman. Commercial production is expected at end-May or in early June 2007, he added.

The company will not be able to expand the plant as it has a fixed capacity, but it is in talks with Singapore’s MAE Engineering to build a second plant of about double the size of MAE’s project in Singapore, Long said.

MAE was considering building a 150,000-200,000 tonnes/year biodiesel plant in Singapore, which will be based on Lereno’s technology.

“This is still only in the preliminary stages,” Long said. But both companies are keen to proceed as there are more buyers to offtake more products, he added.

ICIS news reported earlier that MAE is also in talks to buy a 38% stake in Lereno from Eligro, a privately owned Malaysian company.

“The shift of the 38% (stake) from Eligro to MAE will have no impact on the company,” Long said.

Lereno is focused on completing its first project. Construction of the process plant by Lurgi is slightly ahead of schedule, while construction of the ancillary plant and equipment, tank farm and infrastructure are on time, Long said.

“The process plant is due for arrival…in late November or early December,” he added. “The plant has a nominal capacity of 60,000 tonnes/year, but we would expect to produce slightly more, perhaps 5% more.”

By: Florence Tan
+65 6780 4359

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