INTERVIEW: Biopetrol expands in tough conditions

27 March 2007 15:19  [Source: ICIS news]

By Mark Watts

 

LONDON (ICIS news)--Biodiesel producer Biopetrol on Tuesday reported a 24% increase in operating profit to €7.2m ($9.6m) as the chief executive outlined plans to expand further in western Europe.

 

Speaking to ICIS news, CEO Klaus-Ulrich Henschel said that Biopetrol was considering expanding its under-construction plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, by an additional 250,000 tonnes/year by 2008, bringing it to 650,000 tonnes/year.

 

“We are expecting a lot of consolidation in the European biodiesel market with just a handful of big players remaining – we want to be one of them,” said Henschel.

 

“The German market is already oversaturated and many small companies in poor logistical locations are likely to disappear, and this has begun already,” he added.

 

Biodiesel sales have fallen since the introduction of taxes in Germany in summer last year and new compulsory blending legislation and many producers are expecting a drop in profits for 2007. Declining oil prices have put additional pressure on the market.

 

Biopetrol already has two plants located in Germany. Henschel said the new 350,000 tonne/year facility in Rostock along with the Rotterdam project were in ideal locations to diversify exports and bring in cheaper feedstock.

 

“The Rostock plant exports over 50% of product and the idea is that we can bring in big vessel rape from Eastern Europe,” said Henschel, adding that the Rotterdam facility would further reduce the company’s dependency on the German market.

 

The other existing plant at land-locked Schwartzheide would be more subject to the fluctuations of German biodiesel market conditions.

 

Group sales at Biopetrol rose 46% in 2006 to €127.6m adjusted for mineral oil tax and operating profits jumped 24% despite rising feedstock prices.

 

Biopetrol said the customer structure was further diversified - 35% of turnover was made with the mineral oil industry, 28% with large fleet operators and 38% with mineral oil traders and resellers.

 

The company’s shares shot up to €6.84 in Tuesday morning trading before dropping to €6.35 at 13:00 GMT, 6.72% higher than close on Monday.

 

Henschel said a downturn in the German market had started last summer but would not clarify how significant the impact on 2007 profits was likely to be.

 

Earlier this month, major German biodiesel player Verbio said profits would drop substantially in 2007 due to mandatory blending, high feedstock prices and low crude prices, without fully recovering until 2008.

 

Sources of global chemical intelligence service ICIS pricing said the European biodiesel market is currently in oversupply due to the vast number of new plants which came on-stream in the previous year.

 

Prices for rapeseed methyl ester (RME) based biodiesel were currently assessed at around €600/cbm FOB (free on board) Northwest Europe.

 

(Additional reporting by Nicolette Allen)

 

($1 = €0.75)

By: Mark Watts
+44 20 8652 3214

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