Abengoa to invest €1bn in bioethanol production

24 May 2007 11:39  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Spanish biofuel producer Abengoa Bioenergy will invest more than €1bn ($1.35bn) in its bioethanol production capacity over the next three years, said chairman Javier Salgado.

 

The investment in production could result in the construction of up to eight new plants: four in Europe and four in the US.

 

Some of the funds would go towards improving existing facilities, Salgado said in a statement to ICIS news on Thursday.

 

“This budget is to increase our general capacity, with new plants or at existing plants”, he said.

 

The announcement was made at a press conference prior to the World Biofuels Conference, which is being held in Seville this week.

 

Abengoa currently has three bioethanol plants in the US and three in Spain, from where it exports material to the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and Benelux.

 

The group was building a plant in France and has expressed an interest in constructing another two in the UK and Germany.

 

Abengoa currently produces 526m litres/year (526,000 cbm/year) of fuel ethanol in Europe, making it the industry leader.

 

It is the fifth largest producer in the US, with a capacity of 420m litres/year. Abengoa says this will increase to 745m litres/year by the end of 2007.   

 

($1=€0.74)

By: Charles Shaw
+44 20 8652 3214

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