PETROTEC AG / Strategic Company Decision/Miscellaneous
21.12.2007
Release of a Corporate-announcement, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Petrotec ramps biodiesel production back up
- End of short-time for the staff at the plants in Oeding and Emden as at
Jan. 1, 2008
- Biodiesel production to launch in Oeding in early January 2008
- Biodiesel plant in Emden is preparing to commence production
Borken, December 21, 2007 Petrotec AG (ISIN DE000PET1111), manufacturer
of sustainable and CO2-neutral biodiesel using as a feedstock used cooking
oil, is restarting biodiesel production at the beginning of January 2008
following the temporary production stop. All 25 staff members at the
production facilities in Südlohn-Oeding and Emden, Germany, for whom the
company filed for short-time at the end of October 2007, will go back to
regular full-time work on January 1, 2008.
CEO Roger Boeing comments: 'I am glad that Petrotecs staff will be back
producing biodiesel. First, sales prices for 2008 have recovered somewhat
compared with the very low level of recent months, and second Petrotec has
broadened its client base in the blending market and also developed new
clients, including mineral oil companies outside Germany. The order backlog
for 2008 is already satisfactory.'
The production plant in Emdens deep-sea port with an annual capacity of
100,000 t will be completed and prepared for official turnkey approval and
initial trial production runs. Petrotec expects to ramp up biodiesel
production there in April 2008. The biodiesel plant in Südlohn-Oeding has
an annual capacity of 85,000 t and will restart production on January 2,
2008.
As at October 22, 2007 Petrotec registered short-time for the biodiesel
production staff through to the end of the year. The company halted
biodiesel production in response to unfavorable market conditions that made
it impossible to cover biodiesel production costs. Instead, the company
sold an intermediate product in its value chain and thus secured its
liquidity position. Petrotec subsidiary VITAL has since successfully moved
its activities in collecting used cooking oil forward.
Despite the general slight recovery in market conditions, CEO Böing says he
is disappointed with the politicians: 'The German federal government is
still duty-bound to support the biofuels industry. Over the last 12 months
it has not done its homework and has not managed to enable the biodiesel
industry and it clientele to budget business or investments accurately, and
has thus severely damaged this fledgling industry. Key political decisions
on the realignment of support for the industry have simply been put back
indefinitely.' There is immense potential to reduce CO2-emissions by using
biofuels (in particular on the basis of waste materials) and it can be
tapped immediately. The transport sector in the EU alone accounts for over
25 % of the CO2 emissions so fateful for the climate. The German federal
governments energy and environmental policy for more climate protection is
hardly credible if it shies away from exploiting that potential. A proposal
by the SPD Parliamentary Party that the biofuels industry welcomed was
sadly not approved by the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Party. The proposal
envisages the introduction of a total biofuels quota of 7 % (in calorific
terms), a figure that would then increase in future years. The introduction
of the overall quota would maintain the B100 market, which is so crucial
for the industry - despite the further tax increase to 15 cent/l as of
January 1, 2008. Boeing concluded his remarks by saying that 'active
climate policy must not only entail swift and consistent action, but must
definitely put in place an investor-friendly environment that creates
additional jobs and technology research in German small and midsized
entities.'
Disclaimer
This press information constitutes neither an offer to buy or to sell
shares or other securities issued by Petrotec AG, nor a call for submission
of offers to buy or subscribe to securities. The shares offered during the
IPO have already been placed.
About PETROTEC
Since November 2006, Petrotec AG has been listed in the first-tier market
of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under WKN PET111, ISIN DE000PET1111.
Petrotec is one of the pioneers of the German biodiesel industry. The
company started as long ago as 1998 in developing a process to produce
biodiesel from used frying and deep-frying oil. Petrotecs first industrial
biodiesel production plant went turn-key in 2000. Petrotecs proprietary
technology is able in a single fully continuous process to transform virgin
vegetable oils such as rapeseed, soybean or palm oil as well as
hard-to-process oils and fats such as used cooking oils, animal fats and
oils or fish oil into biodiesel. In other words, it is truly a
multi-feedstock technology. The annual capacity of the plant in Borken
(Westphalia), Germany, is 85,000 t biodiesel. In April 2008 a second
production plant will go into operation in the deep-sea port of Emden with
an annual capacity of 100,000 t. Unlike many of its competitors, Petrotec
has for years now in its ongoing operations primarily produced biodiesel
from used cooking oils in a fully continuous process. Treated used cooking
oils as the feedstock for biodiesel production are up to 50 percent cheaper
to procure than the rapeseed oil predominantly used by our rivals in
Europe. This gives Petrotec a costs edge over other manufacturers of
biodiesel, as 70-90 percent of biodiesel production costs relate to the
feedstock.
For further information, please contactPETROTEC AG
Falk von Kriegsheim
Head of Investor Relations / Public Relations
Fürst-zu-Salm-Salm Strasse 18
46325 Borken
Germany
Tel +49 (0)2862 910060
Fax +49 (0)2862 910099
Mobil +49 (0)173 6291344
f.kriegsheim@petrotec.de
www.petrotec.de
DGAP 21.12.2007
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Language: English
Issuer: PETROTEC AG
Fürst-zu- Salm-Salm-Str. 18
46325 Borken-Burlo
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)2862 9100 19
Fax: +49 (0)2862 9100 99
E-mail: info@petrotec.de
Internet: www.petrotec.de
ISIN: DE000PET1111
WKN: PET111
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
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DGAP-News: PETROTEC AG: Petrotec ramps biodiesel production back up
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