BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

19/12/2007

Agreement gives green light to Belarus ethanol plant

by Giles Clark, London

A framework agreement signed by both the government of Belarus and Greenfield Project Management has effectively cleared the way for the plans for a 550 million litres per year ethanol plant to come to fruition. The agreement between Greenfield and Belarus, signed by Ivan Bambiza, Belarus Deputy Prime Minister and Greenfield chair Ann McClain, includes the key area of supplies of feedstock.

Various types of grain together with sugar beet are included, and the government has undertaken to prepare a "comprehensive programme of cooperation" to develop supplies of these, including an initial target of growing an extra 500,000 tons of grain annually up to a total of 1.5 million tons extra grain for ethanol production.

In addition, at least one million tons of sugar beet is being made available. Greenfield has undertaken to investigate optimal ways in which this resource can be used to develop the ethanol project.

The Framework Agreement also directs the parties to "ensure the use of arable lands in the regions affected by the disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station" in the supply chain for the plant.

Commenting on this, Greenfield chair Ann McClain said: "Both Greenfield and the government have from the outset seen the ethanol sector as an economically sustainable way of remediating and redeveloping the contaminated Chernobyl lands. This agreement will give real impetus to this long-term humanitarian and social project on a firm basis of financial viability."

Ms McClain said that the agreement resolves a knotty problem for investors in the project, the assurance of stable supplies of feedstock in volatile market conditions. "In several instances recently, ethanol projects have been put on hold and even established plants have been shut down," she said, "but the agreement we have signed today provides a hedge against that possibility for our plant at Mozyr. We will have assured supplies of varied feedstocks, and we will have assured and sustainable pricing.

"In addition, growing feedstocks on the Chernobyl lands is a win-win proposition for all parties: farmers will get a good price for grains which cannot be used in the food chain, ethanol production costs will be insulated from the spikes in world market prices for grain, and the cultivation and production process will remove radioactive isotopes from the soil faster than nuclear decay," she emphasised.

Ms McClain concluded her comments after the signing ceremony by saying: "You know, I want to emphasise that this is a seriously important project and that we are very, very serious about it. We've spent nearly five years on it. And we've spent nearly ?8 million of our funds getting it to this point. We will see it through. We will be there to turn the first sod. We will be there to lay the foundation stone."

Greenfield's CEO, Michael Rietveld, stressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister for driving the project ahead. "Without the commitment shown by Mr Sidorsky and the Council of Ministers, this project would not have reached this point. We now have assured feedstock supplies, fully-registered joint venture corporations, and solid legal and institutional support. We look forward to 2008 and building the refinery just as soon as we conclude the Environmental Impact Assessment and the FEED stage preliminaries."

Source:

http://www.biofuelreview.com/content/view/1383/

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