BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

23/04/2008

Greenfield pursues Eastern Europe ethanol opportunities

By Jerry W. Kram

Irish-based Greenfield Project Management is conducting a comprehensive energy systems study for two proposed ethanol plants in Mozyr and Bobruisk in Belarus. The study will be done by the Swedish consulting firm SEP Scandinavian Energy Project AB. During 2008 Greenfield will invest ?65 million ($103 million) in the two plants. "We've been delayed by the difficult conditions caused by the turmoil in western financial markets," said Michael Rietveld, CEO of Greenfield. "We are now able to confirm a first tranche of financing to carry the projects forward this year."

SEP engineers will travel to Belarus to gather information on the availability of energy sources for the two plants. SEP will take about eight weeks to prepare the study and submit it to Greenfield. Greenfield will then proceed with an environmental impact study, which will follow the European Investment Bank format. The final stage of the planning process will be a front end engineering design study undertaken by Greenfield's technology partners, which should be completed by the third quarter of this year.

The initial research into the Belarus projects began approximately five years ago. In 2005, representatives of the Belarusian government asked the company to carry out a study of the local ethanol production sector with a view to reorganizing it. Belarus has 43 distilleries, but they primarily produced vodka for the former USSR. After consulting with the government, Greenfield settled on two locations for the first fuel ethanol plants to be built in Belarus.

Source:

http://www.ethanolproducer.com/article.jsp?article_id=4036

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