19th Jan 2005 09:50
D1 Oils Plc19 January 2005 19th January 2005 D1 Oils growing in Madagascar D1 Oils plc, the UK based low cost producer of biodiesel, today announces it isexpanding in Madagascar. The Company has identified approximately 17,000hectares of existing Jatropha plantations and has made arrangements to accessthe output from the plantations. The arrangements have been made incollaboration with business-to-business aid agency BAMEX (Business and MarketExpansion) of Madagascar. The trees are currently being used as supports forgrowing vanilla and are already yielding seeds. The first crop of Jatropha oil bearing seeds is expected to be available frommid 2005 and harvesting is planned to commence at that time. Estimation ofoutputs cannot be guaranteed to be the same as detailed in the Prospectus, dueto variations in the density of trees per Hectare. The Directors believe thatseed yields will be consistent with the age of the trees being harvested. The area under cultivation in Madagascar is additional to the 37,000 hectares ofplantations in Africa, India and The Philippines as outlined by D1 Oils in itsProspectus at the time of flotation in October 2004. It is also in addition toapproximately 6,000,000 hectares of land available to the Company under optionto contract. The expansion further advances the company's objective to becomethe world's leading low cost producer of biodiesel and feedstock for biodiesel. Adam Simcock, Chief Executive of D1 Africa, said: "We are delighted to beworking with BAMEX in Madagascar and to be able to provide additional income forthe local vanilla farmers". Philip Wood, Chief Executive of D1 Oils plc, commented: "The number of newopportunities D1 Oils is engaged in reflects our increasing global profile. Thispartnership, which increases our cultivation capacity announced at flotation bynearly 50%, demonstrates the commitment and adaptability of our management teamand its ability to source additional supplies of indigenous oil which willdeliver revenue ahead of the first harvests from our new plantations. Theplantations in Madagascar are already yielding seeds which materially reduce theworking capital we would otherwise need to develop this source of supply ". Enquiries Philip Wood D1 Oils plc 020 7321 3885 David Cunningham Bell Lawrie White 0141 314 8105 Kevin Byram Brunswick 020 7404 5959James Crampton Notes to editors D1 Oils D1 Oils plc (DOO.L) is the owner of technical, marketing, logistics and otherintellectual property, related to the establishment, development and harvestingof Jatropha plantations and the extraction of oil from the harvested seeds andthe production of biodiesel from the oil, as well as valuable by-products. D1 Oils plc successfully floated on the Alternative Investment Market in October2004. Since the Group was founded in 2002, D1 Oils has established operationsand strategic and commercial relationships in 4 regions - Europe, Africa, AsiaPacific and India. Alongside the 17,000 hectares secured in Madagascar, D1 Oilsalso has 37,000 hectares to cultivate and produce Jatropha oil for refining intobiodiesel, as well as options on an additional 5 million hectares in India andapproximately 1 million in Burkina Faso. D1 Oils has acquired all rights to the design and manufacture of a modularmobile biodiesel refinery with the capacity of processing 8 million litres ofbiodiesel from crude vegetable oil per annum. Business and Market Expansion (BAMEX) Business and Market Expansion (BAMEX) is an aid agency funded by USAid. Theirrole is to put international private sector businesses together with localbusiness partners in order to facilitate technology transfer into Madagascar andcreate employment. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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