2nd May 2007 07:00
D1 Oils Plc02 May 2007 Press Release D1 Oils Q1 2007 Business Update 2 May, 2007 D1 Oils plc (D1), the UK-based global producer of biodiesel, today announces itsquarterly business update for the first quarter ended 31 March 2007. Agronomy Planting Up to 31 March 2007, D1 has planted or obtained rights to offtake from a totalof 156,741 hectares of jatropha worldwide. This represents an increase of over10,000 hectares on the total of 145,625 hectares as at 16 March 2007, asannounced in our preliminary results on 28 March 2007. The increase in plantingover the last two weeks of the quarter is accounted for predominantly byplanting in Africa, with planting under contract farming arrangements in Zambiacontinuing to make particularly good progress. The cumulative position at 31 March 2007 is summarised in the table below: Managed Contract Seed purchase and oil Total plantations farming supply agreements hectares India South - 7,984 - 7,984 North East - 8,300 2,000 10,300 Rest - 5,093 22,924 28,017 - 21,377 24,924 46,301 Africa Swaziland 1,227 - 8,017 9,244 Zambia 2,411 20,760 - 23,171 Rest - - 8,629 8,629 3,638 20,760 16,646 41,044South China - - 28,000 28,000East Indonesia - 31,640 - 31,640Asia Rest - 4,780 4,976 9,756 - 36,420 32,976 69,396Total 3,638 78,557 74,546 156,741 The level of investment costs and security of future oil supply from plantingare proportional to the degree of direct involvement by D1 and its partners.Managed plantations are those farms where land and labour is controlled by D1,either through its subsidiaries or joint venture partners. Under contractfarming, the farmer plants his own trees on his own land. D1 and its partnersassist with the provision of seedlings and the arrangement of bank finance forplanting, and offer a buyback of harvested seeds with an offtake agreement. Weprovide support and advice during cultivation, and monitor the condition of thecrops. Seed and oil supply agreements are arms-length supply contracts withthird parties whereby D1, either directly or through joint venture partners, hasofftake arrangements in place over future output from jatropha plantations whichthe third party is developing. D1 has limited involvement in this planting andrelies on third parties to measure and manage the crop effectively. Plant science Our plant science programme has gathered a sufficiently wide range of jatrophamaterial to support the first ever commercial breeding and product placementtrials for this crop. We have now collected more than 200 accessions of jatrophafrom three different continents and over twenty countries. Using field andlaboratory data from this material, we have established a breeding process andglobal trials network to identify which individual jatropha cultivars are bestadapted to the different cultivation zones. The first commercial outcome of theplant science programme is our 'E1' elite seed material, selected for higheryield and good biodiesel profile. We expect this seed will deliver oil yields of2.7 tonnes per hectare under properly managed conditions when the trees attainmaturity. E1 seed multiplication is continuing in all three regions. We expectto be able to plant 50,000 hectares with this material in 2008. Refining and trading We delivered our fifth D1 20 refinery unit to our Teesside site on 23 April.This is the first of our upgraded D1 20 units and has an enhanced capacity of10,000 tonnes per year. The commissioning of the unit will increase theproduction capacity of our Teesside site to 42,000 tonnes. Work on the first phase of operations at our Bromborough site to convert theexisting facilities for production of biodiesel continues on track. TheEnvironment Agency has now confirmed that biodiesel processing can be undertakenwithin our existing permit. Elliott Mannis, Chief Executive Officer of D1 Oils, commented: "We made strong progress in planting in this first quarter, with a cumulativetotal of over 156,000 hectares planted by 31 March. We are very pleased with theprogress in Zambia, where operations are now gaining momentum. Our plant scienceprogramme continues to develop very promisingly. The delivery of our fifth D1 20refinery to Teesside and the expansion of capacity at Bromborough reaffirm ourcommitment to expand prudently our UK refining capacity in advance of theimplementation of the UK RTFO in April 2008." Contacts: D1 Oils: Graham Prince, Head of Corporate CommunicationsTel: +44 (0) 1642 755580Mobile: +44 (0) 7973 323840 Brunswick Group: Mark AntelmeTel: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959 Notes to Editors D1 Oils plc is a UK-based global producer of biodiesel. We are building a globalsupply chain and network that is sustainable and delivers value from'earth-to-engine'. Our operations cover agronomy, refining and trading. We arepioneering the science, planting and production of inedible vegetable oils; wedesign, build, own, operate and market biodiesel refineries; and we source,transport and trade seeds and seedlings, seedcake, crude vegetable oils andbiodiesel. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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