Tag Archives: opportunities
Sky’s The Limit – Aviation Biofuels About To Take Off?
By John Daly | Sun, 11 August 2013 Benefit From the Latest Energy Trends and Investment Opportunities before the mainstream media and investing public are aware they even exist. The Free Oilprice.com Energy Intelligence Report gives you this and much more. Click here to find out more. For the past decade, commercial production of jet biofuel has become of major interest to international airlines. Renewable Jet A-1 biofuel has two alluring aspects. First, it is a “drop in” fuel – blended 50-50 with conventional Jet A-1 kerosene derived from hydrocarbons, it requires no special engine modifications. Secondly, as the world prepares to institute carbon emissions penalties, biofuel Jet A-1 can reduce commercial airliners’ carbon emissions by 80-85 percent. The eye of the needle for this sunny renewable biofuel future has been twofold. First, the cost – no one has yet been able to produce renewable Jet A-1 at a cost comparable to hydrocarbon Jet A-1. The second problem derives from the first, in that no one has yet been able to produce renewable Jet A-1 in commercial quantities at a competitive rate. But this might all be about to change. AltAir, a major player in the burgeoning biofuels market, has unveiled ambitious plans to provide United Airlines with at 15 million gallons over the next three years of renewable jet fuel from a retooled Los Angeles-based refinery . Needless to say, the development is being closely watched, as the AltAir project will be the first U.S. refinery capable of producing both diesel and drop-in replacements for petroleum-based jet fuels. United has collaborated with AltAir Fuels for the past five years and has agreed not only to the initial purchase, but an option to purchase more. And United scores a march on its competition, as on 5 August Air Transport World magazine named United Airlines the Eco-Aviation “Airline of the Year” Gold Winner by, the top award granted by ATW in its annual Eco-Aviation Awards. United Airlines chairman, president and chief executive officer Jeff Smisek gushed, “This is a great honor for United and I’m proud of the work that my co-workers do every day to be responsible stewards for the environment. Our initiatives are paying off as we reduce United’s environmental footprint and work together toward a sustainable future for our company and our industry. United managing director for global environmental affairs and sustainability Jimmy Samartzis added, “This is a great day for United and the aviation biofuels industry. This agreement underscores United’s efforts to be a leader in alternative fuels as well as our efforts to lead commercial aviation as an environmentally responsible company. We’re excited about what this strategic partnership with AltAir means for United, the industry, the environment, and for our customers.” PR fluff aside, United has solidly put its capital behind its efforts to retool its aircrafts’ fuel consumption. United currently has more than 290 fuel-efficient aircraft on order and was the first U.S. carrier to purchase Boeing’s fuel efficient 787 Dreamliner, which cuts fuel consumption by and estimated 20 percent improvement. Deepening its commitment, United recently increased its order for Boeing 787 Dreamliners to 65 aircraft. Not limiting itself to U.S. domestic aircraft, United has also ordered 35 Airbus A350-1000s, which have reduced fuel consumption rates similar to Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Accordingly, United believes that it will meet its 2013 goal to reduce fuel usage by 85 million gallons and associated carbon emissions by 828,750 metric tons. The attention will now switch to AltAir – can it deliver? Rather than build a new refinery, the company intends to retrofit part of an existing petroleum refinery into an advanced biofuel refinery near Los Angeles. With AltAir’s retrofits, the Los Angeles refinery is set to become the first commercial-scale producer of renewable jet fuel in the world. AltAir CEO Tom Todaro has no doubts about the viability of the project, telling journalists, “United Airlines has been a strategic partner for several years as we work to establish our biofuel facility . We cannot overestimate how important this milestone is for the commercialization of sustainable aviation biofuels, and we at AltAir are proud that United is our first customer.” And AltAir is dreaming big, expecting to expand the refinery’s capacity eventually to produce 30 million gallons of advanced biofuels and chemicals after retrofits are complete. Feedstock for the facility? Non-edible natural oils and agricultural wastes. Can AltAir find sufficient natural oils and agricultural wastes in LA? Can they deliver the promised volumes of fuel? Watch this space. By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com Continue reading
New Report Analyzes Opportunities in European Biomass and Biogas Power Market
Published on July 5, 2013 at 8:19 AM Europe’s aim to produce 20 percent of its total power from renewable sources by 2020 will sustain the region’s biomass and biogas power market. Although biomass and biogas installed capacity will widen as a new wave of coal-to-biomass power plant conversions gains momentum, year-on-year revenue growth is likely to decrease. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Opportunities in the Biomass and Biogas Power Market in Europe, finds that the market earned revenues of euro 3.33 billion in 2012 and estimates this to reach euro 3.77 billion in 2017. “Biopower plants are increasingly preferred as a source for large-scale power generation owing to their low capital requirements,” said Frost & Sullivan Energy and Environmental Research Analyst Ashay Abbhi. “Their efficiency, longer operational times, and reliability further boost their popularity over other sources of renewable power generation.” While advances in biomass and biogas power generation will be vital to Europe achieving its ambitious 2020 target, deteriorating economic conditions in the continent have limited market expansion. Countries have cut down or even stopped subsidies for power generation from biomass and biogas, jeopardising the prospects of plant owners. The lack of steady raw material supply in the region poses another challenge. High-demand customers are willing to pay more to keep their power plants running, which triggers a rise in feedstock and equipment prices, affecting profitability. The withdrawal of government incentive schemes further dampens revenues. “Government support is necessary for technology development, especially as constant innovation will enable a reduction in capital expenditure,” observed Abbhi. “For now, the conversion of coal power plants to biomass plants will be the strongest market trend as it requires far less investment than setting up a greenfield biopower plant.” Going forward, the Western European biopower market, which is dominated by countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom, will slowly give way to opportunities in the developing Central and Eastern Europe markets. Poland is expected to be a hotspot in this region. Source: http://www.frost.com Continue reading
Attractive Opportunities in Agriculture: Steve Yuzpe
THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2013 Henry Bonner Attractive Opportunities in Agriculture: Steve Yuzpe Steve Yuzpe joined Sprott Resource Corp. in 2009 as Chief Financial Officer. Sprott Resource Corp., a publically-listed private equity firm, manages a portfolio of investments in the natural resources sector, including a large allocation to agriculture. “Food production is a very interesting area to be in right now, because the case for higher food prices around the world is very compelling. The need for food security, the effects of rising populations, water scarcity and climate change, and the need for inflation-protected assets all make the set-up for agriculture very compelling right now. There are opportunities in the sector that should offer strong risk-adjusted returns.” Despite its attractiveness, the ability to enter the agricultural sector is quite restricted to individual and retail investors, says Steve. On a relative basis, very few investment opportunities are publicly available. Those that can enter the space through private investments – such as large investment funds – have a definite advantage by having access to a significantly larger investment universe. “In addition to the typical long-term supply and demand trends, there are three agro-economic factors that underlie the bull case for agriculture. Firstly, the sector should provide an inflation-protected asset for investors concerned with currency devaluation occurring now. Inflation drives up the costs of all the raw materials involved in food production, processing, storage, transportation, etc. For example, food and energy are over 80% correlated. So if you believe that the prices of these commodities in general and energy specifically could rise, agriculture could provide you with an additional means of protecting against this risk.” “Another major factor is global climate change. Whether or not the change is man-made or a long-term natural cycle is irrelevant. Over the past two decades, average temperatures are rising and weather conditions have become increasingly volatile, which creates a lot of uncertainty around the productivity of existing farmland. This uncertainty can have a huge impact on crop prices, as evidenced by the devastating droughts in the U.S., Russia, and India in 2012. There seems to have been a dramatic weather event in major crop producing areas in each of the last five years.” Steve believes governments will continue to implement policies to secure inexpensive food for domestic populations in response to the political upheaval that high food prices can cause. “In 2010, the Russian government imposed export restrictions on wheat. Argentina did the same thing in late 2012 and early 2013, to secure the supply for their constituency.” Meanwhile, food supply is also threatened by the reduction of existing available farmland through pollution, urbanization, soil degradation, and water scarcity, says Steve. Putting new resources into production could be challenging and costly. “There is available arable land that isn’t producing in Brazil, Russia and Kazakhstan. Most of the land is either of marginal utility, or is located in remote regions, adding transportation to the cost of bringing production to market. In addition, it takes years to convert the land into arable farmland, with heavy input costs for pesticides, fertilizers, etc. So these types of projects aren’t about to bring down the price of food. In fact, they would only be economical in a global environment of food shortages, when it’s better to have high-priced food than no food.” “In agriculture, you have to take a long-term view. We believe that the global macro-economic picture is on our side in this area. Global populations will continue to grow; the amount of cultivatable farmland per person is being squeezed down. We believe that this create opportunities for our investment portfolio over the long term.” Steve Yuzpe has 15 years of experience with financial administration management in public and private corporations. Sprott Resource Corp .is a Canadian-based company, the primary purpose of which is to invest and operate natural resource projects. Through acquisitions, joint ventures and other investments,Sprott Resource Corp.seeks to provide its shareholders with exposure to the natural resource sector for the purposes of capital appreciation and real wealth preservation. Continue reading
