Low demand puts US' largest biodiesel plant up for sale
The largest biodiesel refinery in the US was put up for sale after the owner shut down the $70 million (€50 million) facility due to declining demand.
GreenHunter Energy has plans to sell the Houston, Texas-based 105 Mgy plant by the end of the year in order to meet its $50 million financing obligations with a key lender.
The plant, which only opened in June 2008, has been sitting idle since February this year and is likely to be a causality of GreenHunter’s financial hardship over the past 12 months.
The global recession has dampened demand for fuel, energy prices have fallen drastically, and the federal mandate to produce 500 million gallons of biodiesel per year has still not been initiated, with no deadline set for the implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s new measures.
Biodiesel production is forecast to fall by about half of 2008's level of 700 million gallons, leaving plants like GreenHunter's on the sidelines, according to estimate from the National Biodiesel Board.
GreenHunter Energy has plans to sell the Houston, Texas-based 105 Mgy plant by the end of the year in order to meet its $50 million financing obligations with a key lender.
The plant, which only opened in June 2008, has been sitting idle since February this year and is likely to be a causality of GreenHunter’s financial hardship over the past 12 months.
The global recession has dampened demand for fuel, energy prices have fallen drastically, and the federal mandate to produce 500 million gallons of biodiesel per year has still not been initiated, with no deadline set for the implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s new measures.
Biodiesel production is forecast to fall by about half of 2008's level of 700 million gallons, leaving plants like GreenHunter's on the sidelines, according to estimate from the National Biodiesel Board.
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