BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG
NEWS:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

To what unique selling propositions or competitive advantages can BIOPETROL lay claim?

Who are BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES' founding fathers?
BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG's first operative units were founded in 2004 by Swiss companies owned by the Klink family of Düsseldorf entrepreneurs and focussing on sustainable investment in markets with renewable raw materials.

Are you planning to switch to the General or Prime Standard on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange?
Since our initial Open Market listing we have offered our investors the greatest possible degree of transparency. We plan to consider switching to a “regulated market” with a year.

Do you plan to pay a dividend?
We are a growth company and we first plan to set up new production facilities and position the company among the industry's top five in Europe. Our medium-term business plan provides for us being able to generate a high free cash flow from 2008. A dividend payment is only conceivable from then on.

What is your market share in Germany?
In Germany our market share is currently a little under 8 %. We aim to increase our market share in Europe to at least 10 % by 2008 by means of capacity expansion and internationalisation.

Why is the company based in Switzerland?
Zug, Switzerland, is a centre of the international oil trade in Europe. All the large oil companies and traders are represented there, so we are close to our key customers.

What is the main shareholders' investment horizon?
The investment horizon is a long-term one. Our guiding idea is the vision that ecology and the economy can be reconciled. Annual growth rates in this market are in double figures and highly attractive.

Do you engage in research and development of your own?
No, we do not. We are clearly focussed on the production of biodiesel and pharmaceutical grade glycerol and fall back on the latest developments in production and technology. Our laboratories are entrusted with monitoring product quality.

Is biodiesel what German motorists call "Biosprit"?
No. Biodiesel is not "Biosprit". "Biosprit" means the bioethanol that is blended with petrol/gasoline. At the moment, the maximum blending quota of bioethanol is five per cent. Environment minister Gabriel cancelled the doubling of this proportion in April 2008 because too few cars could handle the higher bioethanol blend. Biodiesel on the other hand is blended with fossil diesel, currently at five per cent. This figure will be increased to seven per cent at the start of 2009. The German government's "Biofuels Roadmap" calls for a ten per cent blend with effect from 2010.

How should we assess the environment minister's decision on bioethanol of April 2008?
BIOPETROL welcomes the move by environment minister Gabriel to cancel the planned doubling of the blend of bioethanol (E10). It is in the interest of motorists, because many cars are unable run on higher blends of bioethanol. His decision is also in the interest of the objectives of climate protection, since the required capacity of more than three million tonnes of ethanol annually is not available in Europe, and there is currently no guarantee that imported ethanol comes from sustainable production.

Is the increased blending of biodiesel also being put in question?
No. The blend will be increased as planned, from five to seven per cent, at the start of 2009. Environment minister Gabriel said so at a press conference on 10 April 2008. The "Biofuels Roadmap" provides for a ten per cent blend starting in 2010.

Are there enough diesel vehicles capable of handling a richer biodiesel blend?
Yes. The automobile industry has stated that all German diesel cars can run without problem on biodiesel blends of up to seven per cent. Many cars imported into Germany from other European countries and from Asia are even designed for blends of up to 30 per cent. In the commercial vehicle sector, all manufacturers – from Daimler Benz to Volvo – have given their unrestricted blessing to biodiesel (B100). With the available biodiesel capacity, and by taking suitable measures, we could even expect to achieve a 17 per cent blend.

Isn't biodiesel outperformed by competing products?
Biodiesel of the first generation is now, and probably will remain, the most significant regenerative fuel for a number of years. It will take at least ten to twenty years for biodiesel of the second and third generation to be produced in volumes of five million tonnes pa., if they ever do. The question is whether enough of the biomass needed by the second generation will be available then, for there are fears of an insufficiency of supply, towards which we are already tending, due to competition for raw materials from the biogas, energy-conversion and heating installations that already exist and those still being planned.

Do we have to rely on imported biodiesel?
No. In Germany at the present time, 29 million tonnes of diesel fuel are being consumed annually. Given the mandatory five per cent blend, around 1.5 million tonnes of biodiesel are correspondingly being consumed - while annual production capacities total five million tonnes. So there is no need to secure the quota by means of imports. On the contrary, the blending quota could be increased still further - making a rapid improvement to our climate-protection balance sheet.

Does biodiesel really make a contribution to the environment?
Yes. As distinct from bioethanol, biodiesel has the following advantages:

Is biodiesel pushing up food prices?
No. Biodiesel has no influence on food prices. The production of biodiesel is based exclusively on oil-bearing plants. This means there is no competition between food and energy, as is often wrongly asserted. Of the 400 million tonnes of oilseeds harvested annually, 83.5% (334 million tonnes) goes to the food and animal-food industries, and 14% (56 million tonnes) to the oleochemicals industry. Only 2.5% (10 million tonnes) is currently processed into biodiesel. This 2.5% can hardly have triggered the increases in food prices. The likely major cause ispopulation growth and the changing eating habits of people in newly industrializing countries, such as India and China. These lead to increasing demand for meat and dairy products, thus driving up prices.

What does sustainability mean for BIOPETROL?
Progress is a continuous process. We are working in many ways to improve the ecological balance sheet of our company. In our production process, we are increasingly implementing strategies for recycling water, energy and liquid wastes; we make optimal use of coproducts by feeding them back into the cycle or by extending the added-value chain; and we are continuously increasing the yield from our starting materials. Together with research institutes and industrial plant manufacturers, we are working on alternative raw materials, algae for example as a replacement for vegetable oil. We can’t wait until an "optimal" technology is discovered. Reducing dependence on fossil sources of energy, even partially, is already of paramount importance.

[ Home | Sitemap | Credits | Deutsch | Nederlands ]

Print

Recommend