Viridas signs key agreement
VIRIDAS, the Yorkshire company which is hoping to make its fortune from biodiesel in the Brazilian rainforest, said today it had signed a 10-year agreement to develop what it hopes will form the next generation of alternative fuel stock.
The Leeds-based company, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), has signed the Jatropha Oil Supply and Development agreement with INEOS Enterprises and Brazil – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Viridas.
The agreement covers the supply of jatropha oil to be produced by Viridas from its plantations in Brazil.
INEOS Enterprises will use the jatropha oil as a raw material in its biodiesel production processes.
Viridas is using South America as a location grow jatropha trees.
In April Viridas announced it had formed a partnership with INEOS Enterprises – a portfolio of eight businesses – to develop the project further.
INEOS aims to bring an outlet for jatropha oil through its strategy to become a leading European biodiesel supplier.
In a statement the company said the agreement with INEOS Enterprises “underpins Viridas’s plans for the implementation of a fully mechanised, industry scale, crude jatropha oil production business in Brazil, as outlined in the chairman’s Statement in June.”
Viridas is now reviewing options to finance the initial stage of its plan to purchase, plant out and manage 30,000 hectares of jatropha crop in Brazil, with a view to commercial levels of production of jatropha oil coming on stream in 2013.
Chairman Stanley Wootliff said: “We are delighted with the outcome of the partnership entered into with INEOS in April, which has proved invaluable to us in gaining a thorough understanding of the requirements of potential customers in the European market for jatropha oil. Signature of the Agreement now will enable us to develop our strategy in the knowledge that we have a credible development partner and have secured the sale of our anticipated output of jatropha oil during the critical initial phases of production.”
