Excerpt from speech to Washington International Renewable Energy Conference.
In 2005 the United States became the world's leading ethanol producer. Last year we accounted for nearly half of the worldwide ethanol production. I don't know if our fellow citizens understand that, but there is a substantial change taking place, primarily in the Midwest of our country.
Corn ethanol holds a lot of promise, but there's a lot of challenges. If you're a hog-raiser in the United States, you're beginning to worry about the cost of corn to feed your animals. I'm beginning to hear complaints from our cattlemen about the high price of corn. The high price of corn is beginning to affect the price of food.
And so we got to do something about it, and the best thing to do is not to retreat from our commitment to alternative fuels, but to spend research and development money on alternatives to ethanol made from other materials -- for example, cellulosic ethanol holds a lot of promise. I'm sure there are people in the industry here that will tell you how far the industry has come in a very quick period of time.
I look forward to the day when Texas ranchers can grow switchgrass on their country, and then have that switchgrass be converted to fuel. I look forward to the day when people in the parts of our country that have got a lot of forests are able to convert wood chips into fuel. And those days are coming. (Applause.)
The Department of Energy had dedicated nearly $1 billion to develop technologies that can make cellulosic ethanol cost competitive. And the interesting thing that's happened in a relatively quick period of time is that the projected cost of cellulosic ethanol has dropped by more than 60 percent. In other words, new technologies are coming. The job of the federal government is to expedite their arrival.Speech transcript on WhiteHouse.gov
Alternative fuel producer Pacific Ethanol Inc. said Friday it is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to sell up to $250 million of its stock in a public offering.
The company said it filed a shelf registration statement asking the SEC to allow the sale.
Pacific Ethanol said the terms of any offering under the statement will be set at the time of the offering.
The ethanol producer said it expects to use the proceeds from any sale under the statement for "general corporate purposes," including financing its ethanol plant construction program and acquiring ethanol production assets.
Archer Daniels Midland Co.'s fiscal third-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street's expectations, though revenue topped expectations.
ADM, which is the United States' largest ethanol producer, said higher costs for corn cut into results.
ADM is currently down 6 percent in mid day trading on the NYSE.
ADM, which is the United States' largest ethanol producer, said higher costs for corn cut into results.
ADM is currently down 6 percent in mid day trading on the NYSE.
The world's production and consumption of ethanol are expected to at least double in the next five years, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday.
As the President of the Inter-American Ethanol Commission, which is holding a meeting in Sao Paulo, Bush said the Latin American countries, including Colombia, Peru, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, have great potential for ethanol production growth and Brazil would easily be the leader.
Bush, brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, said he believes the trade barriers in the international ethanol market would be phased out. He said the U.S. is likely to slash tariff on ethanol from Brazil, the top exporter of the renewable fuel.
The U.S. government currently charges 0.54 U.S. dollars for each gallon of ethanol imported from Brazil.
Bush said that the main targets of the Commission, founded in Dec. 2006, is to expand the ethanol market and protect the environment. If the Commission accomplishes its targets, investors will be attracted to ethanol, he added.
President Bush and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are expected to sign off on the joint creation of an "OPEC" for ethanol, the bio-fuel that has freed Brazil from dependence on imported resources.
The Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo, based in the city of Sao Paulo where the meeting will be held, said that the presidents would promote "a kind of OPEC for ethanol, with an inter-American market to guarantee a stable supply of biofuels, with diversified production throughout the region."
Brazil is the world's top producer of ethanol, which it makes from sugarcane. It has also developed biodiesel production from oil-bearing plant crops, to mix with or substitute for fossil fuels in diesel engines.
"An OPEC for ethanol is impossible, because alcohol will never be able to substitute for oil," Venezuelan expert Alfredo Michelena told IPS. "However, it could replace a small percentage of U.S. fuel consumption, equivalent to the oil supplies it receives from Venezuela," he added.
The Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo, based in the city of Sao Paulo where the meeting will be held, said that the presidents would promote "a kind of OPEC for ethanol, with an inter-American market to guarantee a stable supply of biofuels, with diversified production throughout the region."
Brazil is the world's top producer of ethanol, which it makes from sugarcane. It has also developed biodiesel production from oil-bearing plant crops, to mix with or substitute for fossil fuels in diesel engines.
"An OPEC for ethanol is impossible, because alcohol will never be able to substitute for oil," Venezuelan expert Alfredo Michelena told IPS. "However, it could replace a small percentage of U.S. fuel consumption, equivalent to the oil supplies it receives from Venezuela," he added.
Pacific Ethanol Inc., producer of the gasoline additive derived from grain, said Thursday its fourth-quarter loss narrowed, as the company sold more product at higher prices.
The company's quarterly loss to common shareholders shrunk to $4.2 million, or 11 cents per share, from $5.1 million, or 18 cents per share during the same period in 2005. The company had 10.6 million more shares outstanding in the period than they did in the same quarter a year ago.
Results included charges of $3.9 million primarily related to non-cash compensation expenses.
Revenue more than doubled to $80.6 million from $36.1 million in the year-ago period.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast profit of 5 cents per share. Thomson estimates usually exclude special items. Wall Street forecast revenue at $69.2 million.
Pacific Ethanol said fuel sales in the quarter rose 70 percent to 31.7 million gallons from 19.1 million gallons during the same period a year earlier. The growth came from the completion of its facility in Madera, Calif., and the acquisition of a 42 percent interest in Front Range Energy LLC, which owns a plant in Colorado that is operating above capacity.
The price of fuel sold by the company increased by 37 cents per gallon to $2.26 from $1.98 per gallon.
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