Avril Targets France's Higher Biodiesel Blending Needs with New Plant

October 29, 2015

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(Reuters) Avril aims to meet demand from higher French biodiesel blending levels with output from a 100,000-tonne-per-year plant it opened on France's Mediterranean coast on Wednesday, the chief executive of the European Union's largest maker of the biofuel said.

The facility at Sete, where Avril's Saipol oilseed processing and refining branch already has a plant, will allow the group to raise biodiesel capacity to 1.7 million tonnes, Jean-Philippe Puig told Reuters in a phone interview.

Avril shut two plants in northern France in 2013, reducing its French capacity by 20 percent, after the government said it wanted to pause the rise in biofuel blending in fuels at 7 percent.

It raised the level by one percent for biodiesel late last year.

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Avril chose southern France over the north, where competition is high with Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, which are facing overcapacity.

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The Sete facility also includes a new biomass-fired boiler producing steam and electricity from sunseed husks to meet its own needs, for an investment of 15.5 million euros.