Oilsource Holding Group Inc. and Abundant Biofuels Corporation Form Joint Venture to Produce Biodiesel in Colombia from Jatropha Using Abundant's Prop

Oilsource Holding Group (http://www.oilsourceholding.com/) announced that it has joined with Abundant Biofuels Corporation (http://www.abundantbiofuels.com/) to begin producing biodiesel from non-food crops in Colombia. Abundant Biofuels Colombia SRL has identified a strong interest from private and government sector.

"Our goal is to produce biodiesel and biomass for electricity needs in rural areas," said Felipe Cano, CEO of Oilsource Holding. "We will not compete with local palm oil; jatropha will be a smart, complementary alternative for the national Biodiesel Mission.

The Company plans to plant 100,000 hectares with jatropha curcas. We estimate investment of $45 million. Given our farming experience in Africa, we will diversify the harvesting into four different zones within Colombia. This gives an accurate analysis of the behavior and yields of the plant under different soil conditions." According to Mr. Cano, Abundant Biofuels' experience with jatropha in Africa will enable the joint venture to become the dominant producer of biodiesel producing biodiesel from jatropha in Colombia.

Charles Fishel, CEO of Abundant Biofuels added that jatropha is the only biodiesel feedstock that does not does not divert agricultural land from food production. "Jatropha has the added advantage of producing 20 times more energy than the energy that is required to produce it," Fishel said. "Most other feedstocks consume almost as much energy in production as the energy produced."

Mr. Cano concluded, "Alternative special crops available today like jatropha and algae and, in the near future, cellulosic diesel ('designer fuels') made directly from oil and biomass not only make social but economic sense as well."

Oilsource Holding Group Inc. is headquartered in Bogota, Colombia. Abundant Biofuels Corporation is headquartered in Monterey, CA USA.

Publication: PR Newswire
Provider: PR Newswire
Date: October 23, 2007