Republic

Belarus, Ireland to set up two joint ventures to produce ethanol fuel

Two big joint Belarusian-Irish ventures will be set up in Belarus to produce ethanol fuel, the chief of Representative Office of Greenfield Project Management Limited in Belarus, Andrei Aleinikov, told reporters when presenting the project in Minsk. He noted that the company and the Belbiopharm concern have struck cooperation agreements to set up two joint ventures – at the Mozyr aggregate works “Ethanol” and Bobruisk hydrolysis plant. For the five years Greenfield Project Management Limited has been engaged in ethanol fuel projects. The future joint venture Greenfield Ethanol Bobruisk is expected to make 10 million decaliters of ethanol fuel a year while Greenfield Ethanol Mozyr – 55 million decaliters. The two joint ventures will be organized as joint limited companies. Greenfield Project Management Limited will own 80% of shares while Belarusian participants – 20% each. The investments will be provided by the Irish company. The project is currently at the stage of registration of the two legal entities – residents of Belarus. Andrei Aleinikov said that the company will invest heavy in the project. “The matter concerns several hundreds millions of euros,” he added. The ethanol fuel production is highly profitable and efficient in Belarus, he stressed. The profits are expected to total around EUR 350 million a year. This is an export-oriented project. At the first stage 100% of products will be exported to the European Union. Andrei Aleinikov said that today there is no domestic demand for this fuel in Belarus. He did not rule out though that in the future the Belarusian market would ripen for ethanol fuel as the relative treaty-legal base is formed. According to Andrei Aleinikov, ethanol fuel which will be produced in Belarus in several years has been already purchased. In Belarus ethanol fuel will be made from rye, triticale and wheat. About 30% of raw stock will be purchased in Belarus, the rest – in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. In the future raw stock purchases in Belarus will increase. All in all, the annual demand of the two companies in raw stock will make up roughly 1,5 million tons of grain a year.