Jatoil’s increased investment to boost plantations in Vietnam

Renewable energy firm Jatoil will become majority shareholder in its Vietnamese jatropha plantations as it invests further into the joint venture with Green Energy Vietnam (GEV). The company hopes this investment will dramatically increase its production of jatropha oil.

CEO at Jatoil Phil Hodgson said: ‘Now is the time to expand our jatropha plantings to enable the production of much larger quantities of environmentally sustainable, crude jatropha oil for use as valuable biofuel feedstock.’

Jatoil’s additional investment will give Jatoil 51% ownership in the two-year partnership.

400 hectares of jatropha seedlings are currently being grown in the Ninh Thuan area, south-central Vietnam, after being planted by contracted farmers. GEV has plans to increase this acreage by the end of June this year with a new jatropha plantation site located in the Binh Tuan and Hue/Quang Tri areas.

According to Hodgson GEV will soon seek to raise additional funding from private investors and banks for further expansion projects that will see the cultivation of more than 15,000 hectares of jatropha plantations within the next three years.

Source Biofuels International