Thailand's Bangchak sees biodiesel boom

By Felicia Loo and Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Thai refiner Bangchak Petroleum BCP.BK said on Tuesday it will start a new 400,000 liters per day biodiesel unit next year and expects the business to turn a profit by then.

Thai biodiesel consumption is expected to more than double to 100,000 liters per day by the end of this year, boosted by government tax breaks, company President Anusorn Sangnimnuan told Reuters.

"We expect demand to increase a lot this year. There will be more gas stations selling biodiesel and the government is also giving out many incentives to boost consumption," he said.

Bangchak is looking to expand its biodiesel retail outlets to 500 by the end of this year from the current 200 to lift biodiesel sales, Anusorn said.

Bangchak started commercial sale of biodiesel in April last year, with supplies from its 40,000 liters-per-day plant that processes used cooking oil.

Bangchak owns 120,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) oil refinery, which is currently running at about 50 percent capacity.

The new plant, to be located close to Bangkok, will use domestically produced crude palm oil.

"Thailand will have a lot of palm oil in the next five years. The excess palm oil will be used for biodiesel so there's no need to import palm oil for that purpose," Anusorn added.  Continued...