December 24, 2007

VeraSun/US BioEnergy's ethanol plant to come online in Q2, 2008  
 

Minnesota-based US BioEnergy's seventh ethanol plant is scheduled to come online in the second quarter of 2008. 

The plant, with an annual capacity of 110 million gallons, will be the seventh of eight ethanol manufacturing plants owned by US BioEnergy. The plant would also have an annual production of 320,000 tonnes of DDGS, according to General Manager Pete Krull.

US BioEnergy will have four plants coming on line in 2008 and this will be the third one. When all the plants are completed, US BioEnergy will have total capacity of 880 million gallons per year.

The plant would use up 37 million bushels of corn a year, or about 3 million bushels per month.

The plant's proximity to the Canadian Northern Railway was critical for exporting ethanol and distillers grains, Krull said, adding that most of the grain used by the plant would be trucked in.

US BioEnergy recently agreed to a US$686.2 million merger with the larger VeraSun Energy Corp.

VeraSun's all-stock acquisition will boost its annual production capacity to 1.6 billion gallons by the end of 2008, potentially helping it to surpass ADM, currently the largest US ethanol producer.

VeraSun shares will represent 60 percent of the combined company, which is expected to have a market capitalization of about US$$1.5 billion.

The merger is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008 pending shareholder approval and regulatory clearances.