Struggling ethanol producer Pacific Ethanol just announced that it plans to start making ethanol again. According to this press release, the company plans to bring its Magic Valley plant in Idaho back online for the new year. The plant, capable of producing 60 million gallons of ethanol annually, should be back up and running in January 2010, as long as the bankruptcy court approves.
Pacific Ethanol says that market conditions for ethanol production have … Read the rest
It was just days ago that the government announced its intention to revive the biofuels industry with the formation of the Biofuel Interagency. The help couldn’t come any faster for Pacific Ethanol (PEIX), the largest ethanol producer on the West Coast. While the company itself didn’t file bankruptcy, it did place four of its production plants in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection which had defaulted on about a quarter of a billion in debt. Ethanol producers … Read the rest
Put all ethanol/biofuel stocks on the radar. Today the Obama administration announced the creation of the Biofuels Interagency Working Group and announced $786.5 million in Recovery Act funds for renewable fuel projects.
“We must invest in a clean energy economy that will lead to new jobs, new businesses and reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” said President Obama. “The steps I am announcing today help bring us closer to that goal. If we are to … Read the rest
Earth2Tech.com has started a deathwatch for Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) and Nova Biosource Fuels. Pacific Ethanol could be out of cash be the end of the month, and the company may go bankrupt. This shouldn’t be a huge surprise to anyone, as the price of ethanol has plummeted and people have become aware of how inefficient it is to produce ethanol from corn.
Nova Biosource Fuels filed for Chapter 11 last week, and its shares are … Read the rest
Pacific Ethanol is temporarily halting production at its Stockton plant, laying off more than 20 workers. The company says that unfavorable market conditions prompted its decision, according to the Sacramento Bee. Pacific Ethanol VP Paul Koehler told the newspaper that the company is halting production at the Stockton plant and a plant in Burley, Idaho:
… Read the restEach plant employs about 35 people, two-thirds of whom will be laid off, Koehler said.
"A core staff will
Pacific Ethanol just announced that its lenders have agreed to give the company more time to renegotiate its default loan agreements. Pacific Ethanol reached two separate agreements with its lenders, both of which give the company until February 27th before the lenders begin to take action.
Currently, according to the Sacramento Business Journal, "the company is negotiating with Wachovia Capital Finance Corp. (Western) to alter terms of an operating line of credit for Pacific … Read the rest
Pacific Ethanol announced on Friday that it will be suspending ethanol production at its Madera plant starting tomorrow, January 12th. The plant can produce up to 40 million gallons of ethanol per year, but there is no word on when production will resume.
According to the Sacramento Business Journal, Pacific Ethanol "said in a news release that “extended unfavorable market conditions for producing ethanol” prompted the suspension.… Read the rest
Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) reported losses that were much worse than expected this morning as the ethanol companies continue to get hammered on plummeting gasoline prices.
Excluding a charge related to asset impairments, the company reported a loss of .51/share while analysts had expected a loss of .15/share. Sales did increase 56% in the quarter but the cost of corn has risen much faster than the price of ethanol sending margins into the red.
“We saw … Read the rest
Pacific Ethanol released its third-quarter results today. First, the good news: net sales increased compared to the third quarter 2007, from $118 million to $183 million this year. Now, the bad news: losses increased, too, from $5.9 million or .15/diluted share last year to $54.9 million or .98/diluted share this year.
The increase in losses despite the increase in sales was caused by a number of factors including high corn prices and the company’s … Read the rest
Pacific Ethanol, which posted a second quarter loss of 2.2 million, is attempting to purchase Phoenix Bioindustries and its ethanol plant in Goshen, CA. If the deal goes through, this will put Phoenix in control of the first ever corn-to-ethanol plant in California. Currently, Pacific Ethanol is only involved in distributing ethanol. The purchase of the plant will allow them to break into the far more lucrative production channel, with average profit margins of … Read the rest