signs joint venture in north america

Sydney - Thursday - August 10: (RWE Australian Business News) -
Australian Biodiesel Group Ltd (ASX code: ABJ) has signed a joint
venture agreement with ArcLight Capital Partners LLC a specialised
private equity firm focused on the energy industry.
Under the agreement, ABG USA Ltd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Aust Biodiesel) and the private equity firm will form a joint venture
entity to assess, and if approved, develop three biodiesel manufacturing
facilities in North America.
Each party will contribute up to 50 million US dollars to the
joint venture.
The proposed facilities will utilise Aust Biodiesel's unique
Modular Continuous Transesterification Process technology, as
successfully deployed at the company's 160 million litre per annum
capacity Narangba production facility in Queensland.
Aust Biodiesel expects to derive profits from the construction
of the projects, associated licence fees and the operation and
maintenance of the sites.
Total diesel consumption in the United States during 2003 was
around 225 billion litres, with biodiesel consumption expected to reach
at least 1 billion litres by 2009.
The US National Biodiesel Board estimates that 500 major fleets
already use the fuel, serviced by 1400 distributors and 450 retailers
offering the fuel.
Aust Biodiesel intends to raise additional capital in the order
of 5 to 10 million Australian dollars in the near term to fund on-going
development work in North America and other activities.