Ethanol Plant Plans Still On Track For Jamestown? -- April 12, 2016

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

JAMESTOWN -- Plans for a $150 million cellulosic ethanol plant at the Spiritwood Energy Park Association industrial park are underway, according to Thomas Corle, founding partner of New Energy Investors, a Pennsylvania company.

If built, the ethanol plant would directly employ about 40 people with another 60 people working indirectly for the plant.

The JSDC Board of Directors on Monday approved recommending a $75,000 match to a $225,000 grant that New Energy Investors has applied for from the Agricultural Products Utilization Committee.

If the APUC grant is approved in May, the money would be used to continue the planning and engineering work for the project, said Robert Johnsen, CEO of New Energy Investors.

Corle said the planned plant would process corn stover, corn stalks and leaves removed from the field after the grain is harvested and wheat straw to produce ethanol for fuel and lignin, a solid fuel that can be burned by coal-fired generating plants reducing carbon emissions.

Corle said the plant would use proprietary technology developed by DONG Energy, which is Denmark's largest energy company.

The partnership between DONG and an American company is a first, Corle said.

“This will put Jamestown on the map,” he said. “This would be the first use of Danish technology to produce cellulosic ethanol in the Midwest. This will be covered by the national and international press.”

When operational, the plant will utilize about 190,000 tons of corn stover and wheat straw to produce about 13 million gallons of ethanol and 90,000 tons of lignin each year. This would amount to the crop residue from between 150,000 and 170,000 acres of cropland each year. Added income to the region’s farmers would amount to between $10 million and $15 million each year, Corle said.

Much, much more at the link.

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MRO To Sell Non-Core Assets

Reuters/Rigzone is reporting:

Marathon Oil Corporation said on Monday it had signed agreements to sell non-core assets for $950 million, bringing its total sales through divestitures to about $1.3 billion since last August.

The oil and natural gas producer, which did not identify the buyers, said it will divest all of its Wyoming upstream and midstream assets for $870 million, excluding closing adjustments.

The Wyoming properties, mainly waterflood developments in the Big Horn and Wind River basins, averaged 16,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day in first quarter 2016 production. The deal, expected to close in mid-2016, also includes a 570-mile pipeline.