Grainnet

Citgo and Valero Top Two U.S. Ethanol Importing Companies in First Six Months of 2007

U.S. petroleum refiners Citgo and Valero (NYSE: VLO) are the top 2 ethanol importing companies in the United States in the first 6 months of 2007.

Overall imports were up 7.64% compared to the same period in 2006, from 193,620 gallons to 208,404 gallons.

The growth of overall imports over the first period of 2007 was expected as ethanol prices peaked in March 2006 because of a tight sugar market.

One of the main contributors was Citgo, which imported 29,862,000 gallons of ethanol compared to zero last year.

Similar to other companies, Citgo only imported ethanol in the second half of 2006, after Brazilian ethanol prices had dropped.

Number two Valero imported virtually the same amount, up 0.63%., while Noble and ConocoPhilips were up 255% and 372% respectively.

Other changes include British Petroleum (BP), which didn’t import any ethanol in 2007 after being number 1 in both the first and second half of 2006, and Chevron, down 43%.

Both companies have seriously increased their involvement in the domestic industry with investments in research and production technology, while the increasing availability of domestically produced ethanol also increased.

The complete list was published by Ethanol Statistics in its latest market report ‘The United States Ethanol Market 2007’, available at www.ethanolstatistics.com.

The report also provides a breakdown of U.S. ethanol production costs and a detailed analysis of U.S. consumption and production.

For more information, please call Rob Penne at 31-654-325-588.