Ensus Group
Contents
Who are the Ensus Group and who is behind it?
The Ensus Group are a bioethanol company set up to manufacture ethanol in different European countries. Their first refinery is the Wilton plant which is currently being built at Seal Sands, near Middlesborough. It is expected to be fully operational by March 2009. The Ensus Group states that this will be Europe’s largest ethanol refinery. Other refineries of approximately the same size, owned by other companies, will start production in 2009, too. In March 2007 Ensus Group was bought by the Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings. This was a management by-out, meaning that the management structure and team were retained. The [[Carlyle Group]] and Riverstone Holdings are private equity firms, i.e. investment companies.[[Riverstone Holdings]] specialise on the energy and power sector, whilst the Carlyle Group have a very wide range of investments, including military, car and transport, energy and power, healthcare, real estate, telecommunications, and media..[1] Both firms are increasing their investment in the biofuel sector, particularly in North America but, through Ensus, also in Europe.
Company websites
Ensus Group: http://www.ensusgroup.com/ Carlyle Group: http://www.carlyle.com/index.html Riverstone Holdings: http://www.riverstonellc.com/index.html
The Wilton refinery
The refinery will have the capacity to produce 410 million litres of ethanol from 1 – 1.1 million tonnes of wheat a year. Wheat will be “predominantly sourced from Europe”, including the UK, with the refinery being built next to a port to facilitate imports. Ensus has entered into contracts with the following companies with regards to the Wilton refinery: Shell: Shell Trading have signed a long-term contract to purchase all of the ethanol which will be produced. Glencore International AG: They have a contract with the Ensus Group to supply all of the wheat to the refinery and to buy the ethanol by-product DDGS (dried distillers grain with solubles) which will be sold on to the livestock industry for animal feed. Simon Carves: They are a wholly owned subsidiary of Sembawang Engineers and Constructors and a member of the Punj Lloyd Group, which holds the contract for building the Wilton refinery Semb Corp Utilities UK: A subsidiary of Singapore-based Semb Corp Utilities, describing themselves as the “leading industrial utilities and services business on Teesside and one of the largest in the UK, providing steam and electricity to the major manufacturers on the Wilton International site, including Dow, Artenius UK, Croda, Sabic and Huntsman.”1. They have been contracted to provide utilities at the refinery. Royal Vopak: They describe themselves as “the global marketleader for the independent storage and handling of liquid oil products, chemicals, vegetable oils and liquefied gases”2. They will provide storage for the Wilton plant and are currently expanding their Teesside terminal and building eight new tanks for this purpose.
1) Semb Utilities website: www.sembutilities.co.uk/ 2) Vopak website: www.vopak.com
