Alberta biodiesel refinery's output set to double

By Roberta Rampton

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Canadian Bioenergy Corp. plans to build a refinery near Edmonton, Alberta, that by mid-2009 would have the capacity to produce 225 million liters (60 million U.S. gallons) of canola-based biodiesel, its chief executive said on Monday.

The C$90 million ($92 million) plant will be twice the original capacity planned by the privately held Vancouver, British Columbia-based company, which imports and distributes biodiesel, Doug Hooper said.

"The scale of the opportunity and the scale of the feedstock and the situation with the petroleum industry just suggested to us that we should build a global-scale plant here," Hooper said in an interview from the plant site.

The company owns land at Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, adjacent to a canola crushing plant owned by Bunge Ltd. (BG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's largest oilseed processor.

Hooper said the company aims to source some of its canola oil from the Bunge plant, but will also buy from others.

The company expects to receive local and provincial permits in next three weeks, allowing it to prepare the ground before winter freeze-up. It plans to start construction in spring.

The site is close to major canola-producing areas as well as to petroleum customers in Canada's oil patch, Hooper said.

Hooper said he hopes the site's proximity to the provincial capital of Edmonton will ease the challenge of finding construction workers in Alberta's overheated labor market.