Shell wants Abengoa's 2nd-gen ethanol plant in Kansas

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (AMS:RDSA) has made a stalking horse bid of USD 26 million (EUR 23.7m) for Abengoa SA’s (BME:ABG) cellulosic ethanol plant in the US state of Kansas.

The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas major filed the offer last week with the US bankruptcy court in Kansas, media reported. If there are competing bids for the facility, an auction will be conducted on November 21, Bloomberg reported, citing the court filings.

Abengoa held an opening ceremony for the cellulosic ethanol plant, which has has an annual capacity of up to 25 million gallons (94.64 million litres), in October 2014. The troubled Spanish engineering and renewables group in August auctioned five US ethanol plants as part of its global restructuring programme.

Bloomberg and Reuters cited a Shell spokeswoman who said that the move to buy the plant was consistent with the group’s strategy to develop biofuels using sustainable feedstocks.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.910)

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