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Biofuels Carry Upside for Early Investors: Jim Lane
Source: Zig Lambo of The Energy Report (2/16/12)
The biofuel sector, already an $80 billion a year industry, is still in its infancy. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Biofuels Digest Publisher Jim Lane discusses the exponential growth slated for this once-obscure energy source, and how its market resembles the traditional oil and gas industry in many ways. While biofuels are not for the faint of heart, as Lane cautions, investors who do their homework can get in early on companies that offer incredible upside potential.
The Energy Report: Many investors have some level of familiarity with biofuels, but don't have the depth of understanding required to enter that market with confidence. As the publisher of Biofuels Digest, which focuses exclusively on this sector, what do you think is the best way for investors to dip their toes into these equities?
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Jim Lane: The biofuels sector has grown into an $80 billion (B) industry today, even though it's only in its infancy. Why be interested in the sector? Because it's big and it's going to get bigger. There's lots of money to be made and lots of good to be done.
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TER: What exactly is a biofuel?
JL: Biofuels include any fuel molecule produced from a plant source using tools and microorganisms from synthetic biology. It could be a residue from agricultural waste, forest waste, municipal solid waste, animal waste, or something made using a biological process. There are about 100 different plants that can be used to produce biofuels, and many can be grown in areas that won't support traditional food agriculture. The main plant sources are still corn, sugar cane and soy beans, but biofuels can also be made synthetically from carbon dioxide and water, or carbon monoxide and water. Biofuel processes can turn pollutant waste streams with little or negative value into value streams sometimes worth thousands of dollars per ton.
The main basis to date has been using traditional processes, such as yeast fermentation, to produce an alcohol fuel known as ethanol. We also have a process that takes plant or waste oils and turns that into what's called biodiesel. Those are pretty built-out industries in many ways. They'll grow, but they won't grow quite as much in the future as what we call advanced biofuels, which use exotic processing techniques to extract value from unusual feedstocks.
TER: Are investors making money in this space at this time? What segments are doing best at this point and why would that be?
JL: Yes, investors can make money in this market. It depends on the stage of the company. It generally takes about 10 years to go from the original lab or research work to producing on a commercial or industrial scale. Depending on a company's stage of development, investors may see early-stage cash burn, the beginnings of commercialization, or substantial profitability. The companies that are further along on their path are very profitable. For example, Valero Energy Corp. (VLO:NYSE) is a major U.S. oil refiner, and last quarter its most profitable division was ethanol production, based on about 1,100 million gallons in capacity. But the bigger opportunities for investors are in selectively picking the winners of tomorrow, because those will offer more upside.
TER: Is there a lot of research going on in different areas that aren't anywhere close to commercialization at this point, or has commercial production been largely standardized?
JL: While there are well over 200 companies currently developing projects around the world using advanced biofuel techniques at various stages of development, there are three basic areas for investors to consider, much like the oil and gas market. We designate these areas as upstream, midstream and downstream.
The upstream segment includes companies that are developing advanced feedstocks with higher yields that grow under more exotic conditions. They're working on genetics and seed development.
Midstream companies utilize processing technologies that extract fuel from plants or waste material, similar to an oil refinery, whereas upstream is comparative to traditional oil and gas exploration. Consider the feedstocks an above-ground oil fuel, if you will.
