CNOOC sells first biodiesel batch

State-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) has sold its first batch of biodiesel from the island province of Hainan, the company said. The commercial sale occurred more than one year behind an earlier schedule planned by the Hainan government. Using jatropha as a feedstock, the Hainan biodiesel plant run by CNOOC’s New Energy Investment Co. is designed to produce 60,000 tons of biodiesel per year (tpy). The project is one of three pilot biodiesel projects in China which was approved in July 2008 by the National Development and Reform Commission. (November 18, 2010)