Floods force Bangchak Petroleum to shut down biodiesel facility

Recent flooding in Thailand has caused raw material supply disruptions which have led to the shut down of Bangchak Petroleum’s 300,000 liter per day biodiesel facility in Bang Pa-in in Ayutthaya. The Bangkok Post reported that despite the shutdown, the company has a stockpile of 5 million liters of biodiesel which would sufficiently supply pump stations for a month. The company shut down the facility to prevent further damage and said it expects to resume operations in the palm oil-based facility as soon as the water recedes. The Bang Pa-in estate has an oil depot, a biodiesel plant and a solar farm. The biodiesel plant began operations in 2009. Twenty six out of Thailand’s 77 provinces have been affected by the worst flood the country has seen since the major flood of 1995. (October 14, 2011)