International Fuel Technology signs agreement with Petrochem Carless
Joint Marketing and Distribution Agreement covers distribution of proprietary cleaner burning fuels in Europe
International Fuel Technology, Inc. (IFT; St. Louis) announced that it has entered into a preliminary Joint Marketing and Distribution Agreement with Petrochem Carless Limited for a series of cleaner burning alternative diesel fuels to be sold in Europe.
"We are very pleased with the progress IFT has made with Petrochem Carlessto have the foundation of our first distribution agreement in place." Said Jonathan R. Burst, Chairman and CEO of IFT. "Our additive formulation is readyto go to market and we see a potential opportunity to achieve broad commercialization in Europe through Petrochem Carless."
"For Carless, this represents an important effort to use the existingresources and relationships we have developed to bring a new and very importantseries of alternative fuel blends to market," stated Gary Kirk, Sales Manager - Performance Fluids, for Petrochem Carless.
A more definitive agreement is to be negotiated over the next few months that will involve IFT licensing to Petrochem Carless its patented additive formulation for a minimum period of five years.
IFT's additive formulation enables the complete blending of diesel fuel with oxygenates and other renewable substances. Petrochem Carless, a UK-based refiner of specialty fuels and related products, will blend the finished products and distribute these alternative fuels to end user customers throughits already existing channels.
The joint venture between the two companies will initially focus on three specific alternative, renewable fuel blends. The focus of all three of the products is to achieve meaningful reductions in harmful engine emissions,especially NOx and Particulate Matter, while improving engine performance inpower and efficiency over other alternative fuel blends.
"We have been working for several years to get the optimal mix of our additive with diesel fuel and renewable source materials that are known to work to reduce engine emissions," related Ian Williamson, Director of Technical Operations for IFT. "Our next step is to find the right distribution partners to both create the final alternative fuel blend and get it to market. Petrochem Carless is just the partner IFT is seeking because of their reputation for high-quality products and access to a large market in Europe and the Middle East."
The fuel blends to be sold by Petrochem Carless will be priced using a variety of already established tax reduction programs for alternative fuels by the UK government and the European Parliament. This will enable the price of the fuels to the end user to be neutral or even lower than the cost of existing untreated fuels.
Gary Kirk stated that Petrochem Carless is already in discussions with several key customers who would be important links in the distribution of thealternative fuel blends being developed with IFT. "The demand of our customers and end users to have cleaner burning fuels that maintain engine power andefficiency is already in the commercial marketplace. With these alternative fuel blends combined with tax and other economic advantages, there now exists the solution to meet these demands," said Kirk.
Petrochem Carless was formed in December 2000 through the purchase by Petrochem of Carless Refining and Marketing Ltd. from Repsol-YPF Group of Spain. Petrochem and Carless, founded in 1981 and 1859, respectively, represent nearly150 years of experience in the petrochemical and specialty fuels industries. Petrochem's strength lies in product distribution, while Carless has built a reputation for high-quality manufacturing and refining operations. The company ships over one million tons of product annually representing sales of over 350 million pounds sterling to clients in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
IFT is a St. Louis-based company founded in the mid-1990s to develop engine emission control technologies. The company's proprietary additive formulations enable diesel and gasoline fuels to be perfectly blended in a stable emulsification with oxygenates (ethanol) and other substances (water, urea) tocreate alternative, renewable fuel blends that reduce levels of harmful emissions (NOx, Particulate Matter, CO, CO2, HC). Equally important, these alternative fuel blends result in the maintenance and even improvement in engine performance (power and engine efficiency or miles per gallon), enabling IFT to offer a more economic solution to existing engine pollution reduction alternatives.
Source: International Fuel Technology Inc.