Still, its two large tanks, connected to storage facilities by a tangle of pipes, are capable of producing more than 5,000 litres of biodiesel an hour from plant oils. Unfortunately, the facility is idle.

In July, Salvador Namburete, Mozambique's Minister of Energy, told the International Conference on Biofuels 2007 in Brussels, Belgium, that he saw great potential in biofuels because they would reduce Mozambique's dependency on fossil fuels.

"They give response to high, unpredictable and unstable oil prices on the international market," he said, and would contribute to national poverty alleviation. "They are labour intensive, and can generate agricultural and agro-industrial employment, self-employment and income, particularly in rural areas, where the incidence of poverty is highest."

But as Ecomoz and other ventures suggest, the sudden push for large biofuel projects in countries like Mozambique will be a process of trial and error.

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[20 Nov 2007 11:22]

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