Green Plains/Jefferson Energy Starts Texas Rail, Terminal Expansion

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Leading fuel ethanol producer Green Plains Incorporated (NASDAQ:GPRE) (Omaha, Nebraska) and Jefferson Energy Companies (The Woodlands, Texas), a subsidiary of Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC (NYSE:FTAI) (New York, New York), have begun a joint venture investment project in Texas.

The 50/50 joint venture terminal and rail project involves construction of four new 100,000-barrel storage tanks, which coupled with seven existing tanks, will bring the total storage capacity to more than 1 million barrels of storage at the Port of Beaumont.

The project also involves the construction of new rail infrastructure and an offloading system to handle up to 120 railcars bringing fuel ethanol to the Gulf Coast from Green Plains' 17 ethanol production facilities, primarily located in the upper Midwest. Green Plains marketing and distribution handles ethanol distribution for a number of ethanol producers.

The terminal is expecting to begin unloading fuel ethanol railcars by mid-2017.

In addition to the new distribution terminal, Fortress' Jefferson Refining LLC (The Woodlands) venture is still working toward restarting the former Independent Refining Corporation refinery in Winnie, Texas. The refinery has been shuttered since 1981 and the company is looking into investing more than $380 million to rehabilitate and restart the facility.

Plans are to produce an estimated 12,000-plus barrels per day of diesel fuel, jet fuel and naphtha. If the project moves forward in the coming year, the refinery could create an estimated 200 to 250 jobs and hundreds of construction jobs to complete the refurbishment and restart.

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