Mercuria Wins Brazil Carbon Emissions Auction
26/09/2008 19:31
PR Newswire
GENEVA, September 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercuria Energy Trading S.A. of Switzerland has won an auction by the Sao
Paulo Municipal Government in Brazil of 713,000 certified emission reduction
(CER) credits, representing 713,000 tons of CO2 equivalent. The winning bid
was 19.20 Euros ($28.20) per credit-a total of over 13.68 million Euros.
The auction took place under the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, an
international treaty under which signatory nations agree to create a market
for carbon emissions, in order to try to reduce CO2 emissions into the
earth's atmosphere.
The auction was held by the BM? Exchange in Brazil. Eight bidders
participated in the auction.
Instead of releasing methane gas from its landfills into the atmosphere,
Sao Paolo traps and pipes the gas for use, thus qualifying for the emissions
credits, which it can sell. The CERs come from the Bandeirantes landfill
Energy Project (454,343 CERs) and the San Joao landfill Energy Project
(258,657 CERs). The two projects have methane-based electricity generating
plants designed to supply 370 MWh per year-enough for 700,000 people--and to
improve living conditions near the landfill sites, in some of the city's
poorest areas.
"Mercuria has a network of contacts with refineries, utilities and many
others around the world who are in need of such emissions credits" explains
Mercuria carbon trader Jean- Francois Steels, due to requirements to cap
emissions under - for example - the European Trading Scheme (EU ETS).
"Like all trading" he said, "it is a question of supply and demand. In
this case the supply is from Brazil. The demand is likely to be in Europe and
Japan."
Mercuria Energy Group President and CEO Marco Dunand said "as a trading
group, Mercuria wants to cover the entire energy complex. We are pleased this
winning bid at auction will allow us to expand our carbon emissions trading,
which we expect to represent a growing share of our overall business."
Mercuria Energy Trading SA is a subsidiary of Mercuria Energy Group Ltd,
a global energy company which is one of the five largest independent private
crude oil and petroleum products traders in the world.
http://www.mercuria.com
For More Information: David Ensor, Exec Vice President for Communications and Strategy, Mercuria Energy Group Ltd., dbensor@mercuria.com, +44-7900-917243
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