O2Diesel to start selling biofuel in France

O2Diesel (AMEX: OTD) of Newark, Delaware has received regulatory approval to start delivering its diesel ethanol blended fuel in the French market.

Approvals have been granted from DRIRE and DIREM, the regulatory bodies responsible for French environment and fuel specifications and applications.

O2Diesel's French connection began in late 2005 when Abengoa Bioenergy R&D became the company's largest shareholder, and entered into a five-year agreement to jointly develop the European market for O2Diesel's ethanol diesel fuel blend technology.

The company expects Europe will be a substantial opportunity, especially as the 2003 EU directive to replace 5.75% of fossil energy with renewable fuels is implemented in member countries

"Ethanol is not an established fuel component in Europe, so there have been a substantial number of regulatory hurdles to overcome," said Alan Rae, CEO of O2Diesel.

"We believe these approvals in France will be the first of several over the coming months as our efforts start to deliver results. We look forward to being able to announce our first fleet shortly."

France is the third largest consumer of petroleum in Europe, behind Germany and Russia, and tenth in the world. Diesel represents more than 70% of France's transportation fuel market at 29 billion litres per year.

Independent of the EU directive for 5.75% fossil fuel displacement, France has its own imposed target to replace 10% of diesel fuel with renewable alternatives by 2015.

O2Diesel says its fuel provides exceptional performance and environmental qualities for centrally fueled fleets and off-road equipment, reducing harmful emissions without sacrificing power and performance.

O2Diesel claims its fuel is or can been made available in any fuel market using existing diesel fuel storage, supply, and distribution networks.

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