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22/02/05

Rolls-Royce funds new D1 refinery

D1 Oils plc (“D1”) today announced it has agreed terms with Rolls-Royce to finance a D1 20 refinery. The new refinery, to be located in Durban, South Africa, will support D1’s activities in South Africa and represents a fundamental step in establishing the D1 brand and operation in Africa.

The D1 20 refinery is expected to be built and fully operational by third quarter of 2005. It is able to produce eight million litres of biodiesel per annum from crude vegetable oil.

Under the offset financing arrangement, Rolls-Royce will provide a US$1million loan over four years to D1 at preferential rates of interest. D1 believes that further offset arrangements are an attractive method of expanding its portfolio of refineries. It is currently estimated that there are several billion dollars of unfulfilled offset credits worldwide.

D1 Chairman Karl E Watkin MBE said, “This agreement, which we believe will be the first of many, is a creative way of securing additional non-equity funding to develop our business worldwide. We are delighted to conclude our first offset financing deal with Rolls-Royce who is the first major corporation to understand its benefits.”
D1 CEO Philip Wood said, “This is the culmination of more than two years hard work by the D1 team in partnership with Rolls-Royce. It is a key component of our plan to commence refining operations in South Africa in 2005 and develop an indigenous supply of feedstock.”