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Ecoslops, the first company to develop a technology to sustainably produce marine fuels from refined marine oil residues (also known as 'slops'), has announced the successful issuance of ORNANE convertible bonds (net share settled bonds convertible into new shares and/or exchangeable for existing shares) for the nominal value of EUR 5.5 million.

Following the commercial validation of its first micro-refining plant in the Port of Sines, Portugal, the additional capital will be used to accelerate the development of new projects, while continuing to ramp up the initial operation to full capacity by the end of 2016, Ecoslops said.

Vincent Favier, CEO, Ecoslops, commented: "Our micro-refinery in the Port of Sines has shown its capability to transform 98% of hydrocarbon residue into marketable and certified products, exceeding expectations. In conjunction with this, the fall in global oil prices is saturating the market with slops, stretching the physical unloading of slops from ships, as well as their storage and disposal in ports to capacity. This is unsustainable in the short and medium term. Ecoslops' technology is the only solution to alleviate this situation, and based on the significant success of our first plant in Portugal, which validates the robustness and sustainability of our business model, we feel confident in significantly accelerating the growth of our operations and establishing new plants. The issuance of ORNANE convertible bonds will facilitate this, as well as enabling us to drive our operation in the Port of Sines to capacity by the end of 2016."

Ecoslops also announced total income for 2015 of EUR 2.7 million and EUR 2.3 million of sales, with EUR 2.0 million coming from its traditional activities in Sines after just a few months of production and sales. Revenue was generated from services provided to ships and industries, as well as the collection of hydrocarbon residue in the port.

Following the commencement of industrial production at the Port of Sines, 1,000 tonnes of marine diesel oil (MDO) and 320 tonnes of light bitumen (XFO) are said to have been sold for a total of EUR 0.3 million.

Since the fourth quarter of 2015 to the present date, Ecoslops says it has imported 10,000 tonnes of slops to its site in the Port of Sines. The company plans to run the refinery at full production capacity of 2,500 tonnes per months (30,000 tonnes per year) by the end of 2016. With the significant surplus of slops in the market, and the reduction in transportation costs, Ecoslops claims the cost of importing slops has been reduced by 70%, thus enabling the firm to drive further profitability into its operations. In conjunction with the recent announcements of the development of projects in the Port of Constanta on the Black Sea, and in the Port of Abidjan in the Ivory Coast, Ecoslops says it is actively working on two new sites in the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA) region, and in the Mediterranean. The company says is has also initiated talks in Egypt, the Middle East and South Africa.

"This is in line with the company's objective of signing three more projects by the end of 2017. The Americas and Asia regions, where the demand for the sustainable disposal of slops is just as high, will be more actively targeted by the end of 2016," Ecoslops said.

Based on its experience and learnings from the development of its first site, Ecoslops expects the investment requited for the developments of future plants to be in the region of EUR 10 - 12 million each, versus nearly EUR 20 million for the Port of Sines. The company also believes that new sites will have an enhanced production capacity of 35,000 tonnes per year.