Idled Ethanol Plant Getting Another Chance

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One of the oldest ethanol production facilities in the state is expected to restart late this year or early next. The city of South Bend has announced Noble Americas South Bend Ethanol LLC has purchased the former New Energy Corp. plant, which started operating in the mid-1980s. The new owners expect to employ 50. New Energy idled the plant late last year citing economic challenges in the ethanol industry, including high corn prices, high inventories and lower demand.

July 18, 2013

News Release

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The City of South Bend has announced a new owner for the former New Energy plant. Noble Americas South Bend Ethanol LLC (NASBE) has purchased the plant and plans to restart it in late 2013 or early 2014.

The 70-acre facility is expected to employ 50. The facility is Indiana's longest running ethanol plant. New Energy began operating the facility in the mid-1980s.

“We are pleased that this firm has chosen South Bend as the right place to make this investment,” Mayor Pete Buttigieg says. “Throughout this process, we have wanted to see this plant operated, not liquidated, employing residents in the new economy.”

NASBE is a subsidiary of Noble Americas Corp (NAC) which is an energy marketing and trading company headquartered in Stamford, Conn. with large offices also in Calgary and Houston. NASBE and NAC are indirectly, wholly owned subsidiaries of the Noble Group Ltd. (NGL). NGL, founded in 1987, specializes in commodity supply chain management services for the agricultural, petroleum products/crude oil, industrial metals/coal, logistics and shipping, and energy sectors. Its energy trading business is focused on arbitrage trading and asset management in the natural gas and power sectors.

“This acquisition will help compliment Noble's existing ethanol business in the United States. The idea is to organically grow this into a major physical ethanol business,” says William Cronin, president of NASBE.

Source: The City of South Bend