14/01/2014 (Alliance News) - Dekeloil Public Ltd said Monday it has received roughly EUR610,000 as part of an off-take agreement with Societe Africaine de Raffinerie (SAR) to supply crude palm oil from its extraction mill.

Dekeloil, is the operator and 51% owner of a vertically integrated palm oil project in the Ivory Coast. It said the payment is part of a total advance payment of roughly EUR915,000.

The company said SAR is in the process of constructing a palm oil refinery in Abidjan which is targeted to receive the first delivery of crude palm oil in the second quarter 2014.

Dekeloil said the site will require 6,000 tonnes of palm oil per quarter as feedstock and, in the agreement, the company will provide 24,000 tonnes per year of good-quality palm oil to SAR. Dekeloil's extraction mill produces 60 tonnes of crude palm oil per hour.

"This is a major step in terms of commercialising our assets and maximising returns once production commences in the first quarter 2014 at our crude palm oil mill, which will have a capacity to produce 70,000 tonnes per year," Dekeloil Executive Director Lincoln Moore said in a statement.

Dekeloil shares were down 11% at 1.33 pence, having risen to an intraday peak of 1.65p earlier Monday.