OREANDA-NEWS. September 01, 2010. The rapeseed oil maker Werol Tehased based in Estonia's Jogevamaa region and controlled by the entrepreneur Rein Kilk will on Sunday lay the cornerstone of a new pressing unit that costs 130 million kroons (EUR 8.3 mln), the business daily Aripaev reports.

The new unit will have twice the capacity of the old one, crushing 145,000 tons of rapeseed annually.

Enterprise Estonia will put up around a tenth of the investment, the rest of the financing comes from equity and borrowed funds. "I guess that's one of the largest investments in South Estonian industry and agriculture this year," Kilk said. The new plant is to go into operation in January.

In Kilk's words, the project was prompted by partly outdated equipment. The old presses were patched together from Chinese and Argentine equipment, he said. Modern equipment however requires fewer hands and so the number of jobs at Werol will not increase significantly.

In addition the company is going to install a power turbine of its own. "If power is cut off even for half a second, the presses will grind to a halt," Kilk explained.

It is planned to start producing also biofuel at the new plant. "We'll buy back used oil and turn it into biodiesel," Kilk said.