Houston, 2 October (Argus) — Abengoa has begun idling a 5,871 b/d ethanol plant in Madison, Illinois, for maintenance in light of poor ethanol margins.

Company spokesman Christopher Standlee said the plant had no scheduled restart time.

“Basically, we have some maintenance tasks that have to be done on the plant anyway, and so due to the fact that margins are a little thin right now, we just thought this would be a good time to make sure we take care of those tasks,” he said.

Ethanol plants require yearly maintenance, and Standlee said Abengoa maintenance typically lasts one to two weeks. But high corn costs and low ethanol prices have pressured producers this year, forcing some plants to come off line.

Valero earlier this month restarted a pair of ethanol plants, including one in Illinois, it had idled in June under similar economic pressure.

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