BIOFUELS producer D1 Oils will help create and support hundreds of jobs in the region as it continues its international expansion, the chief executive said last night.

Stockton-based D1, which is listed on the junior stock exchange, yesterday announced that it had won the £15m backing of a bank to help it plant trees in India to provide biodiesel.

Chief executive Philip Wood said the move by the State Bank of India to lend the money to Indian farmers, enabling them to plant the seeds and sell the harvested product back to D1, was a very strong endorsement in the business.

It is hoped that D1 will become a global supplier of low-cost, environmentally-friendly biodiesel.

Mr Wood also said that D1 planned to bring a refinery to Teesside to carry out research and development by the summer.

D1 is planning to put out to tender to North-East companies to build two refineries in Teesside, which could create or underpin even more jobs in the region.

The company has more than doubled staff numbers since floating on the stock exchange and has 20 staff in Teesside in logistics, project management, engineering and administration, with about ten staff in the business development arm in London.

It predicted that more than 100 people will be employed in Teesside alone in the future.

D1 is already using local contractors to help carry out its work.

"We currently have a refinery near Preston, due to logistics reasons, but that will be coming back to Teesside by the summer," Mr Wood said.

"That one is the prototype refinery for research and development, and will form the basis of the refineries we plan to build all over the world."

He said that the rapid growth of D1 meant he was looking for new premises in the Teesside area.

"When the crops are grown and we can start harvesting that is when we will see more rapid growth," he said.

"We are reasonably stable at the moment but we are adding project managers all the time."

"Once we start fabricating the refineries there will be manufacturing jobs as well, which we will probably sub-contract.

"The North-East is becoming quite central for biofuels generally, with other companies based around there doing important things.

"It is becoming a centre of expertise for the renewable energy industry."