Kior Rises After Biofuel Classified for Vehicles: Houston Mover

Kior Inc. (KIOR), the Texas producer of gasoline and diesel from wood, rose the most in four months after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classified the company’s cellulosic gasoline as a motor-vehicle fuel.

Kior rose 13 percent to $8.30 at the close in New York, the most since March 22.

The company was granted Part 79 registration status from the EPA for its Renewable Gasoline Blendstock 5, a required step before Kior may sell its fuel for use in vehicles, according to a statement today. The registration enables sales of a fuel mixture containing 5 percent Kior fuel and 95 percent “commercially available gasoline,” Kate Perez, a Kior spokeswoman, said by telephone.

The Pasadena, Texas-based company rose 11 percent May 14 when Chief Executive Officer Fred Cannon said it had completed construction of its first plant in Columbus, Mississippi. The facility is expected to start up “later this year,” Kior said today, without providing a date.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Herndon in San Francisco at aherndon2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net