OASIS is the name of the company. In the same time it is the acronym of
Organisation of the Agriculture in the Sahara by Integration and Substitution.

OASIS has four strategic aims:

— substitute partially hydrocarbons by bio-ethanol produced from the dates in a first stage, then from the biomass of the palm tree itself in a second stage.
— integrate the upstream agriculture sector to the downstream
hydrocarbons sector via splash blending or via the bio-ETBE used by refineries,
— create a food buffer,
— increase drastically the biomass in semi-arid lands to fight
desertification and to reach food security and diversification of agro-industries using bio-ethanol and in-vitro propagation of palm tree offshoots as the main engines of the growth towards oasis agro-industry.

In view of the now structural date surplus compared to the needs of both the domestic and export markets, date processing is a natural, irreversible option. However, the date sector’s choice to direct these date surpluses towards fuel bio-ethanol production can be justified by the desire to see rapid growth for the sector in order to benefit from the “aspiration effect” caused by the high-growth hydrocarbon sector. In long term, date processing could turn its attention more towards the needs of the food-processing sector.

Whereas today bio-ethanol is produced from a raw food material, tomorrow it could be produced from date palms, which are plants (rather than trees). Technological advances towards converting long chains of sugars into simple sequences of five or six carbons will make it possible to extract bio-ethanol from all biomass. Today’s expansion of the date groves, thanks to Nakhoil derived from dates, will mean access to significant quantities of biomass tomorrow. Date groves will then be in position to supply dates for other processing purposes, for example the production of “sugars”.

Oasis  program is a well-thought-out strategy targeting the downstream oil sector to open the way to an ambitious policy based on the palm tree economy. By integrating the rest of the economy the hydrocarbon sector will be seen as a growth engine driving the rest of the agro-industrial sector based on the palm tree and its transformation and not only integrated financially to the rest of the nation.

Oasis program has a huge potential of substitution in many sectors like hydrocarbons, wood, packaging, paper, cereals, animal feed, food-processing, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, etc.

 More over the expansion of a primary crop like the date palm carries fewer specialisation dangers than the expansion of intensive secondary crops. Indeed, expanding the date groves in no way excludes other food crops or crops co-planted with the date palm, in a process of diversification of food security.

It is also an exceptional environmental model in keeping with the carbon economy. Because the date palm’s biological zero is around 7º C the palm tree continues its photosynthesis practically all the year round. The date palm remains green throughout the year, which makes it a real carbon sink. An in vitro propagation centre for palm offshoots is a part of Oasis development and will be also used as a real lever for the expansion of the palm tree through the benefits of modern silviculture practices.

Oasis program is drawing its inspiration from the Brazilian model based on sugar cane. But unlike the Brazilian business model which has the strategic aim to go for energy security in the transport sector; the Oasis model has set the strategic aim to reach food security through bio-ethanol production.