Alto Ingredients Inc (ALTO)

[Harry Winston]

This article, published nine days ago, looks like a hibernation of Pacific Ethanol's operations. I could be wrong, but I don't think they're about to have a fire sale of their assets.

PHILADELPHIA/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Pacific Ethanol Inc plans to idle the western portion of its ethanol plant in Aurora, Nebraska, over the next two weeks amid historically weak margins that have forced the industry to throttle back production, according to three sources familiar with the plant’s operations.

The 110 million-gallon-a-year western section could remain shut until the summer, the sources said on Wednesday. The company, the nation’s sixth-largest ethanol producer, shut the smaller, eastern section of the plant late last month and laid off more than two dozen workers.

The sources requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the company’s operations.

The company has already idled roughly 20 percent of its production capacity.

“We are continuously evaluating run rates. Aurora West is running,” Pacific Ethanol Chief Executive Officer Neil Koehler said in an email on Wednesday, declining to say whether the company was planning to idle the plant.