As oil prices soar, cow manure is getting more attention as an alternative fuel source, particularly in Texas, the country‘‘s biggest producer of cow patties.

MyrtleBeachOnline reports that for years, researchers have studied manure as a fertilizer. But at a time when state and federal energy bills have called for increasing renewable energy sources, there is more focus on developing cow dung as an alternative to coal or natural gas.

The Panda Group of Dallas plans to fuel a $120 million ethanol plant set to open next year in Hereford with cow manure and other waste. The company said it will realize an energy savings equivalent to 1,000 barrels of oil per day turning manure and cotton gin waste into clean-burning fuel to power the plant.

Biomass is renewable organic matter, such as manure and crops such as corn, grain sorghum and soybeans, all of which can be processed into ethanol.

With more cattle, dairy cows and hogs coming to the Texas Panhandle, and with farmers moving toward planting more dryland crops that demand less fertilizer, the potential for surplus manure is great. Nearly 5 million head of cattle come to about 100 area feedyards each year. While there, they produce billions of pounds of manure. Researchers at a feedlot are trying to figure out the best process and mix of manure to create the most usable heat and energy.

A future research project will examine the use of manure from dairy cows, which, like swine manure, requires a different process to capture the energy. But cattle for meat outnumber other concentrated animal feeding operations in the Texas Panhandle. Manure contains at best about a third to a quarter of the energy value as coal, so transporting it far from where it‘‘s produced is impractical.

So far, oil futures are cooperating. Oil futures remained above $65 a barrel Tuesday, as the latest tropical storm began plotting a course for the Gulf of Mexico and its oilfields as supply concerns lingered