NATCHEZ — Rentech officials are hoping a yet-to-be opened plant in Rialto, Calif., will have a positive impact for the company’s planned Natchez facility.

Rentech announced a contract last week to supply eight airlines at Los Angeles International Airport with the fuel to keep their ground operations vehicles running.

Rentech Vice President of Investor Relations and Communications Julie Dawoodjee said the fuel that will fulfill the LAX contract, which will be made at the Rialto plant, will serve to show other potential customers how well Rentech’s fuels work.

“We think it will bring a validity to the fuel,” Dawoodjee said. “And it’s going to bring some attention to Rentech.”

Like the Natchez plant, the Rialto plant will turn feedstock into clean burning diesel and jet fuel.

But neither of those plants will be churning out fuel any time soon.

Dawoodjee said current projections for the Rialto plant don’t call for the facility to be up and running until 2012, at which point it will generate up 600 barrels of fuel per day.

While Dawoodjee said the company is “pursuing both (plants) simultaneously in terms of development,” there is no current timeline for construction or completion of the Natchez plant.

“The 2012 deadline is dated,” Dawoodjee said of the deadline originally given to the Natchez facility. “But the project is very much active and alive.”

Once completed, the $4.5 billion Natchez facility will make up 30,000 barrels per day of fuel.

Dawoodjee said the company is still in process of filing for the necessary environmental and construction permits, which may not be granted for one year.

As the company pursues the needed permits, it is also seeking investors and customers, Dawoodjee said.

“They’re all tied together,” she said.

And as the company continues to make plans for the future, its stock continues to rise.

On Monday, the company’s stock was trading at $2.17 a share, up from a 52-week low of .45 cents last fall.

While Dawoodjee did not attribute the stock jump to any one thing, recent progress, like the LAX contract, have helped the company.

“It’s encouraging,” she said.