BP invests $560 million for 50 percent stake in Brazilian ethanol venture

In Brazil, BP will invest $560 million for a 50 percent stake in Tropical Bioenergia, a joint venture with Santelisa Vale and Maeda Group that will build 370 Mgy in sugar cane ethanol capacity in Goias state.

The CEO of BP said last month that “Ethanol is here today. It’s important. It matters. It pushes the ball forward, and we blend and sell 800 million gallons of ethanol a year in the United States,” adding that he expected biofuels to supply as much as 30 percent of global fuel demand.” Robert Lukefahr told the Wall Street Journal that “We have to have stable, long-term, clear policy so we know what the rules are.”

Recently in New Zealand, BP testified that biofuel requirements proposed to take effect July 1st would result in a price increase of 27 cents per gallon or more, for diesel and gasoline.

The oil refiner said that the cost increase, on a target of 0.53 percent biofuels content in 2008, rising to 3.4 percent in 2012, would come as a result of infrastructure requirements to move and store the fuels, primarily the building of storage and blending facilities in multiple terminals. Oil companies face a fine of as much as $20 million for missing their obligations, rising to $30 million by 2012

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Helen Clark has committed the government to use B10 blends or electric power for 80 percent of its fleet by 2015, and the country has a 3.4 percent biofuel mandate target for 2012.

In England, DuPont and BP announced that test results showed that Bu16, a blend of 16 percent biobutanol and 84 percent gasoline, caused no harm to engines and did not “phase separate” in engine testing.

The companies have established a $36 million research lab in Hull, using wheat as a feedstock. The companies, along with Associated British Foods, previously agreed to develop a 400 million ethanol plant at the Hull location. The joint research efforts has resulted in 60 patent applications to date in its drive to establish a commercially viable butanol production process by 2010.

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