Sao Paulo state, home of 60 percent of Brazilian ethanol, halts sugar cane expansion pending outcome of impact study
In Brazil, Sao Paulo state suspended new approvals for ethanol facility construction, pending the results of an environmental impact study on increased sugar cane plantation. Sao Paulo state produces 60 percent of Brazil’’s ethanol, or 3.4 Bgy, and to facilitate this more than 1.2 million additional hectares have been planted in cane in the state since 2005.
Recently, Petrobras formed a joint venture with Mitsui and Camargo Correa to construct an ethanol pipeline connecting Senador Canedo in Goias state, to the Atlantic harbor of Sao Sebastiao, in Sao Paulo state. The pipeline, which will have an annual capacity of 3.17 billion gallons of ethanol per year, will also link the Petrobras refinery in Paulina, Sao Paulo, the Tiete-Parana channel, and an existing pipeline from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. The Sao Paul-Rio pipeline will be converted to ethanol-only usage, and connects Sao Paulo to Petrobras export port in Rio harbor. Private companies will be able to use the Petrobras pipeline.
Petrobras, the state oil company and Cosan, the largest ethanol group, have been at odds over Petrobras’ state-owned pipeline plan. “If Petrobras has the logistics, it will have control of the sector and this we don’t want,” said Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, Cosan’s controlling shareholder and chief executive officer, told Agencia Estado. The proposed ethanol pipeline will run from Goias state to Sao Paulo. Private industry has been studying construction of its own pipeline, which is expect to cost $1.6 billion.
The state pipeline will be financed by the Japan Bank of International Cooperation, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Petrobras’ has planned a second pipeline from Goias to Paranagua, a major commodities port.
