Big Oil Steps Into Brazilian Ethanol

Renewable Energy World.com
May 20, 2008
by Andrew K. Burger, International Correspondent

As the debate and controversy over ethanol production and its effects on global food supply and prices rages on, just last month BP announced its first foray -- and the largest to date by a multinational oil company -- into Brazil's sugar cane-based ethanol industry.

The company announced that it will purchase a 50% stake in Tropical BioEnergia SA, a joint venture established by Brazil's second-largest sugar cane and ethanol producer, Santelisa Vale and Maeda Group, one of the world's largest cotton producers. The joint venture (JV) is building a 435 million liter per year (US 115 million gallon/year) ethanol refinery in Edeia, a town in Brazil's Goias State, and planning a second.

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