BP Biofuels CEO presents sugar-based vision

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Kris Bevill
Posted Dec. 3, 2010

Growing biofuels mandates will require 220 “world-scale” cellulosic biofuels plants to be operational in the U.S. by 2020, according to Phil New, CEO of BP Biofuels. The head of the oil giant’s biofuels division presented his company’s vision for the future of biofuels at a recent International Sugar Organization gathering in London. He said BP believes the world is witnessing a coming of age of the biofuels sector. Federal mandates in the U.S., Europe, Brazil and elsewhere will continue to drive biofuels demand. In the U.S. alone, this will require $100 billion of new investment and 220 new commercial-scale cellulosic production facilities over the next decade.

The U.S., China and other large consumers of transportation fuels are focused on sourcing their fuel locally, New said, which could result in biofuels accounting for up to 20 percent of the world’s transport fuels market by 2030. BP believes sugar-based biofuels will represent the majority of these types of fuels and if demand follows the predictions, sugar-based fuels will become the world’s third largest source of liquid hydrocarbons by 2030. “Delivering this scale would mean that the projected annual growth in volumes from the global biofuels industry between 2010 and 2030 will outstrip the best that any individual OPEC or non-OPEC oil producer has been able to achieve in growth terms over the past five years,” New said. “So the opportunity for sugar producers and biofuel producers is clear.”

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