Petrobras Enters Ethanol Market

29 Dec 2009 • by Natalie Aster

In Brazil Petrobras’ biofuels arm Petrobras Biocombustivel has acquired a 40.4% stake in Total Agroindustria Canavieira.

The $84 million (€58 million) move enables Petrobras Biocombustivel, originally a biodiesel producer, to enter the ethanol business.

Total runs an ethanol mill in the city of Bambui, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, with total capacity of 100 million litres a year of ethanol.

The partnership will allow Total to expand the mill's capacity to 203 million litres of ethanol and generate 38.5 MW of power, generated from burning sugar cane bagasse.

Owning equity on ethanol mills is part of Petrobras long term strategy, which considers investing $2.4 billion on ethanol and biodiesel production in the period from 2009 through to 2013.

Source: biofuels-news.com

More reports available on the product: