Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Apr. 28 -- BP PLC has sent a letter to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), calling for its support in ending US import duties on Brazil's sugarcane-based ethanol.
According to the letter, seen by Brazil's state news agency, BP "believes sugarcane-based ethanol will be the lowest-carbon biofuel available in the first years of the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard."
By supporting the end of import taxes on Brazil's ethanol, the letter says, California would send a strong sign to lawmakers in Washington, DC, that the state is seriously committed to meeting emission targets.
The agency said BP is the only oil company in the world that invests in Brazil's ethanol, holding a 50% stake in Tropical Bioenergia, located in Goias state, which started operations in September 2008.
The stake resulted from $683 million investments made jointly with the Maeda Group and SantelisaVale, now controlled by Louis Dreyfus Commodities.
BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Wayward recently said the company will invest $6 million in Brazil's sugarcane-based ethanol over the next 10 years.
CARB will vote on Apr. 30 regarding new regulations to reduce emissions in the state.
Meanwhile, Brazil's state-run Petroleo Brazileiro SA (Petrobras) plans to begin selling gasoline blended with bioethanol in the Tokyo metropolitan area as early as this summer.
Petrobras has already built a facility to blend fuels at its base in Chiba Prefecture, and the Brazilian firm also will make use of a refinery it acquired last year in Okinawa Prefecture.
Meanwhile, Nippon Oil plans to meet the competition by offering biofuel at 1,000 affiliated gas stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area in June. Along with other domestic wholesalers, Nippon Oil expects to sell fuel containing 360,000 kl of bioethanol in fiscal 2010.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].