Originally announced in August, Shell and Cosan received regulatory approval for its JV, dubbed Raizen, to produce biofuels for retail and commercial use. Raizen will produce and sell over 2 billion liters a year of the lowest-carbon biofuel commercially available – ethanol made from Brazilian sugar cane.
Raizen will distribute biofuels and over 20 billion liters of other industrial and transport fuels annually through a combined network of nearly 4,500 Shell-branded service stations. In Brazil it becomes the third largest fuels company and positions it to reach other key biofuel markets.
Raizen’s 24 mills can process up to 62 million tons of cane into sugar or ethanol each year, with the flexibility to adapt to market demand.
"We are building a leading position in the most efficient ethanol-producing country in the world," said Peter Voser, Shell CEO. "Low-carbon, sustainable biofuels will be increasingly important in the global transport fuel mix."
"This is a turning point in the search for alternative energy sources," Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, Cosan’s chairman of the board, said. "Raizen is one of Brazil’s largest companies and is ready to offer international markets a clean, renewable and economically viable solution."
Alternative Energy Africa is trying to reduce its own carbon footprint in 2011. Ask about our electronic subscriptions and online marketing campaigns specially tailored for individual companies.