BP exits jatropha biofuel project to focus on ethanol

BP Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company, will exit its jatropha biofuel project with D1 Oils Plc to focus on production of ethanol in Brazil and the U.S. and advance biobutanol development.

“To ensure the success of these investments, BP is concentrating new business development in these areas and will no longer be directly involved in the jatropha as a biofuel feedstock,” Sheila Williams, a London-based company spokeswoman, said today in an e-mail.
D1 Oils said today it agreed to acquire BP’s 50 percent interest in their joint D1-BP Fuel Crops Ltd. venture, set up in June 2007 to develop jatropha, a drought-resistant tree whose seeds contain oil used mainly in biodiesel production.

BP and D1 Oils had failed to find a third investor for the project. They began talks this year on dissolving the venture and bringing planting and plant-science operations under D1’s control. London-based D1 said last month it would be able to maintain the business at lower cost until market conditions allowed the injection of new capital.

The British oil producer is cooperating with U.S. universities to spend about $500 million over 10 years on biofuels research. It’s also working with DuPont Co., the third- largest U.S. chemicals maker, to develop biobutanol, a gasoline- like fuel made from biomass.

Houston Chronicle