Oil Majors and Car Giants Look to Push Ethanol As Petrol Alternative

BP and Shell, which report third-quarter results this week, have held talks with GM and Ford about increasing the availability of ethanol, the biofuel that can be used in millions of vehicles already on the road instead of petrol.

Recently, the focus has been on launching marques with hybrid engines where the petrol engine is supplemented by an electric motor. Ford plans to dramatically expand production of flexi-fuel vehicles in 2006 by adding 280,000 units.

RedNova