MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP and Bunge announced that they have completed the formation of BP Bunge Bioenergia, the Brazilian bioenergy joint venture that combines their Brazilian bioenergy and sugarcane ethanol businesses, said the company.
The continued growth of biofuels will be a key enabler to decarbonizing transportation. Brazil is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing markets for biofuels and, through this transaction, BP Bunge Bioenergia is now the second largest operator by effective crushing capacity in the Brazilian bioethanol market.
Mario Lindenhayn from BP will be the executive chairman of BP Bunge Bionergia and Geovane Consul from Bunge will be chief executive. BP and Bunge have equal representation on the board of directors of the company.
Mario Lindenhayn said: "Biofuels is an increasingly important part of a lower carbon energy system. We are proud to complete the formation of BP Bunge Bioenergia, which provides a strong foundation to build upon the capabilities of both organizations to develop ideas for growth and deliver significant operational and financial synergies."
Geovane Consul added: “BP Bunge Bioenergia is well-placed to support Brazil’s increasing demand for low carbon bioenergy. Our joint venture will enable us to leverage shared best practices to improve efficiency and sustainability, maximizing the use of technology and identifying opportunities to develop future capabilities in this crucial market."
The joint venture has 11 biofuels sites in five Brazilian states, with more than 10,000 employees. It has total crushing capacity of 32 million metric tons of sugarcane per year, capable of producing more than 1.5 billion liters of ethanol, 1.1 million tons of sugar and exporting 1,200 gigawatt hours of electricity to the national grid in Brazil.
As MRC informed earlier, in September 2018, BP Refining and Petrochemical (BPRP) has brought on-stream its No.3 cracker at Gelsenkirchen. The cracker remained off-line for repair work for around 10-12 days. Located Gelsenkirchen, Germany, the No. 3 cracker has ethylene capacity of 550,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 335,000 mt/year.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,436,390 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
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