Global majors eye slice of biofuel market

Global energy majors such as D1 Oils, a UK-based biofuel company, and British Petroleum (BP) have evinced interest in India's biofuel sector as the country steps us jatropha plantation.

A research team from the Missouri University, sponsored by D1 Oils and BP, recently visited the country to study jatropha cultivation and an increasing corporate focus on the biofuel sector.

The British energy majors have formed a joint venture, D1-BP Fuel Crops, and the company has lined up $160 million for expansion of jatropha plantation in India, South-East Asia and southern Africa over the next five years.

D1 Oils already has 172,000 hectares of jatropha plantation in India, southern Africa and South-East Asia. Reports say that the JV, which has 100,000 acres under jatropha cultivation in north-east India, is planning to expand it to 420,000 acres in 2008.

The joint venture will manage the plantation directly by owning land or taking it on leasing. It will also engage growers in the region to plant jatropha through contract farming.

Oil produced from jatropha would be used to meet biodiesel requirements of both local and export markets, such as Europe, where domestic feedstock produced from rapeseed and waste oil is unlikely to meet the anticipated biodiesel demand of around 11 million tonnes a year from 2010.

"Once all the planned plantations are established, the joint venture is expected to become the world's largest commercial producer of jatropha feedstock, producing up to 2 million tonnes of jatropha oil a year," said Phil New, head of BP Biofuels, in a statement released by the company.

Kenneth Schneeberger, an agricultural economist and Assistant Dean at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Missouri, who accompanied the university's team to India, said he was impressed with the expansion of biofuels in the country.

"I am especially interested in biofuel opportunities in India. I am here to learn as much as I can about jatropha and to identify opportunities for future collaboration," he added.

He said that it was realistic to expect 10 per cent of ethanol blending in motor fuels in India by 2015. Adding that Europe was ahead of the rest of the world in biofuels use, he said the European market could become a major source for biofuels growth in India and Asia.

It is anticipated that globally about 1 million hectares would cater to biofuels over the next four years, with an estimated 300,000 hectares contributing each year to biofuels in South-East asia, India and southern African countries.