Recent news & events
- Bioethanol - the green alternative 11 Nov 09
- Fuel suppliers in Ireland will have to include around 4% of biofuels in their annual fuel sales 11 Nov 09
- Wheat supplies set to meet ethanol demand 10 Nov 09
- DDGS gains ground as low cost feed option 9 Nov 09
- Grain defended as viable feedstock for ethanol 5 Nov 09
- Biofuels industry urged to unite against ‘common enemy’ 5 Nov 09
- EU set to clarify biofuel sustainability rules 4 Nov 09
- Climate Change summit urged to back biofuel growth 4 Nov 09
- Strong recovery seen in world ethanol outlook 3 Nov 09
- UK could deliver up to 80% of biofuels from EU feedstocks, says REA 22 Oct 09
Shell says biofuel may make up 10% of fuel mix in ‘few decades’
Posted 1 April 09
Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, said biofuels may account for as much as 10% of global transport fuel in the coming decades. “We believe biofuels could grow from just 1% of the world’s transport-fuel mix today to as much as 7-10% over the next few decades,” Chief Executive Officer Jeroen van der Veer said in a speech published on Shell’s Web site today, which he will deliver tomorrow at the Paris International Oil Summit. Shell, based in The Hague, said last month it will focus on biofuels instead of solar, hydrogen and wind energy for the next few years.
The company expanded a research agreement with the US’s Codexis in March to accelerate the commercialization of the next generation of biofuels, made from non-food crops. Energy producers around the world are investing in new fuels as governments push companies to trim greenhouse-gas output, blamed for global warming. The European Union ruled last year that at least 10% of land-transport energy in each member country must come from renewable sources, led by biofuels, in 2020. That’s part of a broader goal to more than double the overall share of renewables in the EU to an average 20%. “We think commercial volumes of next generation biofuels could be on the market in 5 to 10 years,” Van der Veer said. Shell distributed 6 billion liters of so-called first-generation biofuels last year, according to the CEO.
First-generation biofuels are made from sugar, starch, vegetable oil or animal fats using conventional technologies, while second-generation biofuels are made from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks using advanced technical processes, according to a definition from the Rome based Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
In BLOOMBERG, April 1, 2009
Website Disclaimers and Conditions | © copyright 2008 - Ethanol Ventures Limited - all rights reserved.
Promoted by Future Capital Partners Limited. Future Capital Partners Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.