BP and D1 Oils form jatropha biodiesel feedstock JV

LONDON (ICIS news)--BP plans to form a joint venture with biofuels firm D1 Oils to speed up the planting of jatropha trees, a feedstock for biodiesel production, the energy giant said on Friday.

Over the next five years the 50/50 joint venture D1-BP Fuel Crops would invest around $160m (€119m) on planting over 1m hectares of the oilseed bearing plant, BP said.

D1 Oils planned to include 172,000 hectares of existing plantations in India, southern Africa and southeast Asia as part of its investment, while BP would gain exclusive access to the seedlings produced by D1’s plant science programme.

“As jatropha can be grown on land of lesser agricultural value with lower irrigation requirements than many plants, it is an excellent biodiesel feedstock,” said head of BP Biofuels Phil New.

“D1 Oils' progress in identifying the most productive varieties of jatropha means that the joint venture will have access to seeds which can substantially increase jatropha oil production per hectare,” he added.

BP said D1-BP Fuel Crops would concentrate on cultivating the crops in southeast Asia, southern Africa, Latin America and India, expecting to produce up to 2m tonnes/year of jatropha oil once the plantations were established.

Earlier this week BP announced its first foray into biofuels production with plans to build a bioethanol plant and a biobutanol demonstration facility in the north of England.

D1 Oils is a UK-based biodiesel producer established in October 2004. It reported an operating loss in 2006, with high feedstock prices reducing margins.