Verenium Goes In with BP for $90 Million

Written by Jaymi Heimbuch

Friday, 08 August 2008

BP has a lot of money, and they want to focus a big chunk into cellulosic ethanol. So, they’re partnering up with Verenium and giving the company $90 million over the next year and a half in order to gain some of Verenium’s technology and hopefully speed up commercialization of cellulosic ethanol.

Looking towards sugar cane, miscanthus, and energy cane, they’re hoping to scale up biofuel’s availability from these and other sources. The $90m will go towards helping put up low-cost production facilities across the US, and will give BP licenses to intellectual property of Verenium.

BP’s president Sue Ellerbusch said that this partnership positions BP as having the best technology in cellulosic ethanol production and makes them leaders in the area. Not surprising since they’re forming other partnerships that help them corner the biofuel industry, including partnerships with DuPont, Tropica BioEnergia and D1 Oils.

BP’s fuel sales during 2007 accounted for 10% of the global biofuels market. So they’re serious about making sure that biofuels become more easily available.

Via Verenium, BP; Photo via Verenium

Comments (5)

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Greener Grass Notes President
written by Jeanne R , August 08, 2008

It is a sigh of relief to see some of these big petro companies giving in and really committing to making a change. I applaud their efforts to move in a more green direction. Way to go BP!

Jeanne R
www.greenergrassnotes.com

Agreed
written by Loosely_coupled , August 08, 2008

I am cautious to give BP or any other "Big Oil" company credit for their minuscule investments into renewable energy, but it looks like the tide may be turning to a small degree. We should make sure to recognize and applaud these efforts so as to encourage future investments...

great
written by David , August 10, 2008

It's good to see petrol companies doing more for the environment.

haastek.co.uk

...
written by Paul Barthle , August 10, 2008

Has anyone studied bamboo for cellulosic ethanol? Or paper? Irrigate it with municipal wastewater on depleted farmland or recently cut pulpwood land to replace slower or less suitable species. It must sequester a lot of carbon to grow as fast as it does.

...
written by Robert , August 11, 2008

These guys see the handwriting on the wall, and need to protect their position as middle men between us and energy.

If we can successfully generate our own power independent of them, they are out of business.

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