Royal Dutch Shell and Cosan announced the companies have signed binding agreements for forming a joint venture for producing and commercializing ethanol and power from sugar cane. The companies will also indulge in distribution of a variety of industrial and transportation fuels through their distribution and retail network in Brazil. Additionally, the JV will also explore and pursue global scale production and sale of ethanol.

The annual production capacity of the newly formed joint venture will be about 2 billion liters of ethanol. Shell is bringing in a substantial investment amount of about USD 1.6 billion, which will enable the JV to employ latest advanced technologies for producing biofuels. The company will additionally, generate power from sugar cane bagasse in cogen plants and mills.

[source: Royal Dutch Shell]