BP is moving into the plantation business, taking a half share in a billion-dollar venture to produce ethanol from Brazilian sugar cane.

The British oil multinational is joining forces with two Brazilian agribusinesses, Santelisa Vale and Maeda Group, investing more than $560 million (£284 million) in Tropical Bioenergia, a joint venture company that will farm sugar cane and refine the sugar into ethanol, a biofuel in high demand in the US as an additive to petrol.

BP is paying its partners $60 million for a 50 per cent stake in Tropical Bioenergia, which is building an ethanol refinery in Goias state, northwest of São Paolo, due to come on stream in the summer. ... Read full article