Chevron may get into ethanol production business
With the price of ethanol more than doubling in the past year, it's time for the big energy players to get into the game. The LA Times has a story out today about Chevron Corp. thinking about building plants and making its own ethanol in order to "guarantee steady supplies of the gasoline additive for its refineries". The article claims Chevron would become the first major oil company to invest in stateside ethanol production in 26 years. That company, Texaco Inc., which is now a part of Chevron, made ethanol in an old sugar-beet refinery in Indiana from 1980 until 1995. Chevron also recently invested in a large biodiesel production facility in Texas.[Source: LA Times]
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1985 Gripen 2:41PM (5/16/2006)
Chevron Technology Ventures (http://www.chevron.com/technologyventures/) had already entered into a partnership with GM (http://www.livegreengoyellow.com), Pacific Ethanol (http://www.pacificethanol.net/), and the State of California (http://www.energy.ca.gov/) to bring ethanol to California, announced this past January.
As I understand it Pacific Ethanol will manufacture the ethanol and Chevron with blend it with gasoline and be responsible for getting it into pumps. GM is working with the State in offering flex-fuel fleet automobiles in the annual bidding process.
The Pacific Ethanol plant is expected to be on-line in the 4th quarter of this year. It is currently being built in Madera, California. I believe it is unique in that they intend to sell much of the by-product of the ethanol manufacture process as animal feed for local cattle. By using locally-grown corn as the source of the ethanol they reduce the amount of diesel fuel expended by trucks which would otherwise have to transport the corn from the midwest.
I wonder if Chevron jumping into the ethanol manufacturing business (and competing with partner Pacific Ethanol) will put a damper on this deal.
http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewmonthlyreleasedetail.do?domain=74&docid=21736
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