Shell studies alcohol production in Brazil
Gazeta Mercantil - 03/18/2008
Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell plans entering the area of production of ethanol in Brazil through partnerships. The oil company is developing projects of research and development of the product with the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). And it is already holding conversations with plant owners. Among the options, besides sugar-cane, are residues from wood and rind of trees as raw material for the fuel. Still under study, the details of the project are kept in secret. The supply executive officer of the headquarters Rob Routs was in Brazil last week to get to know the Brazilian production. Shell is the largest seller of ethanol in the world, with 5 billion liters sold last year. "It is encouraging to see what is happening to ethanol in Brazil", affirmed the executive officer Rob Routs during the "2008 Strategy Update" event, held yesterday in London. In the occasion, the company presented, to journalists and analysts from all over the world, its main projects, among the 50 which are underway. The largest European oil company, Shell, invested US$ 60 billion in the last five years. Regardless of the diversification it is trying to integrate to the portfolio - the production of natural gas will grow more than oil - the major challenge of the company is to replace the oil reserves. In order to continue the process of replacing of reserves, Shell is also aiming at Brazil. Besides the fields of Ostra, Argonauta and Abalone, located in the Basin of Campos, which will start producing heavy oil this or next year, the company also has three blocks located in the pre-salt layer. Shell Executive Officer of Exploration & Production Malcolm Brinded emphasized the use of its own technology to explore oil and gas at more than five thousand meters of depth. "We have great interest in these projects", added the company officer on the concessions of the areas Shell has around the field of Tupi, in the Basin of Santos. The BM-S-8, in which the Anglo-Dutch company is a partner of Petrobras, has already started being drilled. Shell is the exclusive owner of a pre-salt area in the region, the BM-S-54. The company is studying when it will start drilling the block and it may start the seismic works earlier.