Brazil president sees big oil behind biofuels row

16 May 2008 18:13  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Global oil majors are responsible for rousing public opinion against biofuels, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday during a heads-of-state summit in Peru.

Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of ethanol.

Speaking at the fifth heads of state summit for presidents of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union, Lula attributed opposition to renewable fuels such as ethanol to the commercial interests of petroleum producers.

“Obviously the oil companies are behind this,” Lula said. Opponents of biofuels claim that large-scale production drives up food prices and generates paltry energy returns compared with petroleum.

Lula said that despite Brazil's discovery of enormous petroleum reserves offshore, that could open the door to OPEC according to some analysts, the country remains committed to developing biofuels.

“We want to produce a lot more biodiesel,” Lula said.

Brazil is one of the few countries of the world with land available for the expansion of biofuels, including biodiesel which can be produced from the non-food crop castor.

For more on ethanol and biodiesel visit ICIS chemical intelligence
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry visit ICIS connect
For some independent thinking on biofuels, bookmark Simon Robinson’s Big Biofuels Blog

By: John Waggoner
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