French Total, US Amyris to form biofuel JV

Nov 30, 2011 - French oil and gas group Total (EPA:FP) and US renewable fuel company Amyris Inc (NASDAQ:AMRS) said today they would establish a joint venture to produce and sell biofuels and other renewable products.

The move comes to expand the companies' existing research and development (R&D) partnership, aimed at speeding up the deployment of Amyris' renewable farnesene -- Biofene -- and the development of biodiesel from plant sugars. The R&D programme, which kicked off in 2010, seeks to develop the necessary stages to put on the market the next-generation biofuels at commercial scale.

The planned joint venture, expected to start operation in the first three months of 2011, will hold the exclusive rights to make and sell biodiesel and jet fuel around the globe. It will also have non-exclusive rights to other renewable products, including drilling fluids, solvents, polymers and specific biolubricants.

The formation of the entity is seen as a key step in Total's strategy to become a major renewable fuel supplier, it said. According to the French company, the global biodiesel market is to reach 32 million tonnes by the end of the decade, compared to 17 million tonnes in 2010.

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