BP looking for lands for biofuel project

British energy giant BP Plc is looking for lands in several parts of the country to grow plants useful to biofuel production, a governmental official said on Wednesday.

 

“They (BP) are looking for lands East Nusa Tenggara, Papua and Kalimantan for (their) biofuel (project). Their target is 100,000 hectares of land,” Evita Legowo, expert staff at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for human resources and technology, told Petromindo.Com.

 

BP has voiced interest to develop biofuel project in in response to the growing need for the product amid the rising oil price.

 

BP International Ltd’s President Director of Global Biofuel Philip New came to in early June to meet among others Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro on the project.

 

During the meeting, he called on the government to set up a regulation that is supportive to the development of biofuel.

 

According to Levita, BP will use jatropha, sugarcane and sweet sorgum as materials for the biofuel. (Godang)