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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: energyplay who wrote (2750)	12/19/2005 4:14:58 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217710

Petrobras, and Japanese state-owned ethanol distribution firm Nippon Alcohol Hanbai K.K. Monday signed an agreement to set up a joint venture to export ethanol fuel from Brazil to Japan. ... The joint venture will permit to Petrobras to break into one of the most complex and important energy markets in the world, both in terms of ethanol logistics distribution as well as providing additional opportunities for the company in the fuel distribution sector in Japan, Petrobras added. Brazil Petrobras, Nippon Alcohol Hanbai Set Up JV (Adds accord signed, Petrobras Netherlands unit to own stake in JV, background) RIO DE JANEIRO (Dow Jones)--Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), or Petrobras, and Japanese state-owned ethanol distribution firm Nippon Alcohol Hanbai K.K. Monday signed an agreement to set up a joint venture to export ethanol fuel from Brazil to Japan. The JV will have the name Brazil-Japan Ethanol Co. and will be known as Nippaku Ethanol K.K. in Japan, Petrobras said in a note to investors. Petrobras and Nippon Alcohol Hanbai will jointly own and share the management of the new company. Petrobras will own its 50% stake in the joint-venture via its Netherlands-based subsidiary Petrobras Internacional Braspetro BV. Nippon Alcohol Hanbai has a 70% share in the distribution of ethanol to the Japanese market. "The new company will seek to identify technical and commercial solutions for inserting ethanol into the Japanese energy matrix in substitution for fossil fuels and in line with the objective of reducing green house gases, such as carbon dioxide, and thus contributing to the success of the Kyoto Protocol," Petrobras said in its note. The joint venture will permit to Petrobras to break into one of the most complex and important energy markets in the world, both in terms of ethanol logistics distribution as well as providing additional opportunities for the company in the fuel distribution sector in Japan, Petrobras added. Petrobras, Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO), or CVRD, and Japan's Mitsui & Co. (8031.TO) in late May had signed an agreement to develop logistics studies for exporting ethanol from Brazil to Japan and other markets overseas. Brazil, the world's largest sugar and ethanol producer, makes ethanol from sugar cane. In Brazil, 25% of ethanol is already blended into regular gasoline, while an increasing number of cars runs on any mixture of gasoline or ethanol, which is available in almost all gas stations in the country. Japan has authorized the addition of 3% ethanol to gasoline to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from cars to meet Kyoto protocol targets. Brazilian ethanol exports could double or triple with ethanol shipping to Japan from last year's level of about 2.5 billion liters, Petrobras' Downstream Director Roberto Costa said in October. It could, however, take about three years until all the necessary infrastructure is in place, Costa then said, adding that Petrobras was only interested in the transport and ethanol trading business and has no plans to plant sugar cane or produce ethanol itself.