Carlos Litulo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A worker in Mozambique holding jatropha seeds. Valero Energy entered into a deal to gain access to jatropha-based biodiesel.
Valero Energy, the largest American refiner, is taking another step towards building up its renewable fuel supplies. The San Antonio-based company on Friday agreed to a five-year deal with an Australian biofuel refiner to obtain biodiesel made from jatropha.
The deal also allows Valero to buy a 25 percent stake in the Australian company, Mission NewEnergy.
Mission will supply Valero with up to 60 million gallons of biodiesel per year, starting next year. Under the terms of the agreement, Valero can double that amount and extend the contract by an additional five years. The value of the contract could be as high as $3.5 billion, Mission said in a statement.
Jatropha is a family of oil seed plants that can grow on marginal soil without displacing land used for food supply. While there has been a lot of interest in the plant recently, efforts to develop biofuels from jatropha have been mixed.
For Valero, the deal is another step toward diversifying its fuel supplies. Earlier this year, the company acquired distressed assets from VeraSun, an ethanol refiner in the United States, including seven ethanol refineries.
Source:greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/
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