A commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant won’t be built in Highland County, FL. At least, not by BP. The oil and gas company cancelled those plans to refocus its U.S. biofuels strategy on research and development as well as on licensing its biofuels technology, according to a press release from the company.
“Given the large and growing portfolio of investment opportunities available to BP globally, we believe it is in the best interest of our shareholders to redeploy the considerable capital required to build this facility into other more attractive projects,” says Geoff Morrell, BP vice president of communications.
Four years ago, BP planned to build the facility and turn thousands of acres of energy crops into 36 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol.
BP continues to invest in and operate its biofuels research facility in San Diego, CA, and a demonstration plant in Jennings, LA, “to further develop next-generation cellulosic biofuel technologies and license them for commercial use in the U.S. and around the world,” the press release reads.