OREANDA-NEWS. December 20, 2012. BP Biofuels announced today that it plans to invest USD 350 million to expand its ethanol processing capacity of Tropical, one of its sugarcane processing ventures in Brazil.

The expansion, which is scheduled to start next year, includes the building of a new mill and is expected to create around 7,650 direct and indirect jobs.

Tropical’s processing capacity will double to five million tons of sugarcane producing 450 million litres of ethanol equivalent per year. The mill is expected to be operating at full capacity by the end of 2014 or early 2015.

Mario Lindenhayn BP Biofuels Brazil CEO, said: “This expansion reinforces our commitment to the Brazilian sugarcane industry and will enable us to grow our business in the future.”

He said: “Since we started operating in May 2011, we have been improving our operational efficiency and this announcement marks a further milestone in delivering our biofuels strategy.”