Brazil’s Top Fuel Firm Is Betting on Growth in Corn Ethanol

Brazil’s largest fuel distributor wants to bring corn ethanol to places where gasoline is still king.

Vibra Energia SA expects to benefit from a corn ethanol production boom in Latin America’s largest economy to expand sales of the biofuel in northern states, which are still heavily dependent on fossil fuels, according to Chief Executive Officer Ernesto Pousada Jr.

Brazilian ethanol has been primarily made from sugar cane for decades, and it’s mostly used near production areas in Brazil’s heavily populated southeast region. But production of corn — commonly used in the US to make ethanol — has rapidly expanded northward, triggering a wave of investments in new biofuel-producing facilities that use abundant supplies of the grain as feedstock.

“Ethanol, in our view, will grow toward north and northeast,” Pousada said last week in an interview in New York, adding that using corn as feedstock will make the biofuel competitive in areas where cane ethanol is too expensive to compete with gasoline. “Vibra will allow that to happen through its infrastructure logistics.”

Vibra, which runs more than 8,400 gas stations, has pivoted to renewables as part of efforts to capitalize on the energy transition. Ethanol, commonly used to power cars in Latin America’s biggest economy, plays a central role in the firm’s strategy, which also includes a push into biogas, solar power and electric vehicle charging.

Vibra, a former unit of state-owned oil giant Petrobras SA, formed a joint venture with Brazilian giant producer group Copersucar SA last year. It has become one of the nation’s largest traders of ethanol.

Source: governorsbiofuelscoalition.org

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