Brazilian regulator clears Shell, Cosan JV

Brazil’s regulating body Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica (CADE) has approved the Raizen joint venture between local ethanol group Cosan Ltd. and Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc which was signed in August 2010 and launched in June 2011. Both parties have a binding agreement to invest US$12 billion to produce ethanol, the low-carbon biofuel made from sugar cane.
The joint venture, a retail and commercial fuels firm, plans to produce and sell more than 2 billion liters of ethanol annually through 24 mills capable of processing up to 62 million tons of ethanol each year. The European Commission (EC) gave the JV its go-ahead signal at the beginning of 2011. (December 6, 2012)