Amyris forms joint venture with Total

Amyris, Inc., a renewable products company located in Emeryville, Calif., U.S.A., will form a joint venture company with Total Gas & Power USA SAS, an affiliate of Total S.A. The new joint venture, which is an expansion of Amyris’ on-going collaboration with Total, is set to commercialize Amyris’ No Compromise renewable diesel. Under the terms of the agreement, Total would be responsible for expanding research and development at Amyris and provide the needed capital for acquisition and development of production capability. Prior to this renewable diesel project, Amyris has already been collaborating with Total in the development of renewable jet fuel. “We expect that our partnership with Total has the potential to reduce our net cash operating expenditures by as much as $100 million through 2013,” said John Melo, CEO of Amyris. Amyris recently reported company aggregate revenues for the second quarter of US$32 million, up from US$12.7 million in the second quarter of 2010. (August 3, 2011)