TheNewsTribune.com, WA
04-13-07
Weyerhaeuser, Chevron partner on biofuel project
JIM POLSON; Bloomberg News
Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, and Weyerhaeuser Co., the
world’s biggest lumber producer, agreed to jointly develop biofuel products
derived from wood fiber to help diversify the nation’s energy sources.
Options include making fuel with materials from Weyerhaeuser’s forest and mill
system or from crops planted on its forest plantations, the companies said
Thursday in a statement.
Increasing production of ethanol, a motor fuel and gasoline additive distilled
mostly from corn in the U.S., is part of President Bush’s plan to increase the
annual supply of renewable and alternative fuels to 35 billion gallons by 2017.
U.S. ethanol consumption will reach about 17 billion gallons by 2017, according
to an Energy Department estimate.
“There are several research and technology hurdles that will need to be
addressed before large-scale commercialization of cellulosic feedstocks occurs,”
Chevron Chief Executive Officer David O’Reilly said in the statement. “This
partnership will accelerate achievement of that reality.”
Chevron’s expertise in chemistry, refining and marketing will be combined with
Federal Way-based Weyerhaeuser’s experience in forestry and turning wood
scrap into products, the companies said. They already have biofuels-research
projects with universities and national laboratories.
The announcement follows a call this week by ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva for
mandatory reductions in emissions of so-called greenhouse gases linked to
global warming.
ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company, also announced a biofuels
research initiative with Iowa State University this week.
Government subsidies will be needed to glean commercial ethanol production
from any crops other than corn before 2016, Dermot Hayes, an Iowa State
agricultural economist, said this week at a conference on biofuels in
Washington.
U.S. corn futures have surged 50 percent in the past year on increased demand
from ethanol producers ramping up production.
There are 115 operating ethanol distilleries in the U.S., seven of which are being
expanded, and 79 new plants under construction, according to the Renewable
Fuels Association in Washington.
Ethanol output in the U.S. reached an annual pace of 5.7 billion gallons in
January.