BP Eyes Backward Integration To Accelerate Its Biofuel Business

News in brief: BP plans to invest in biofuel suppliers by acquiring stakes in feedstock producers and investing in feedstock crop farming, aiming to meet the increasing demand for biofuels and support decarbonization efforts.

British multinational oil and gas company BP is looking at investing in biofuel suppliers. According to a news report, the company is considering buying stakes in biofuel feedstock producers and investing in feedstock crop farming.

BP is a major player in the biofuels industry as it sees it as an opportunity to help its oil customers move to decarbonisation. Nigel Dunn, the company's Senior VP says that they expect demand for biofuels to increase in the next ten years.

Biomass like agricultural residues, grassy and woody plants, corn, vegetable oils, animal fats and more produce biofuels.

The company, which is one of the 'supermajors' in the oil and gas industry, plans to build five biofuel plants by 2030 to process waste feedstock. However, it expects demand for feedstock supply to increase, hence the need for backward integration.

BP is traditionally a vertically integrated company with operations in all areas of the oil and gas industry. It has hands in activities such as exploration and extraction, refining, distribution and marketing, power generation, and trading. Thus, this biofuel move is not strange.

It wants to be producing about 100,000 barrels of biofuels per day by 2030 for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). As another report on this news pointed out, the company acquired Archaea Energy, a US-based renewable natural gas (RNG) producer, in 2022. This move also aligns with being a key player in customers' transition to decarbonisation.