Shell and Cosan name JV

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell and Cosan's $12 billion (€8.8 billion) joint venture has been named Raízen.

The company will begin operations by mid-2011, producing 2.2 billion litres of ethanol a year, before output capacity is ramped up by 50% by 2016.

The JV is due to become the fifth largest company in Brazil, employing around 40,000 staff.

In addition to ethanol, the current 23 mills produce 4 million tonnes of sugar and generate 900MW of renewable energy from sugarcane bagasse. Raízen will sell an estimated 20 billion litres of fuel to the Transportation and Industry markets and to its network of over 4,500 service stations.