Shell, BP score highest in biofuels assessment

By Charlie Osborne | March 20, 2012, 8:42 AM PDT

According to a new Pike Pulse report published by Pike Research, the oil companies with the best positioning to benefit from the growth of biofuels are Shell and BP.

The “Pike Pulse Report: Biofuels Commercialization by Oil Majors” evaluates ten of the leading publicly-traded international oil companies and rates them based on 12 criteria in the emerging biofuels market.

These criteria include production, geographic reach, supply and demand chains, market strategy, consumer impact and current investments. The report aims to provide industry members with an objective assessment of each company’s position within the biofuels industry.

The biofuel industry accounted for approximately 30 billion gallons of production in 2011, even though it can still be considered to be in its infancy. Fuels are created through renewable sources, such as corn, sugar cane or animal fats instead of fossil fuels, and will no doubt have to expand in order to meet consumer demand and dwindling non-renewable supplies in the future.

Any company that wishes to remain globally competitive in such a future market should be making investments and preparations now in order to succeed.

All Big Oil companies have acknowledged that the transition to fuels developed from sources such as commercial crops has to be part of the future of energy — and billions have been sunk into developing the industry over the past 5 years.

Companies that are considered ‘well positioned’ will have an edge in this future market, and biofuels are expected to become increasingly important — especially as mandates and restrictions become imposed on fossil fuel reserves worldwide.