Oil giant BP is to build a £200m "green" fuel plant on the outskirts of Hull as it seeks alternative forms of energy generation.
The biofuels plant, which will make ethanol from wheat, is a joint venture between BP, Associated British Foods (ABF) and chemicals firm DuPont.
The plant on BP’s existing chemicals site at Saltend will make about 420m liters of ethanol a year from 2009.
Under government rules BP must produce 5% of its fuels from biofuels by 2010.
The wheat for the plant will be sourced locally via an agreement between the joint venture and two other ABF businesses, Frontier Agriculture and AB Agri.
BP and DuPont will also build a demonstration plant on the same site capable of producing 20,000 liters of biobutanol – a more advanced biofuel – from a variety of feedstocks.
Construction work on the new facilities will commence early next year subject to the required regulatory approval.
BP said that once operational it would provide about 70 new full-time posts in addition to the jobs generated by the construction phase.

(BBC NEWS)