SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazilian electric power utility Companhia Paranaense de Energia SA (ELP), or Copel, is studying a plan to build a 630 million Brazilian real ($333 million) pipeline to transport sugarcane ethanol from distilleries in the interior of Parana state to port for export, a company official said.
Officials at the Parana state-owned company have approved a feasibility study to build the 528-kilometer pipeline, which would have capacity to send 300,000 cubic meters per month of ethanol fuel to port, said Julio Malhadas, a company spokesman.
"We are still in the preliminary planning stage, but the project looks promising," he said.
The project would be undertaken in conjunction with Parana state sugar and ethanol producers and a consortium of outside investors. However, Parana state law obliges the company to take a majority stake in the project.
Brazil is the world's No. 2 ethanol producer and hopes to increase exports as the fuel becomes more widely used as a more environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline.
Source: Alastair Stewart; Dow Jones Newswires; 5511 3145-1479; alastair.stewart@dowjones.com