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Bioenergy

Bioenergy is here today, a vital part of the energy mix to help support the energy transition

pic with bp bio branding to come
On this page
We’re increasing our supply of biogas
We’re focusing our biofuels business
bp bioenergy
How much biofuels does the world need?
bp is growing its bioenergy business
Can we produce more bioenergy sustainably?
Isn’t bioenergy a distraction from other low carbon energy solutions?
Bioenergy news and stories

Bioenergy is a lower carbon fuel and power option, and it’s renewable – coming from sources such as used cooking oil, sugarcane and gas captured from landfill sites. It’s already in use today, fuelling transport, heating homes and powering businesses.

 

Sometimes, bioenergy can be used interchangeably with fossil fuels, working as a ‘drop-in’ fuel, as with renewable natural gas. And sometimes, it works alongside fossil fuels to create a lower carbon blend, as with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

We’re increasing our supply of biogas 

Archaea Energy is the leading producer of renewable natural gas (RNG) in the US. RNG is a pipeline-quality, low carbon fuel that is interchangeable with traditional natural gas. It is a form of biogas and a product of decomposing organic material at sites, including landfills, farms and wastewater treatment facilities.

 

Demand for RNG is growing quickly, and bp is the largest producer in the US after acquiring Houston-based Archaea Energy in late-2022.

 

Archaea, independently and through its joint ventures, operates with a presence in 32 states. Its facilities capture biogas from waste and then use it to generate renewable electricity or convert the fuel to RNG for the market. Using Archaea’s modular design – an industry first – these plants are built on skids with interchangeable components.

 

In 2024, Archaea started up nine new RNG plants with capacity to produce more than 10 million MMBtus per year.

Find out how RNG is made

Find out how RNG is made

We’re focusing our biofuels business

Biofuels have an important role to play in helping to reduce the life-cycle emissions associated with hard-to-electrify sectors, such as aviation, shipping and heavy road transport. And the good thing is, they can go in many of the pipes and engines we already have today, either as a straight ‘drop-in’, or blended with fossil fuels. 

 

Biofuels can be made from a range of different feedstocks – from organic waste to sustainably grown energy crops. These vary in availability and cost, as well as in the maturity of the technology needed to produce them at scale.

Examples of biomass used for the production of biofuels

Soybean oil (SBO) is an edible/vegetable first-generation biomass that originated in East Asia and is grown for human consumption.
Used cooking oil (UCO) is a waste and residue second-generation biomass. These animal or vegetable oils have fulfilled their purpose and are no longer fit for human consumption.
Tallow – an animal waste fat byproduct from the meat chain – is a second-gen biomass that is made into an oil using a rendering process.
Technical corn oil (second-gen biomass) is a byproduct of ethanol production extracted from distillers’ dried grains and solubles (DDGS).
Empty fruit bunches (EFBs) – a second-gen biomass – are the remains of fresh fruit bunches after the fruit has been stripped for oil processing.
Brassica carinata – known as novel feedstock – is a cover crop that flowers in between planting seasons.
Soybean oil (SBO) is an edible/vegetable first-generation biomass that originated in East Asia and is grown for human consumption.
Used cooking oil (UCO) is a waste and residue second-generation biomass. These animal or vegetable oils have fulfilled their purpose and are no longer fit for human consumption.
Tallow – an animal waste fat byproduct from the meat chain – is a second-gen biomass that is made into an oil using a rendering process.
Technical corn oil (second-gen biomass) is a byproduct of ethanol production extracted from distillers’ dried grains and solubles (DDGS).
Empty fruit bunches (EFBs) – a second-gen biomass – are the remains of fresh fruit bunches after the fruit has been stripped for oil processing.
Brassica carinata – known as novel feedstock – is a cover crop that flowers in between planting seasons.

We are making disciplined investment in biofuels across the value chain, where we see strong demand growth. We already produce around 10,000 barrels per day of biofuels through co-processing at our refineries.

 

And, we’re working to help develop feedstocks too, where we believe that our world-class trading organization and ability to build innovative partnerships are sources of competitive advantage. 

 

We will continue to assess options for potential investment in standalone biofuels plants, in line with our view of how demand will develop over time, and consistent with our investment discipline.

bp bioenergy in Brazil

In 2024, we took control of bp bioenergy – a top-three sugarcane bioethanol producer in Brazil that has the capacity to produce around 50,000 barrels a day of ethanol equivalent, sugar and power from sugarcane from 11 agro-industrial units across five Brazilian states. 

 

There is potential to unlock further growth opportunities in the region, and to develop new platforms for bioenergy, such as next-generation ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and biogas.

How much bioenergy does the world need?

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), demand for bioenergy is on the rise – and if the world wants to be on track with net-zero-by-2050 ambitions, there needs to be an industry-wide increase in production.*

 

The bp Energy Outlook echoes this view (see chart below).

 

* International Energy Agency
 

bp is growing its bioenergy business to meet increasing demand

Production from co-processing

We already produce ~10,000b/d of biofuels through co-processing at our refineries, with potential for flexible, low-capital growth, based on demand

A sugarcane field at bp Bunge biofuels in BrazilA sugarcane field at bp Bunge biofuels in Brazil

bp bioenergy in Brazil

Project spotlight

bp’s bioethanol business with a crushing capacity equivalent to around 50,000 barrels from sugarcane

A landfill siteA landfill site

Boosting biogas

Archaea has a strong pipeline with potential to recover 1Tcf of landfill gas by 2050, underpinned by long-term Gas Rights Agreements with strategic partners

Can we produce more bioenergy sustainably?

We’re confident that biofuels can be sustainable, but not all are made equal – for instance, sustainable biofuel production must consider impacts on land use, food production and sensitive environments.

 

We work with governments, NGOs, certification schemes and other businesses to help improve the sustainability of the biofuel supply chain. We support policies that incentivize and support investment in sustainable bioenergy.

 

We believe bioenergy production can be increased globally to meet rising demand using only non-food feedstocks, such as agricultural residues and cover crops like carinata.

 

In the bp Energy Outlook, we model that up to about 70EJ of bioenergy – more than double its current level and around 10% of global primary energy by 2050 – will come from non-food feedstocks. We encourage regulations that support the deployment of bioenergy made from the widest available range of sustainable feedstocks, and timely inclusion of novel feedstocks, such as sustainable cover crops.

Isn’t bioenergy a distraction from other low carbon energy solutions?

We believe growing bioenergy supply and production can – and should – work in tandem with global growth of other low carbon energy solutions – including wind, solar, hydrogen and EV charging infrastructure.


And we also believe continued investment in hydrocarbons is needed to keep energy flowing, with energy security and affordability at a premium.

Modern bioenergy increases rapidly, helping to decarbonize sectors and processes which are hard to electrify

The use of modern bioenergy – modern solid biomass, biofuels and biomethane – increases significantly over the outlook, providing a source of low carbon energy to help decarbonize sectors and processes that are hard to electrify.

Bioenergy news and stories

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About bp 

bp’s wider transformation is under way. While we’re mostly in oil & gas today, we’ve increased global investment into our lower carbon businesses, convenience stores and power trading from around 3% in 2019 to around 23% in 2023.

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