ALTERNATIVE FUELS * Brazil - Petrobras ethanol target tripled

São Paulo,SP,Brazil -FT, by Joe Leahy and Ed Crooks in New York -May 8 2011: -- Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, Petrobras, has been ordered to triple its share of national production of ethanol as Latin America’s biggest economy struggles with a shortage of the biofuel... The plan comes as the US is poised to overtake Brazil as the world’s largest ethanol exporter... Petrobras will increase its share of Brazil’s national output from 5 per cent to 15 per cent, said Edison Lobão, mining and energy minister, after Brazil was forced to import large amounts of the fuel from rival producers in the US. “The fact is that we need to produce more ethanol,” the minister told reporters... Brazil was a pioneer in establishing ethanol as a viable alternative to petrol. Most of the Brazil’s cars today can run on both fuels... Brazil last year imported 70m litres of US ethanol – up from only 1m in 2009, according to the US commerce department. To date this year, imports have been even stronger... Industry estimates suggest worldwide US ethanol exports could reach 3bn litres this year, about double the Brazilian exports forecast by Unica, the country’s sugar cane industry association... (Image from biglandsbrazil: ethanol plant in Brazil)