March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela is building at least four ethanol plants to convert sugarcane and yucca into fuel, El Universal reported.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state energy company, has an agricultural subsidiary working on plants in four states, the Caracas-based newspaper said, citing the unit's president, Eglis Ramirez.

Ramirez expects to begin ethanol production in the first quarter of 2010, the newspaper said. One of the plants will process 10,000 tons of sugarcane a day to make 700,000 liters (6,000 barrels) of ethanol a day, Universal reported, without saying how much the other plants will make.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Bodzin in Caracas at sbodzin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 9, 2008 11:39 EDT