BP PLC has unveiled a joint venture with Associated British Foods PLC and DuPont Co. to build a 400 million-dollar biofuel plant in the United Kingdom, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

BP and conglomerate ABF, both based in London, will each hold 45 percent of the yet-to-be formed joint venture, and U.S. chemical company DuPont of Wilmington, Del., will hold the remaining 10 percent, according to the report.

The plant will produce bioethanol from wheat and is expected to start producing in late 2009, BP said.

The deal moves BP, which is trying to revamp its image as a " green" company, one step closer to industrial production from the research laboratory, the report commented.

With the exception of Marathon Oil Corp. of Houston, most big Western oil companies have yet to announce industrial-scale plans to produce plant-based gasoline. Marathon, in partnership with Ohio-based grain reseller Andersons Inc., is building an ethanol plant in Greenville, Ohio.