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Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Gas stations to sell ethanol
MANILA - Four new oil players have agreed to sell ethanol-blended gasoline in at least 400 service stations nationwide starting next month.
Energy Undersecretary Peter Anthony Abaya said Flying V, Seaoil, Unioil and USA 888 will put up additional pumps to jumpstart the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Fuel Ethanol Project aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on expensive imported oil.
“The oil companies, instead of blending a minimum five percent ethanol to gasoline, will actually be using a higher 10 percent blend. The companies will initially be importing 25 million liters of ethanol for this purpose. But eventually, when the ethanol bill is passed and the infrastructures are in place, oil companies will be getting their ethanol supply from local producers,” Abaya said.
In Cebu, Saul Gonzales, energy industry management division chief of the DOE Visayas Field Office, said they have not yet received any order from the DOE central office on the matter.
None of the three new oil players operating in Cebu, Flying V, Genergex and Gas Up, has expressed plans to offer the ethanol-blended gasoline to Visayas consumers.
The “adulteration” of petroleum products is not allowed under retail rules, unless it is mandated by the law, Gonzales explained.
New oil players need to inform the DOE if they do so, he added.
Encourage
Malacañang issued an executive order lowering the tariff on ethanol to one percent from 10 percent to encourage investors to establish ethanol production facilities.
Abaya is optimistic big oil players like Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Caltex Philippines Inc. will follow suit.
Flying V is looking at investing in an ethanol plant in the next three to five years to support the government’s thrust toward alternative fuels.
“Right now, we’re looking at ethanol, which is also under a government program, but that’s in the medium term. We’re already conducting studies on ethanol,” Flying V president Ramon Villavicencio said.
Loudith Pescador, supervisor of Flying V’s sole franchisee in Cebu, said they will sell the product if it will be endorsed by the company’s head office.
However, she expressed concern on its impact on consumers, citing the transport sector’s apprehensions on the use of coco biodiesel.
But with the rising cost of fuel, she believes a cheaper alternative will be welcomed.
The Philippines needs about 400 million liters of ethanol by 2010, requiring about 20 ethanol plants across the country by that time.
A plant with a 25-megawatt capacity requires an investment of P1.5 billion, Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri said in an earlier interview.
He said he would push for the approval of the Ethanol Bill because “nobody wants to start building the plants unless the law is in place.”
The bill proposes the grant of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives and tax breaks to ethanol projects. (Manila Standard Today)/With CYR
(August 16, 2005 issue)
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