DOE mulls Congress intervention on implementation of ethanol blend on fuel

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) said it may seek the intervention of Congress on the controversial implementation of ethanol blend on fuel.

The DOE is tasked to oversee the implementation of the increase in the mandated blend on ethanol under the Biofuels Act of 2006 to 10 percent by February 2011. At present, the ethanol blend is at five percent.

However, there has been a dilemma on the ability of local suppliers to provide the requirement of oil companies and/or whether the government should allow the importation of ethanol.

“We really need Congress to give us direction because the biofuels law provides for a mandated 10 percent in all gasoline by February 2011, and also provides importations for the first four years. If we keep the mandate then we need to import. But it defeats part of the purpose to reduce dependence on oil using cleaner fuels. The purpose of improving economic activity by using local will be gone,” DOE director for oil industry and management Zenaida Monsada said.

She said legislators must step in to resolve this issue with barely six months to comply with the mandate of the law.

“Congress has to tell us what is the required blend. Can we keep the blended and the pure? Because we also have technical issues to contend with,” Monsada said.

She said the DOE, however, is now addressing the technical issues of ethanol.

“The DOE will be conducting actual test run on vehicles. We are finalizing the test protocol, so we are engaging the car industry, then the oil industry and the academe to work on the test protocol to resolve technical issues. There are a lot of consumers or customers that are afraid to use blended fuels if E10 can really work well with all types of vehicles. We are looking at older vehicles not the brand new ones since they still have warranty,” she said.

“Definitely, there are adjustments to be made. It’s not the normal fuel for the normal vehicle. We have to address the compatibility issues if there will be any,” she added.

She said the ethanol issue will be one of the major concerns to be presented to incoming Energy Secretary Rene Almendras.

“That’s part of our briefing materials for the incoming secretary, things that need immediate attention,” she said.

The DOE had said that the five-percent mandated blend per total volume sold will be go up to 10 percent in 2011 and consequently increase the country’s ethanol requirement to 536 million liters in 2014 from 208 million liters in 2009.

As of January this year, there are only two existing ethanol plants in the country. These are San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. and Leyte Agri Corp. San Carlos facility in Negros produces around 30 million liters annually while Leyte Agri’s plant in Ormoc produces nine million liters annually.