Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24) — The national government will soon raise the voluntary ethanol blend to help lower fuel prices, the Department of Energy (DOE) said Tuesday.
Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said increasing the ethanol blend in gasoline to 20% from the present 10% is \”targeted for approval by the end of 2023.\”
\”For those of you who are using gasoline, you know we have a mandatory requirement of 10% blend of ethanol with gasoline. The new policy that we will be implementing will be voluntary and raising it to 20%,\” he said during a briefing in Malacañang.
\”This is primarily a price mitigation measure because ethanol, especially imported ethanol, is cheaper than the price of gasoline,\” he said.
A recent study by the United States Department of Agriculture said that the plan to raise the ethanol blend was pushed after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas raised concerns that the country is “overly reliant” on refined fuel product imports and a Senate panel advised the DOE in 2022 to consider a higher blend.
Lotilla said per liter price of gasoline without ethanol is at ₱56.89, but it can be reduced by ₱1.28 to ₱1.50 if blended with ethanol.
DOE data showed gasoline prices in Metro Manila range between ₱57.10 to ₱85.45 from Oct. 17 to 19.
According to the energy chief, hiking the coco methyl ester (CME), coco biodiesel blend from 2% to 3% is also on the table. This move of the government would bank on the robust production of the coconut industry, which is now producing up to 15 billion nuts every year.
Refiners are directed to blend biofuels with regular gasoline and diesel to cut the importation of refined fuels while helping local farmers get higher profits.Commenting on this development, the top official of Chemrez Technologies Inc., the country’s biggest producer of premium CME, said pushing for this plan would benefit consumers extensively “with no practical cost to the government.
“The feedstock is available and the capacities for making CME are ready to support the increase in mandate. We expect many benefits to come with a B3 mandate: mileage improvement; lower pollution; import substitution and value adding of coconut oil,” said Chemrez President Dean Lao Jr., who’s also chairman of the United Coconut Association of the Philippines.
“It’s about time the country tap into this valuable resource,” he added.
When asked until when pump prices will continue to rise, Lotilla answered: \”The gap bet supply and demand is going to narrow towards the end of the year and even continue in 2024 because there are additional supplies that are coming from other countries like Brazil and the US.\”
