Petron announced that they were looking for more local bioethanol suppliers to execute supply agreements with in order to meet their target of compliance with the Philippine Biofuel Law which mandates 5% mixture of bioethanol in the gasoline they sell at their pumps. Current output shows that the local bioethanol producers can only meet about 38% (83 million liters) of the demand for bioethanol.
Petron currently has a supply agreement with San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. (SCBI), a local bioethanol processor with capacity of 125,000 li/day.
With this announcement it is expected that this will encourage other players to venture into bioethanol production so that money that would have otherwise been spent to import bioethanol can be spent locally and benefit the downstream industry of the biofuel sector. Some companies however have put their bioethanol production plans on hold because of inadequacies in the policies of the biofuel law.
According to the fuel company, they estimate that in 2010 they will have to import 60% of their bioethanol requirements in order to meet the mandated 5% blending. According to the Biofuel Law, gasoline companies are allowed to import bioethanol in order to satisfy compliance if the local production of bioethanol is not enough. This will be much higher next year when the mandated mixing requirement will be bumped up to 10% (461 million li/year).
The oil company is said to command a 40% market share of the fuel sold in the Philippines spanning 1,500 gasoline stations in the archipelago.
Category: Bioethanol, Biofuel, Petron
