From Ethanol Producers with Love
by Iris Gonzales (The Philippine Star) Everyone is now talking about rising oil prices, renewable energy, and the need to have our own sources of fuel. I almost forgot about ethanol. Thanks to the indefatigable Gerardo “Gerry” Tee, COO of Lucio Tan-owned Absolut Distillers, I was reminded that the country, in fact, has ethanol producers; Absolut is just one.
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I learned that he is also now the chairman of the 10-member Ethanol Producers Association of the Philippines (EPAP).
The oil situation, he said, could be partly addressed with the help of ethanol through biofuels. It’s not only viable, but environment-friendly, too, he told me.
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There were many issues raised, but primarily, ethanol producers said that at the end of the day, biofuels can really bring down the true cost of gasoline, especially in terms of generating savings from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that can be avoided.
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The group is opposing the proposal to suspend the Biofuels Act of 2006, saying that on the contrary, what is affecting the prices of gasoline is not bioethanol, but the tax.
In fact, EPAP is even pushing to raise the blend to 15 percent by 2023 and 20 percent by 2025 from the current 10 percent to further pull down gasoline prices and generate more savings from avoided GHG emissions.
While Gerry acknowledges that domestic ethanol is expensive, ethanol producers import cheaper ethanol to meet the local requirement for blending under the law, which then brings down domestic pump prices of gasoline.
“Now that the fuel cost is so high, it is cheaper to use bioethanol. With our importation of 300 million liters [of ethanol], that would pull down the prices of gasoline,” Gerry said, as quoted by Danessa (Rivera who covers the energy beat) in her story.
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However, ethanol producers lament that they are not allowed to import molasses for biofuels. This has hampered the production of bioethanol, Gerry and his colleagues said.
EPAP members attribute this to the provision in the Biofuels Law and its IRR that puts ethanol producers under the regulatory supervision of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), which is mandated to protect the sugar industry.
Gerry said the ethanol industry is better off under the regulatory supervision of the Department of Energy (DOE) whose mandate is really to ensure energy security in the country, in which ethanol producers can play a big role in.
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With the average price of domestic and imported gasoline, industry computation showed that E10 gasoline decreased the pump price by P3.40 per liter versus pure imported gasoline.
“But why are we addicted to foreign oil?” Gerry said.
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If E20 blend is implemented in 2025, the study showed the country could have avoided 2.89 million CO2e per year, equivalent to P7.75 billion per year.
“Our carbon footprint does not improve if we import too much oil,” EPAP chairman Gerry said, noting that ethanol producers could complement the oil industry.
The bottomline, they said, biofuels could reduce the country’s dependence on oil, a reality we should be looking at now given the surge in oil prices. READ MORE
