Chevron allots $20 million for Biofuels

WORKING on helping the country reduce its dependence on oil imports, Chevron Philippines Inc. said on Monday it will be investing more than $20 million in the next two years to comply with the Biofuels Act of 2006.

The company made the announcement yesterday during the launch of its Caltex E10 with Techron, an ethanol-blended gasoline that consists of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline.

“We are actually planning to invest more than $20 million over the next two years to make our terminals compatible with E10,” Dominic Timbancaya, Caltex brand manager, told reporters.

He added the company plans to invest more once the mandated blending percentages under the Biofuels Act of 2006 become higher.

“Though the law mandates the promotion and use of locally sourced ethanol and since there are no local producers online, we are currently importing a small quantity from Brazil,” Timbancaya said.

At present, Timbancaya said the Caltex E10 with Techron will initially be made available in 22 stations. “Hopefully, we can expand coverage to 35 stations by the end of the year,” he added. “We’d be adding more and more stations as we go, which will go up to around 400 stations by February 2009,” he said.

“Motorists using Caltex E10 with Techron are assured of safe, reliable and top-quality ethanol-blended gasoline,” said Albert Kwok, Chevron retail marketing manager, said.

He added that what sets the fuel apart from similar products in the market is that it retains the unbeatable cleaning properties of the Techron additive, which Chevron claims to help remove performance-robbing deposits in the engine system.

“Our plan to shift to local ethanol producers, once available, will eventually show our support to Philippine producers,” Kwok said.