African government adopts mandatory fuel blending

The Herald/All Africa Global Media reported that Zimbabwe’s government plans to ban the sale of unblended petrol in the next two months, following a cabinet decision to introduce mandatory blending of fuel with ethanol, starting with E5.
The cabinet, in conjunction with Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, likewise directed that the recommendation to convert the ownership structure between government and Green Fuel from a build, operate and transfer (BOT) to a joint venture, and subsequent adoption of E5, should be done within two months.
Following the adoption of this edict, all petrol that comes into Zimbabwe would be blended with 5% ethanol before it is sold to the public. Mutambara said that before arriving at the decision to introduce mandatory blending, they conducted consultations with stakeholders in the motoring industry. The stakeholders assured them that all car models had no problem in using E5. He estimates that the E5 mandatory blending level would boost sales of ethanol from the 0.6 million liters to 2.3 million liters per day.
Economists say Zimbabwe could save almost US$4 million every month with the introduction of E5. “We must commend the President (Mugabe) for remaining steadfast on this entire exercise and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for leading his team to a national agenda,” Mutambara said. (September 21, 2012)