”Fuel Ethanol Policy” ready; failed petrol blending project to be revived

The Pakistani government has prepared a new ”Fuel Ethanol Policy,” assigning to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) the task of regulating market-based pricing mechanism for blending ethanol with motor gasoline, sources in the Planning Division said. The Shaukat Aziz government had launched a pilot project of mixing ethanol with petrol, but the project failed after six months because the price of petrol at the time was lower than ethanol. The project is being revived after Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) reportedly convinced President Asif Ali Zardari that the use of the by-product of sugar fermentation, ethanol, with petrol would help the government reduce its oil import bill. (December 29, 2008)