Malaysia to implement B5 in 2010

The Malaysian government has decided to revert to the original plan of implementing the B5 mandate this year, following a high-powered meeting. It had initially set January 1 as the deadline to sell B5, a blend of 5% palm oil and 95% diesel fuel, at all petrol stations nationwide. Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the Cabinet still needed to decide if consumers would have to pay extra for B5. The fuel costs an additional 4-5 sen (US$0.01) a liter primarily due to transport costs. “Hopefully, we can stick to the B5 blend as the production of biodiesel will take up about 500,000 tons of palm oil, which is good given the current high palm oil stock level,” Dompok said. (February 3, 2010)