Mozambique to mandate biofuel blending

Mozambique will soon have a regulation that will mandate biofuel blending, the state-controlled daily newspaper Noticias reported. The paper said that the country’s cabinet or Council of Ministers is expected to approve the blend ratio and the implementation schedule soon, quoting Energy Minister Salvador Namburete. Namburete made the announcement in late February, at a ceremony launching a viability study on the project for Sustainable Development of Bioenergy in Mozambique. The government wants to encourage biofuel production, he said; thus the regulation. “We want to create a market, to show investors that a market exists”, he said. “The mixture of biofuels with fossil fuels will be compulsory from a certain moment and is intended to induce production. The regulations are a way of stimulating investment in the market.” Mozambique will be the first country to benefit from a project for the Sustainable Development of Bioenergy, resulting from a partnership between the Brazilian government and the European Union. (March 2, 2011)