Source: Petrol blending increased to 20pc – DailyNews Live
Farayi Machamire 8 July 2017
HARARE – Government has increased petrol blending from 10 to 20 percent
due to increasing supplies of ethanol.
In March, government reduced to five percent from 15 percent the mandatory
amount of local ethanol to be blended with petrol as heavy rains affected
sugarcane fields.
“It is hereby notified that, in terms of section 4 (I) of the petroleum
regulations,2013, published in Statutory Instrument 17 of 2013, as amended
by Statutory Instrument 18 of 2014, the minister approves the current
level of mandatory blending to 20 per centum,” Energy minister Samuel
Undenge said yesterday in a government gazette.
“The consequence of this approval is that all licensed operators shall,
from the date of publication be mandated to sell unleaded petrol blended
at E20.”
Zimbabwe obtains ethanol from a $600 million sugar plant in the southeast
of the country which is jointly owned by a State company and private
investors which has capacity to produce 250 000 litres of ethanol a day.
This year’s heavy rains forced government to reduce the blending figures
to five percent, a period which also coincided with the annual suspension
of full-scale cane harvesting.
Between December and April, sugar cane harvesting is halted to enable
plant maintenance, leading to a moratorium in the production of ethanol.
The off-crop season is now over, and sugar milling has resumed, resulting
in a boost in ethanol supplies.
Official figures show Zimbabwe spends some $45 million each month to
import fuel.
The introduction of petrol blending has been a subject of fierce
opposition from motorists with a suit being filed at the Constitutional
Court to reverse the mandatory blending.
Zimbabwe’s fuel prices have remained very high compared to other countries
in the sub-region despite government’s unilateral decision to enforce
mandatory blending of petroleum products almost four years ago, claiming
it would bring down prices and reduce the country’s import bill.
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