The mandatory sale of biofuel will be implemented in the central region of the country from June next year.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, who said this, added that the mandatory sale would be implemented in phases beginning in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, Negri Sembilan and Malacca, and the southern, western and northern parts of Perak, Pahang and Johor.

The implementation was part of the Government’s biofuel initiative under the B5 Programme, with bio-fuel derived from blending 5% palm methyl ester with 95% diesel.

Dompok, who launched Sime Darby Bhd’s biodiesel fuel Bio-N and visited its biofuel plant in Carey Island yesterday, said petroleum companies had requested for some time before the implementation.

“They needed time to plan their facilities and capital expenditure,” said Dompok, adding that the Government would pay for the setting-up of biodiesel blending facilities at six petroleum depots in the central region.

The depots, which would be fitted with in-line blending facilities, would be located in Port Klang, the Klang Valley Distri-bution Terminal (KVDT) in Selan-gor, Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan and in Tangga Batu, Malacca.

An allocation of RM43.1mil would be made available for this purpose, Dompok said.

Dompok said that the price of biofuel would fluctuate according to the market price of crude palm oil and diesel.

“If there’s an increase in diesel price, it would be borne by the oil companies. They have agreed to take it on as operational expenditure,’’ said Dompok.

Earlier in his speech, the minister said the Government had released the National Biofuel Policy in March 2006 in line with global developments that saw nations pursuing aggressive agendas on the production and use of biofuels to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Source: The Star