Malaysia may mandate use of biofuel to replace diesel
Sun 10 July 2005
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Malaysia's ministry of plantation industries and commodities aims to make the country the first in Asia to require the replacement of diesel fuel with a biofuel mix based on palm oil.
According to the Financial Times, a biofuel bill - expected to be submitted to the cabinet for approval this month - will require all diesel fuel sold from 2007 to have 5 per cent biofuel content.
Pressure has grown on the Malaysian Government due to rising fuel prices and the amount paid out in fuel subsidies.
It is estimated that the use of biodiesel could reduce demand for 'traditional' diesel by more than 10 per cent.
Malaysia is planning to build three plants to produce 180,000 tonnes of biodiesel for export in the next year. An estimated 500,000 tonnes of palm oil (out of the country's total annual production of 14m tonnes) is likely to be used to make biodiesel.
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Financial Times story link
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