The Department of Energy (DOE) has revised the accreditation guidelines for the biofuels program to ensure compliance with the Biofuels Act.
The agency said last week that it conducted virtual public consultations with the country’s downstream oil industry (DOI) stakeholders prior to the issuance of the DOE Circular (DC) No. 2021-06-0014, or the “Revised Circular for the Accreditation and Submission of Notices and Reports of the Philippine Downstream Oil Industry Pursuant to the Biofuels Act”.
“This is another testament to the DOE’s firm commitment in ensuring the full compliance of our downstream oil industry players with the Biofuels Act. Adhering to the prescribed blending requirements ultimately redounds to the benefit of our consumers, as it would help secure part of our fuel supply through indigenous biofuel utilization while assisting our coconut and sugarcane farmers in tapping the domestic market created in the process,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said.
The revised circular reinforces the agency’s mandate of strictly monitoring DOI compliance with existing rules and regulations. Currently, biofuel participants are required to be properly accredited, while the implementation of the mandated blending requirements for own-use or the sale of biofuel blends in the Philippines call for the exhaustion of locally-sourced biofuel.
The significant improvements include updated accreditation qualifications and review procedures; updated templates for the notices of importation and local purchases; enhanced reportorial requirements to aid in the reconciliation of critical information relative to the mandatory blending requirements of ethanol and coco methyl ester, and the consolidation of said qualifications, procedures, and reports to facilitate an easier and more efficient tracking process.
This DOE circular will take effect 15 days following its complete publication in two newspapers of general circulation.
After Republic Act 9367 or the “Biofuels act of 2006” was signed into law, the blending of 1 percent coco methyl ester (CME) in diesel started. It was then increased to 2 percent in 2007.