Biodiesel, a “greener” alternative to regular diesel, is expected to be implemented nationwide by 2013.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said petroleum companies needed time to build blending facilities in order to mix palm methyl ester with regular petroleum-based diesel.
“The only constraint that is keeping us from immediately allowing the full implementation of B5 is the blending facilities that require some time to be built,” he said when launching the B5 biodiesel programme for the Kuala Lumpur area at the BHPetrol station in Jalan Kuching yesterday.
B5 is a blend of 95% regular petroleum-based diesel and 5% palm methyl ester which can be used in normal diesel engine vehicles without any modification.
It is sold at the same price as regular diesel at RM1.80 per litre.
Dompok added that the ministry was studying the expansion of the programme to the whole country, including the industrial sector.
He said the Government allocated an estimate of RM106mil next year to subsidise B5 and regular diesel.
“From January to December this year, the subsidy for B5 for the central region alone is RM23.65mil,” he said.
He added that the Government would continue to maintain the regular diesel price.
Dompok said with the launch of the programme in Kuala Lumpur, B5 would be supplied to 247 petrol stations and 890 tonnes or 1.03 million litres of palm biodiesel would be used in a month.
“This contributes to saving almost 12.4 million litres of fossil diesel a year in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
He said the programme would elevate the nation’s image internationally as one of the countries which started renewable energy programmes and had taken the initiative to reduce greenhouse gases.
