The importation of ethanol of the local oil companies went up significantly this year as the mandate for the 5 percent by volume sales of ethanol-blended gasoline kicked off in the first quarter.

Based on the monitoring of the Department of Energy’s oil industry management bureau, the volume of importation went up to 6.5 million liters in the first quarter alone and this is seen sustained for the rest of the quarters this 2009.

With scant supply that can be sourced domestically, the oil firms’ only option would be to import ethanol to comply with the mandated blend or sales volume.

The Biofuels Act required that the oil companies must meet at least 5 percent gasoline sales volume with ethanol blend, but many opted to market E10 (or gasoline with 10-percent ethanol blend) so they can still sell conventional gasoline in their other pumps.

Eleven companies have been accredited by the DoE as participants to the country’s bioethanol fuel program. These include Petron Corporation, Shell Philippines, Chevron Phils, Eastern Petroleum, Flying V/TWA; Jetti, Phoenix Petroleum, PTT Philippines, Seaoil, Total and Unioil.

The level of ethanol importation this year, as gleaned from DoE documents, significantly went up as compared to registered volumes from 2006 to 2008.

For the full year of 2008, the total import volume was placed at 8.80 million. This was almost topped by the importation for the first three months of 2009 alone.

In 2006, the level of ethanol imports was considerably marginal at 2.10 million; and it goes the same for year 2007 at 3.21 million.

There are rising questions though as to continued importation by the oil firms to comply with the ethanol mandate, especially when the blend reaches 10-percent by year 2011.

The spirit and intent of the Biofuels Law is to ensure domestic supply for ethanol to provide additional opportunities for farmers who may opt to participate in the program.