PV Oil ready to roll out E5 bio-fuel nationwide

PV Oil is now ready for the retail distribution of E5 bio-ethanol fuel

PV Oil has completed the close loop including processing raw material for bio-fuel blending, blending E5 bio-fuel, and transporting E5 bio-fuel from blending stations to transit warehouses, and then to retail stations and distributors nationwide.

PV Oil was considered the pioneer piloting the E5 use programme and officially started retail distribution from August 1, 2010. Since December 1, 2014 E5 bio-fuel was taken into popular use through PV Oil’s distribution systems in seven cities and provinces, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Haiphong, Danang, Can Tho, Quang Ngai, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

PV Oil upgraded the storage tanks systems and simultaneously took 11 bio-fuel blending stations into operation nationwide, a number that will increase by December this year to ensure the nationwide commercial distribution of E5 bio-fuel.

Besides, the company built plans for processing ethanol E100 to ensure the raw material for E5 bio-fuel blending, which is a mix of 95 per cent A92 petrol and 5 per cent ethanol E100. PV Oil will source all ethanol E100 domestically.

PV Oil has also accelerated the switch fuel pumping facilities from RON A92 petrol to bio-fuel E5 at retail stations and is ready to provide technical support to its agencies and distributors. It plans to complete upgrading and switching processes by the end of the year.

Previously, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and other authorities as well as cities and provinces also announced accelerating the implementation of solutions to switch from RON A92 petrol to E5 bio-fuel.

According to calculations by MoIT, from the beginning of 2018—when RON A92 petrol disappears—the country will need about 5.5 million cubic metres of E5 fuel. This means producing 250,000-270,000 tonnes of ethanol E100 as raw material for bio-fuel blending.

MoIT forecasts that the domestic supply of E100 will reach about 520,000 cubic metres per year, adequate to meet the demand for the blending of the new environmentally friendlier E5 fuel.

In order to ensure the supply of E5 bio-fuel for users, MoIT organised working sessions with bio ethanol manufacturers and Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited to urge them to complete the facilities and infrastructure to process ethanol E100.

According to MoIT’s calculations, the domestic ethanol E5 source is currently enough to meet the demand for E5 bio-fuel blending, once it replaces RON 92 from January 1, 2018.

Notably, to date, Vietnam has four ethanol E100 processing factories manufactured by Tung Lam Co., Ltd. with a total annual capacity of 200 million liters of ethanol, which is enough to blend of 3.9 million cubic metres of E5 bio-fuel.

The Dung Quat and Binh Phuoc bio-ethanol factories, which have suspended their operations, will be restarted by the end of the year.

Besides, MoIT worked with 26 large-scale petroleum trading units to listen to their difficulties and obstacles during the preparation process for trading E5 bio-fuel in early 2018.

Vietnam currently has five petroleum trading firms with E5 bio-fuel blending stations, namely Petrolimex, PV Oil, Saigon Petro Co., Ltd., Military Petroleum Corporation (MIPECORP), and Nam Song Hau Trading and Investment Petroleum JSC.

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