EASTERN ALLOTS P500 MILLION FOR ALTERNATIVE FUEL STRATEGY October 24, 2005 By Paolo Joseph I. Lising Eastern Petroleum Corp. will spend some P500 million as part of a strategy to widen the use of alternative native fuels at a time when world crude prices are soaring. In a chance interview during the Makati Business Club General Membership Meeting, Chairman and CEO Fernando L. Martinez told BusinessWorld the project will cut the yearly fuel import bill by about 10%. "This project will be an additive to ... fuel while getting the same distance of vehicle travel. The product is similar to coco-biodiesel," Mr. Martinez said. He refused to name the product. The amount needed will be used partly to upgrade all of the firm's gasoline stations nationwide into alternative fuel stations. He said the firm plans to have 200 stations that are ready to distribute alternative fuel over the next three years starting next year. He said Eastern Petroleum is already talking with the Energy department regarding the project. "We will launch the product by December," he said. The benchmark Dubai crude remained at an average of $54.83/barrel during the first half of October. The figure is lower than the September average of $56.54 but still high from the June average of $51.08/barrel when prices started rising sharply. On the other hand, unleaded gasoline at the Mean of Platts Singapore plunged to an average of $72 a barrel during the first half of the month, lower from $79.40/barrel in September but higher from $59.69/barrel in June. The government encourages transport players to look for alternative fuels to address the need to reduce dependence on imported fuel oil, the threat of global warming and poor air quality. Besides coco-diesel, which comes from coconut, other alternative fuels being pushed by the Energy Department are made from ethanol and palm oil. The government enacted in 1999, the Clean Air Act aimed at creating awareness on air pollution. In support of this law, the Energy Department embarked on the Alternative Fuels and Technology program aimed at energy supply security; reliability and affordability and fuel diversification, while meeting environmental challenges. BACK TO NEWS INDEX