Philippines: Higher Voluntary Ethanol Blends Considered

The Philippine government is currently studying higher ethanol blends in gasoline on a voluntary basis up to 20 percent (beyond the 10 percent mandate). This is in line with the recent stated concern by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that the country is overly reliant on refined petroleum product imports. The consideration also follows a Senate Committee on Energy meeting (June 21, 2022), where the Department of Energy was advised to consider such higher blends. Higher voluntary blends, e.g., E15 and E20, would be facilitated through the approval of currently drafted Philippine National Standards (PNS). Until local ethanol production scales up, a voluntary PNS for E20 would force imported refined petroleum products to compete with imported ethanol for 10 percent of the total blended gasoline pool and have the effect of both immediately lowering pump prices as well as providing a safeguard against future oil price and supply shocks.