When BP introduces its’10 per cent ethanol blend (E10) fuel to a new site, it completely removes the old regular unleaded fuel. They call it their “new BP Unleaded 91”.
BP has 95 sites converted to sell the new BP Unleaded 91and there will be about 150 sites by the first quarter of 2008.
“We believe biofuels are here to stay – they play an important role in reducing our dependence on non renewable fossil fuels and offer a greener fuel alternative both now and into the future. We want to encourage people to use it as a mainstream fuel,” Ms McSwain said.
“We’ve sold 150 million litres of our new fuel and our customer response is positive.
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“Sales are extremely strong - We’ve asked our customers why they chose to use our new BP Unleaded.
“Our findings showed 66 per cent used it because it was good for the environment, 80 per cent said their car performed as well if not better and 99 per cent wanted to see it introduced to other service stations.”
Ms McSwain said the grants available under the Australian Government’s Ethanol Distribution Program were helping to bring more BP franchises on board.
“The grant is extremely important for us. It’s one of the fundamental ways we’re encouraging our franchises to help bring biofuels into the mainstream.”
BP has been promoting the grant to the BP network – of which 70 per cent of the petrol stations are owned and operated by independent dealers and distributors.
“We said if we could increase our supply of ethanol, would they bring in the infrastructure – the new pumps and signs,” she said.
“The response has been great – 70 to 80 per cent have expressed a desire to jump on board and sell the new Unleaded.
“They think it’s fantastic. They say ‘why wouldn’t you do it when you can receive the grant’.”
The Ethanol Distribution Program has two types of grants. The first is the infrastructure upgrade grant. This grant reimburses a service station up to $10,000 for the cost of upgrading equipment to sell E10.
Service stations have until 31 March 2008 to complete their upgrade. The grant reimburses the cost of upgrades undertaken between 1 October 2006 and 31 March 2008.
Then a sales target grant of up to $10,000 can be claimed if a service station has already received an upgrade grant and meets an E10 sales target.
Ms McSwain said that BP was taking a leadership role in the area of biofuels.
“Transport fuels account for about 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’re a key supplier of these fuels, and it’s a real opportunity to do something now and into the future.
“We want to offer cleaner fuels to our customers and identify new growth opportunities.”
By 2010 BP is committed to delivering more than 400 million litres of biofuels to the Australian market. More than 1000 BP service stations will be selling BP’s new Unleaded.
Globally, BP is investing $500 million in the next generation of biofuels, known as advanced biofuels.
“They’ll have real advantages over the first generation of biofuels which are currently derived from food crops such as sugarcane and grains,” Ms McSwain said.
“The next generation will be produced from waste or non-food sources.
“They will have a higher energy content and we’ll be able to blend them at higher percentages to use in existing vehicles.”
“This means that they will have the potential to deliver significantly greater greenhouse gas emission reductions of around 80 to 90 per cent versus conventional fuels.”
BP’s plans for the future include introducing E10 fuel Australia-wide.
The company has already spent more than $2 million in upgrading its Queensland terminals and has committed to spend an additional $4 million to upgrade infrastructure at the Newcastle and Parramatta terminals.
By the end of 2007, the Parramatta facility will be supplying fuel to the Sydney and Canberra markets. The Newcastle terminal is already operational.
BP is also looking at the Victorian, South Australian and West Australian markets and is currently appraising both ethanol supply and infrastructure options for 2008 and 2009.
The company has agreed to buy 100 per cent of the output of a new ethanol plant in West Australia, being built by Primary Energy at Kwinana.
The plant is due to be completed in late 2009 and will supply 160 million litres of ethanol a year.
“That amount will clearly supply BP and all the majors in WA,” Ms McSwain said.
“Once this plant is up and running, we’ll be supplying our entire service station network with ethanol.”
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