Caltex Australia begins supply of diesel containing 2% biofuel

Caltex Australia begins supply of diesel containing 2% biofuel

Sydney (Platts)--2Oct2006

Caltex Australia has begun supplying diesel fuel containing 2% biodiesel
from its terminal in the east coast city of Newcastle.
In a first for Australia, all of the 550 million liters/year of diesel
supplied by Caltex from its Newcastle terminal is to contain biodiesel.
The blended diesel is to be progressively rolled out from October 3 to
around 185 Caltex service stations in the eastern state of New South Wales.
The new fuel will be available from sites in the Hunter Valley region,
central and mid-north coasts and central west, as well as to commercial
customers such as those in the Hunter region mining industry, Caltex said in a
statement.
The 11 million liters/year of biodiesel required for blending at the
Newcastle terminal would be manufactured from both tallow and canola and would
be sourced from a number of suppliers in the region, Caltex Australia Managing
Director and CEO Des King told Platts.
The Newcastle terminal accounts for around 12% of Caltex Australia's
total diesel sales of 4.5 billion liters/year. "This is a major commitment for
us out of a major terminal and is all part of our commitment to meeting the
[federal] government's biofuels target," King said.
The Australian government is keen to boost the take-up of biofuels and
plans to lift national output to at least 350 million liters/year, or around
2% of the current transport fuel market, by 2010. Caltex has said previously
that it believed the target could be reached as early as between mid-2007 and
mid-2008.
King said the introduction of biodiesel also represented an important
diversification of supply in the Australian market, which imported 30% of all
the diesel it consumed in 2005.
In the financial year ended June 30, 2006, the total volume of diesel
sold in Australia was 15.8 billion liters, of which 6.1 billion liters was
imported at a cost of A$4.07 billion ($3.04 billion), according to figures
from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
Caltex is already studying plans to expand its supply of the blended
diesel to its terminal in Lytton in the east coast city of Brisbane, King
said. But he was unable to comment on the likely timing of the expansion of
the program.
"Caltex is working with biodiesel suppliers in key regions to grow and
expand this emerging industry," King said. "The product will also be supplied
from other Caltex terminals when biodiesel supply arrangements and
infrastructure modifications have been completed."
Caltex's blended diesel is suitable for all diesel cars and trucks and
meets Australian diesel quality standards, the company added.
Caltex also sells E10, or gasoline containing 10% ethanol, at some of its
retail sites in eastern Australia. The company plans to expand the network of
E10 suppliers to more than 100 outlets by the end of 2006.
--Christine Forster, christine_forster@platts.com

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