BP Australia and Manildra Energy Australia yesterday announced one of Australia’s largest biofuels supply agreements, a deal which will result in nearly half of BP’s fuel sales in New South Wales containing renewable ethanol.
BP will receive from Manildra’s Bomaderry ethanol plant (near Nowra) 40 million litres of ethanol over the next year, with deliveries to commence this month.
The agreement with Manildra combined with BP’s existing 15 million litre ethanol supply deal with CSR makes BP the largest marketer of biofuels in Australia.
Both BP and Manildra have also commenced negotiations to extend the agreement for a further two years. The ethanol will be blended at the Newcastle and Parramatta fuel terminals to produce a regular unleaded petrol with up to 10 percent renewable ethanol that will be sold across New South Wales.
BP is investing approximately $4 million to enable the delivery, storage and blending of ethanol to take place at both of these terminals.
The new facilities at BP’s Newcastle Terminal commenced operation earlier this month, with Parramatta’s facilities to be operational towards the end of this year.
BP has been marketing ethanol blended fuel in Queensland since 2001 and will now be able to commence the rollout to BP branded service stations in New South Wales, with the fuel to be available at about 50 additional locations by the end of the year.
Over the next few years BP’s planned rollout of ethanol blended fuel in New South Wales will see this number of service stations at least doubling.
BP Australia President, Mr Gerry Hueston said that the company’s actions demonstrated its commitment to create a sustainable future for biofuels in Australia.
"Increasing the supply of biofuels is part of BP’s long term strategy to provide Australian motorists with the choice of a range of cleaner fuels," said Mr Hueston.
"Selling more ethanol blended fuel at more service stations is just one part of our strategy. Supplying large volumes of biofuels also requires large scale supply agreements and the investment in necessary infrastructure," he said.
"Getting all three necessities in place has required considerable work over the past year. This commitment from BP has ensured that today’s announcement ticks all of the boxes for bringing biofuels into the mainstream in a way that ensures it is around to stay."
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