THE Government’s much-touted project to blend 10 per cent ethanol and 90 per cent gasoline (E10) by mid-year, as part of the administration’s energy-saving programme, is apparently running out of fuel.

Last May, at the launch of the six-month pilot ethanol project, Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell gave the assurance that given the results of the test, petrol stations would begin selling E10 by the middle of this year.

However, Ruth Potopsingh, the group managing director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), said yesterday that while the results of the pilot were promising, there was still no clear date for the introduction of E10 fuel at the pumps, as the necessary infrastructure, estimated to cost J$300 million, was not yet in place.

“The major findings of that study show there are no mechanical or technical problems with introducing ethanol in motor vehicles… but we are not yet ready for a national roll-out,” the PCJ boss told journalists shortly after addressing yesterday’s Rotary Club of Kingston weekly luncheon meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

The PCJ, in the meanwhile, is projecting that the country could see a one to two per cent increase in its oil bill this year, over last year’s whopping US$1.7 billion.

“For this year we are looking at. 2,000 more barrels of oil at the lowest end,” Potopsingh said. The actual bill, she added, would depend on world prices and therefore it was not yet clear how much the country would spend this year.

But she said the introduction of ethanol would mean a reduction in oil consumption by about 10 per cent.

According to Potopsingh, in order to facilitate the mixing of E10 with gasoline, equipment would have to be imported for the building of storage facilities.

“We hope by the end of the year that we could have the programme rolled out, but there are still several administrative matters that have to be dealt with,” she said.

Among these, she said, was the procurement of services and goods, which would have to go through the Contractor-General’s Office and the Cabinet.

The PCJ boss also pointed to the many environmental benefits of using ethanol, noting that MTBE, which is used in gasoline to enhance octane, was being phased out and, like the rest of the world, Jamaica would eventually not be permitted to use it.

“The benefits of using ethanol can be further enhanced with an improved sugar industry which incorporates the production of ethanol,” she said.

While ethanol could be one of the answers to reducing the country’s oil bill, Jamaica has been looking at other options, including the exploration for oil and gas within the country’s waters.

“They will do a broader area south of Jamaica in the ocean so we can get a better picture of the geological formations and hence the ability to interpret whether we are more positively inclined for oil,” she said.

The country, she said, needed to attract investors to finance the exploration of wells, which could also be a very costly affair.

“While we have very positive views about the existence of oil and or gas, we need to determine if this is in commercial quantity and we can’t do this without an exploratory well being drilled,” she said, adding that this could cost about US$1 million a day.

“The PCJ is not in a position to undertake its own exploration, and hence the need to collaborate with the people with expertise,” she added.