Jamaica advances date for E10 announcement; will save $2 billion in switch from MTBE additive

In Jamaica, the government is now expected to announce the date for an E10 mandate as soon as the budget presentations in April. The conversion to E10 follows a successful pilot program that concluded in October 2006. The energy ministry said recently that retrofitting of pumps at gas stations was now underway to enable distribution of the fuel.

The country will initially use Brazilian feedstocks and phase in local production. E10 will replace MTBE as a fuel additive and is expected to save $2 billion in imported fuel costs.

A recent Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study examined biofuel opportunities in Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana. IDB has also released A Blueprint for Green Energy, prepared by Garten Rothkopf, seeks to cut through the hype surrounding biofuels, and alternative energy writ large, and present an objective, fact-based analysis of the region’s global competitive position looking forward to 2020. It includes the most extensive study done to date on the global biofuels market, including 50 countries. “A Blueprint for Green Energy in the Americas” offers a strategic blueprint for IDB activities in the region, to serve as the basis for even more focused and policy-oriented studies in the future.

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