London, 25/02/2020 – UKPIA welcomes the UK Government announcement today that mandates higher ethanol content petrol - E10 - following consultation and will continue to seek close government-industry partnership on the rollout of the policy to enable a seamless transition for all consumers.
This transition to lower carbon petrol is fully supported by the downstream oil sector as a practical measure to further reduce transport carbon emissions - the equivalent of taking up to 350,000 cars off our roads - with minimal impact on drivers, filling station operators or the wider community.
E10 is petrol containing up to 10% ethanol – with the remainder made up of hydrocarbons. Currently, standard (or ‘premium’) petrol contains up to 5% ethanol.* Ethanol from renewable feedstocks is added to petrol to reduce the fuel’s carbon emissions.
The introduction of E10 is a practical step that increases renewable fuel use in the UK now and UKPIA looks forward to the UK Government’s consultation on updating the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation to take further steps to deploy renewable fuels.
Today's policy announcement is an important step in the UK’s broader energy transition journey. Updated renewable transport fuels policies are essential in reducing the emissions of the light road vehicle sector and, in time, such policies should help reduce emissions in more difficult to decarbonise transport sectors – such as aviation and HGVs – whereas part of a range of technologies, low carbon liquid fuels and hydrogen will have an important role to play.
Quotes Attributed to UKPIA Director-General, Stephen Marcos Jones.
“The downstream oil sector is clear on the need for action on climate change and supports this step towards a higher uptake of low carbon fuels.
UKPIA has been calling for a mandated introduction to E10 since 2018 and we are pleased government has made this announcement today.
With E10 grade fuel to power cars in the UK from September 2021, carbon emissions should continue to reduce in the transport sector, an important means for meeting the Net-Zero commitment.
As UKPIA has set out in its Transition, Transformation, and Innovation Report, with the right policies, the UK could become a trailblazer in the development of low carbon liquid fuels and electric vehicle technologies, as well as maintaining its leading role as a hub for sustainable aviation fuels. We look forward to working with government to progress these opportunities further.”
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Notes for editors:
*E10 is the label which will be used for higher ethanol blend petrol in the UK. Whilst the “E” of the label is originally derived from ethanol - when ethanol blended on top of hydrocarbon petrol was given “E + % v/v added” labels – its use has since evolved to indicate wider oxygenate content of petrol as more petrol-viable components became available and it is possible that E10 petrol will contain oxygenates in addition to ethanol (such as methanol) in line with the relevant fuel standards.
In the UK, increased use of renewable fuels such as bioethanol is mandated by the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation. In 2019, the vast majority of renewable fuel blended into petrol was bioethanol (>90%).
The UK Petroleum Industry Association (UKPIA) represents eight oil refining and marketing companies that operate the six major oil refineries in the UK and source over 85% of the transport fuels used. UKPIA members also own around 1,250 of the UK's 8,476 filling stations in the UK.
UKPIA’s members are BP, Essar, Exxonmobil, Petroineos, Phillips 66, Shell, Total and Valero.
The Transition, Transformation, and Innovation: Our role in the Net-Zero Challenge report is available here or in hard copy on request from the UKPIA Press Office.