NSW Goverment appoints extra members to Biofuels Expert Panel.

The NSW Government has appointed three new members to the Government’s Biofuels Expert Panel to include industry experience on the advisory body that oversees the State’s biofuels policy.

New South Wales Minister for Environment Robyn Parker will launch the Ethanol Sustainability Challenge today, to the celebration of the automotive industry and environmental advocates. 

The Minister was thrilled to be launching the national initiative as it promotes the increased use and acceptance of sustainable biofuels among young automotive workers.

Fair Trading Minister Anthony Roberts today announced that he has instructed the Fair Trading Commissioner to investigate the price gap between E10 ethanol blend and octane 95 (premium) unleaded fuel.

Please view the press release from The Hon Anthony Roberts MP office.

The NRMA has written to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s (IPART) enquiry into ethanol supply in NSW calling for an investigation into the rising gap between E10 and premium unleaded fuel, Octane 95.

The NRMA's IPART submission included new research which found that the gap between E10 and Octane 95 had increased from 9.5 cents per litre in September 2009 to 11.5 cents this month.

Wall Street Journal, Feb 3 2012 – by ALESSANDRO TORELLO – ROTTERDAM, Netherlands

At the tip of the 30-mile-long peninsula that hosts one of the busiest ports in the world, Finland's Neste Oil has just finished converting a plot of land reclaimed from the sea into the biggest biodiesel refinery in Europe.

The €670 million ($850 million) investment by the state-controlled company in the plant, which is already transforming vegetable oil and waste animal fat into diesel, aims at benefiting from European Union policies that seek to cut greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks.

Media Release – The Hon Barry O'Farrell MP, Premier of NSW, Minister for Western Sydney

The NSW Government will introduce legislation to ensure motorists can continue to buy regular unleaded petrol, NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said today.

He said the NSW Government remained committed to promoting ethanol as a long term alternative fuel which will create hundreds of jobs in NSW.

But Mr O'Farrell said he was determined to do everything possible to assist families facing increased cost of living pressures.

"That's why the NSW Government will continue to allow the sale of regular unleaded petrol (ULP)," he said.

"Motorists already pay enough for petrol and I am not going to force people into buying more expensive premium petrol to run their cars and other engine products."

Mr O'Farrell said legislation would be introduced to overturn the former Labor Government's laws which would have made the sale of regular unleaded petrol illegal from 1 July 2012.

He said the six per cent ethanol mandate would remain in place.

The NSW Government has moved to suspend the scheduled increase of the biodiesel mandate due to insufficient local production to meet or exceed the current mandate.

The Biofuels Act 2007currently requires primary petrol wholesalers to ensure biodiesel makes up a minimum 2 per cent of the total volume of their NSW sales.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has released their 2011 petrol monitoring report.

The following materials are now available on the ACCC's fuel webpage at www.accc.gov.au/fuel:

• Media release
• 2011 report summary
• 2011 full report