TAGUIG CITY – After a series of virtual public consultations with the country’s downstream oil industry (DOI) stakeholders, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued Department Circular (DC) No. 2021-06-0014, or the “Revised Circular for the Accreditation and Submission of Notices and Reports of the Philippine Downstream Oil Industry Pursuant to the Biofuels Act”.

“This is another testament to the DOE’s firm commitment in ensuring the full compliance of our downstream oil industry players to the Biofuels Act. Adhering to the prescribed blending requirements ultimately redounds to the benefit of our consumers, as it would help secure part of our fuel supply through indigenous biofuel utilization while assisting our coconut and sugarcane farmers in tapping the domestic market created in the process,” Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said. 

The Revised Circular reinforces the Department’s mandate of strictly monitoring DOI compliance with existing rules and regulations. Currently, biofuel participants are required to be properly accredited, while the implementation of the mandated blending requirements for own-use or the sale of biofuel blends in the Philippines call for the exhaustion of locally-sourced biofuel. 

Repealing the 2006 Interim Guidelines for Accreditation of Oil Industry Participants under the Biofuels Program, significant improvements introduced by the Circular include:  

• updated accreditation qualifications and review procedures

• updated templates for the notices of importation and local purchases

• enhanced reportorial requirements to aid in the reconciliation of critical information relative to the mandatory blending requirements of ethanol and coco methyl ester, and

• the consolidation of said qualifications, procedures, and reports to facilitate an easier and more efficient tracking process. 

This Circular will take effect 15 days following its complete publication in two newspapers of general circulation. 

###