Overview
- Energy Secretary Daniel González publicly endorsed the Senate biofuels bill at the Maizar congress on Thursday and outlined its main technical terms.
- González warned the national biodiesel mandatory blend will not exceed 10% and said that pushing for a 15% cut would block passage of the law.
- The draft would raise mandatory blends from 7.5% to 10% for biodiesel and from 12% to 15% for ethanol within 12 months and set origin quotas of 6% sugarcane and 6% maize for ethanol.
- The proposal ends direct state price and quota setting by creating transparent electronic spot and term markets, national minimum floors, and territorial freedom for provinces to choose higher blends.
- To ease the shift the bill keeps tax exemptions with 15 years of stability and offers a five-year phased transition to protect small biodiesel producers while the government stresses higher blends could raise diesel pump prices by about 5%–10%.