Additive firms try to derail ethanol drive in Thailand

Bangkok Post Monday 01 August 2005 - Additive firms try to derail ethanol drive: "Additive firms try to derail ethanol drive
by SOONRUTH BUNYAMANEE -- Bangkok Post -- August 1, 2005

Lobbying effort already in motion

Gasoline additive producers are lobbying Thailand and other developing countries to give up their efforts to develop ethanol for use in automobile fuel, according to a senior local official involved in the promotion of ethanol.

Thailand has embarked on an ambitious programme to promote the production of ethanol to replace imports of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive, which currently total 300 million litres worth up to four billion baht annually. Specifically, it aims to replace MTBE with ethanol in octane 95 gasoline by January 2007 and in octane 91 gasoline in 2009.