DOE wants to stop ‘bote-bote’ gas sale

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued new policies on the sale of adulterated gasoline and diesel to tricycles to allow faster development of gas stations in the countryside.

The new policies under the downstream oil industry are intended to further protect consumers by enticing industry players to provide better services and product, DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

Cusi said the “bote-bote” system or sale of gas and diesel on soda bottles opens end-users to the purchase of adulterated fuel and exposes the public to the dangers of fire and explosion.

“We now have categories for gas stations that will encourage the putting up of safer products, facilities and services,” he said.

“We are also open to the various technology-options that are being introduced in the market to address the proliferation of liquid fuels in soda bottles or ‘bote-bote’,” the energy chief said.

Cusi affirmed the need to cater to the dynamic segment of the transport industry, the tricycle drivers and operators and those living in remote areas.

Cusi said the DOE drafted and endorsed to the Department of Trade and Industries-Bureau of Product Standards the new Philippine National Standard (PNS) for automotive and industrial diesel products in compliance with the standard specification under the Philippine Clean Air Act.

The DOE-OIMB also separated the PNS for automotive and industrial diesel oil.

The improved PNS/DOE Quality Standard (QS): 004:2017 on coco-methyl ester (CME)-blended automotive diesel oil specification contains revised technical provisions to upgrade the fuel quality requirement (such as reduced sulfur content limit in compliance with Euro-4 emission standard) and test methods for more accurate evaluation of fuel quality.

The upgraded PNS/DOE QS 013:2017: CME-blended industrial diesel oil specifications include introduction of cetane number or derived cetane number as new property, removal of distillation property, reduction in the limit of carbon residue, increase the limits of density, flash point and kinematic viscosity and updating of test method.

Said standards aim to improve diesel quality for cleaner and efficient fuels sold in the market.

Giving more protection to oil consumers, the DOE-OIMB issued the Code of Safety Practices for LPG refilling plant and updated the retail rules.

The DOE said these two policies are essential to safeguard the welfare of the consumers against unscrupulous trading of petroleum products (i.e., adulteration and under-delivery).