Mandatory fuel blending ratio raised to 15pc

The Government has with immediate effect raised the threshold for the mandatory blending 

of fuel with ethanol from 10 to 15 percent.

Zimbabwe made the blending compulsory in 2013, starting off at five percent and later to 

10 percent in a bid to cut the country’s fuel import bill. Treasury figures show that the 

country spent $293 million on fuel imports in the first quarter.

“It is hereby notified that in terms of section 4(1) of the Petroleum Regulations, 2013 . 

. . the Minister approves the current level of mandatory blending to 15 percentum,” the 

Minister of Energy Samuel Undenge said in a notice in the Government Gazette on Friday.

“The consequence of this approval is that all licensed operators, shall from the date of 

publication of this notice, be mandated to sell unleaded blended at E15”. Greenfuel, a 

joint venture between Government’s Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) and 

businessman, Billy Rautenbach’s Macdom and Rating Investments, together with Hippo 

Valley’s Triangle estates are the country’s only producers of Ethanol.

Fuel in Zimbabwe has, however, remained expensive despite the blending. The price of a 

litre of petrol ranges between $1,37 and $1,46 while diesel costs between $1,26 and $1,36 

per litre, far much more than the regional average in other landlocked countries. 

—The Source