2/1/06 MIRI (The Star) - Malaysia’s pioneer biodiesel – the B5 fuel – will be supplied free for the whole of this year to ministries and government agencies that volunteer to try it out.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui said the Cabinet had agreed that B5, which will make its debut soon, be provided free to these bodies so that they could use it in as many vehicles as possible. 

So far, he said in addition to his ministry, the Transport Ministry, Defence Ministry and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had volunteered to use their vehicles as “guinea pigs” to test the fuel over the next 12 months.

Chin said his ministry was deciding on the best date to symbolically launch B5. 

“The new fuel will be launched in peninsular Malaysia first, before being eventually supplied to Sarawak and Sabah,” he said.

B5, he added, would not be sold to the public as yet.

“The next 12 months will be used to determine the effect of the new biodiesel on engine systems and the general performance of the vehicles before it is introduced for public use nationwide,” he said on Saturday in an interview. 

B5 is made up of 5% palm oil-derived diesel and 95% petroleum-derived diesel. Diesel supplied by petrol stations in the country now is fully petroleum-based.

The switch to B5 is expected to save the Government a few hundred million ringgit in terms of diesel subsidies yearly.

Chin, who expressed hope that more government bodies would volunteer to test the fuel, said his ministry was now fine-tuning the production process of B5.

“We are identifying the production centres for B5, the quantity to be produced, how much will be needed by each of the ministries and DBKL, and the logistics of delivering it to the depots supplying fuel to these bodies,” he said.

The ministry, he added, was trying to sort out these arrangements as soon as possible. 

“We are eager to try out our very first biodiesel,” he said.

Chin said the Government had yet to decide on the price for B5.