KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine will introduce the mandatory addition of 5% bioethanol to motor fuel from May 1 to meet EU sustainability regulations and some European refineries have already started producing fuel for Ukraine, analyst Enkorr said on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian parliament passed a law in June 2024 on the mandatory use of renewable bioethanol in fuel to adapt the country’s legislation to EU regulations.
Enkorr said that Lithuania’s Orlen Lietuva would deliver the first batch of bioethanol petrol to Ukrainian customers on April 14. The bioethanol content is expected to be 4.8%, which puts it in the 5% or E5 range.
“The main problem is that E5 petrol is not standard for European producers. To produce E5, refineries need to set up separate production facilities. As it turned out, not all plants are ready for this at the moment,” Enkorr said.
European refineries traditionally produce E10, or petrol with 10% of bioethanol.
Enkorr said Orlen’s refinery in Gdansk, Poland, and Romania’s OMV Petrom could also start shipments to Ukraine in mid-April.
Ukraine does not officially disclose the volume of domestic fuel production as most of its facilities have been repeatedly attacked by Russian missiles and drones.
According to analysts, Ukraine imported about 1.2 million tons of petrol in 2024.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
