Spain may achieve biofuel targets

May 9, 2012, Perpignan, FR – Spain is on course to pass its biofuel targets for 2012, according to government statistics, as the country continues to consume greater volumes of biofuels while diesel and gasoline demand is falling sharply.

The country is now consuming over three times the amount of biofuels than it was four years ago. The rise is the result of increasing demand for biodiesel — with bioethanol volumes flat — despite falling demand for diesel because of Spain's troubled economy.

Spain consumed 160,000t of biofuels in February, according to data released by the country's agriculture and energy ministries. This is up by 6.6pc against demand of 150,100t in the same month a year earlier.

The increase came from higher volumes of blended biodiesel in transport fuels, with biodiesel consumption in Spain rising by 9.7pc on the year to 136,000t (35,000 b/d) in February from 124,000t in February 2011. This comes despite diesel demand in Spain falling by 4.8pc over the same period to around 1.7mn t (437,000 b/d). The result means biodiesel had a share in February of around 7.9pc of all diesel sold for transport in Spain, well above government targets of 7pc for 2012.

Bioethanol consumption fared less well over the same period, falling by 6.2pc to 24,300t (7,000 b/d) from 25,900t a year earlier. But this is set against an overall fall in gasoline demand in Spain of around 6.9pc from February 2011 to February 2012. Bioethanol commanded a 6.5pc share of all gasoline sold in Spain in February, despite its falling volumes, against government targets of 4.1pc for 2012.

For the 12-month period between February 2011 and February 2012, biodiesel consumption in Spain ran at around 1.66mn t. This is an increase of 16.1pc from 1.43mn t/yr between February 2010 and February 2011. Bioethanol demand is at 354,000 t/yr in the 12-month period to February 2012 compared with 362,400t between February 2010 and February 2011. This translates to bioethanol having a 6.7pc share of Spain's annual gasoline demand, with biodiesel accounting for 7.3pc of annual diesel demand.

The figures sit slightly at odds with forecasts made by the country's energy regulator CNE, which had forecast that Spain would just miss its targets in 2012.

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