Photo: Miramar<\/p>\n
Mozambique\u2019s Minister for Mineral Resources said on Friday that biofuels could help to mitigate the volatility of international fossil fuel prices, reiterating that this environmentally friendly fuel should be seen as part of the diversification of the national energy mix.<\/p>\n
\u201cBiofuels can help to mitigate the volatility of international fossil fuel prices, particularly when produced locally, on a competitive scale and with effective integration into national supply chains,\u201d said Minister Est\u00eav\u00e3o Pale in Maputo at the opening of the National Biofuels Seminar.<\/p>\n
The minister acknowledged that the event is taking place against a backdrop of volatility in fossil fuel prices on the international market, at a time when the country is addressing an energy challenge linked to the conflict in the Middle East, whilst also highlighting the pressure on global supply chains, exchange rate fluctuations and the country\u2019s growing need to strengthen its energy security.<\/p>\n
\u201cMozambique, which currently imports liquid fuels, is well aware of the economic impacts of this scenario and, ultimately, the effects on the lives of families. Therefore, talking about biofuels today is not just about clean energy; it is about energy sovereignty, industrialisation, agriculture, employment, environmental preservation, foreign exchange savings and economic resilience,\u201d the minister explained.<\/p>\n
According to Est\u00eav\u00e3o Pale, despite the instability of this market, Mozambique possesses natural, agricultural and logistical conditions that place it in a favourable position to develop a national biofuel supply chain.<\/p>\n
Recognising that biofuels are expected to gradually replace fossil fuels, Minister Pale pointed out that their gradual incorporation can generate real impacts, reiterating that \u201cevery percentage of ethanol blended into petrol and every percentage of biodiesel in diesel represents a lower volume of imported fossil fuel\u201d, reducing pressure on foreign exchange reserves and promoting greater value for domestic production, as well as greater market predictability.<\/p>\n
\u201cBiofuels should be seen as part of a broader strategy to diversify the national energy mix. The partial replacement of fossil fuels with clean, renewable fuels can contribute to reducing emissions in the transport sector and to aligning Mozambique with international energy transition agendas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Biofuel production also depends on natural, economic and logistical factors, stressed Pale, expressing his certainty that the greater the national capacity to produce part of the energy it consumes, the more resilient the country will be to external market fluctuations.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the government is drawing up an action plan for a pilot project to produce and blend biofuels into petroleum products, involving all sectors within the biofuels value chain.<\/p>\n
In turn, the Director of the National Directorate for Hydrocarbons and Fuels (DNHC) at the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME), Felisbela Cunhete, recalled that Mozambique began to look into biofuels in 2008, following the first fuel crisis caused by a shock to the international market.<\/p>\n
She explained that at that time, the government also began drafting the regulatory framework necessary for the sector\u2019s development.<\/p>\n
According to Cunhete, over time, stakeholders gradually eroded the initiative\u2019s initial momentum, and it remained on hold until renewed strategic interest in biofuels led to its resumption a few years later.<\/p>\n
She noted that the presence of the main players in the biofuel chain at the Biofuels Seminar enables progress on practical foundations for domestic production, with a view to promoting self-sufficiency in fuels.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: Lusa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Miramar Mozambique\u2019s Minister for Mineral Resources said on Friday that biofuels could help to mitigate the volatility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-637617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}