US to rely on crude despite ethanol gains - API

26 February 2008 20:19  [Source: ICIS news]

ORLANDO, Florida (ICIS news)--US ethanol production will boom in the next 20 years, but the surge will not displace US dependence on fossil fuels, an oil industry official said on Tuesday.

Even with the significant increase in biofuels production, the US by 2030 will rely on crude oil and natural gas to meet half of its energy needs, said Jim Ford, vice president for government affairs at the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Oil and natural gas now supply 65% of the US energy demand, according to API data.

The US needs all the energy it can get, and any addition is welcome, including ethanol, wind power, crude oil and natural gas, he told delegates of an ethanol industry conference in Orlando, Florida.

Ford acknowledged that ethanol would play an important role in reducing the US carbon footprint, but he cautioned that the transition to a new model, including legislation, should be done in a timely fashion.

Carbon reduction is not an exclusive US problem, Ford said. It is a global issue, and it should be dealt with on an international scale, he said.

Ford said the US should not pursue an aggressive carbon reduction agenda without considering what is being done elsewhere in the world.

“Haste makes waste, and everyone could pay the price,” he said, adding that carbon reduction policy should be made to liberate, not constrain technology.

The US ethanol industry has drawn fire from the oil industry, which claims biofuels do not compete on a level playing field with oil due to generous government subsidies.

The oil industry also questions the ability of the US industry to meet mandates set under legislation approved in December 2007. That includes the use of 36bn gal (136bn litres) of alternative fuels by 2022.

Bookmark Simon Robinson’s Big Biofuels Blog for some independent thinking on biofuels

By: William Lemos
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