National Oil Company inaugurated the third ethanol and regular benzene blending plant in Ethiopia. The blending facility was 
established on 52 thousand square meters of land at a cost 45 million birr.
The NOC blending facility has the potential to blend 1000m3 of ethanol and regular benzene daily. The plant has three tanks able to store 3,200m3 of ethanol, regular benzene and diesel.
The facility is also equipped with an LPG storage and filling plant with the potential to fill 2,000 cylinders a day.
NOC expects to enhance its capacity for storage and filling to 5,000 cylinders a day after completing an expansion on the plant expected to cost an estimated 100 million birr.The new plant with the technology to facilitate 25% ethanol blended gasoline as soon as the new and expanded sugar factories in the country are able to provide the require sugar cane by product to extend foreign currency savings on gasoline imports.
The new facility was built on 52 thousand square meters of land of which the depot consumed 12 thousand. The first such blending facility was built by Nile Petroleum followed by Oil Libya.
22 million liters of ethanol has been blended with regular benzene in the time since Ethiopia first introduced the use of ethanol blended gasoline, saving the nation 16 million US dollars on fuel imports so far said Alemayehu Tegenu, Water and Energy Minister.
In related news NOC is finalizing preparations to extend its services to the Eastern African nations of South Sudan and Djibouti according to Tadesse Tilahun, Chief Executive Officer.
It is expected that NOC will be the first domestic oil retailer to become transnational he noted.
Source: Capital
