We have entered the post-oil era, and I intend to do whatever is necessary in order to give a real boost to energy-saving measures and to the use of renewable energies.

—French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, 1 Sep 05

The roundtable developed a set of 15 action items and commitments to advance the use of biofuels in France, including large increases in the direct use of ethanol in blends and in E85 flex-fuel vehicles, and support for a broader range of approaches to biodiesel production.

Among the key elements of the plan are:

• Revise upward the European standards for biofuel-petrofuel blends. France’s target of 5.75% biofuel content by 2008 is not compatible with the current European 5% standard. Modification of the European specifications thus is essential to maintain coherence between the EU and France.

  Minister Loos will accordingly seek a revision of the standards at the European level, while France adopts in parallel aa national increase in biodiesel blends from 5% to 10%. The “pre-standardization” will be carried out following the final validating test led by the French Petroleum Institute (IFP) and the automobile manufacturers and equipment suppliers in 2006.

• Ensure fuel quality. Minister Loos also announced that the Ministry will ensure the quality of the blends at the pump beginning in 2006.

• Support the direct blending of ethanol in gasoline. In France, ethanol is usually used to produce a type of ether known as ETBE (ethyl tertiary butyl ether) which is then mixed into fuel. The government wants the industry to begin using direct ethanol blends starting in 2006.

• A pilot project for direct ethanol blending in Rouen that will incorporate 5% ethanol into 300,000 tons of gasoline beginning in February 2006. (SIPLEC, a subsidiary of retail giant Leclerc, announced on Monday that it has begun direct blending of ethanol into its gasoline.)

• Multi-year commercial partnership between the ethanol and oil industry. The Ministers insisted that the contracts be concluded quickly to ensure a stable ethanol market.

• The need to support the commercial development of new biofuel variants for diesel blending, including optimized ethanol-diesel blends, biodiesel from animal fats, and Fischer-Tropsch biodiesel (Biomass-to-Liquids synthesis). To support that development, the ministry is opening up the 1.3-million tonne biodiesel tender to those biofuels as well. (Tender to be published shortly, with results announced in January.)

• Trial support for E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) flex-fuel vehicles.

• Investing to increase biodiesel crop and production capacity.

• Limiting the use of pure vegetable oil as a fuel to the agricultural sector.

Among the companies and organizations participating in the roundtable were:

• Oil industry: AGIP; Association des Indépendants du Pétrole (AIP); BP; Dyneff; Esso; ETBE Nord et Ouest; Fédération Française des Pétroliers Indépendants (FFPI); Institut Française du Pétrole (IFP); Lyondell; Siplec; Shell; Total; Union Française des Industries Pétrolièrs (UFIP); Union des Importatuers Indèpendants Pétroliers (UIP), Pètrovex (groupe Auchan), Carfuel (groupe Carrefour),Stè Pètroles et Dèrivès

• Auto industry: Comité des Constructeurs Français d’Automobiles (CCFA); Fédération des Industries des Equipements pour Véhicules (FIEV); FMC–Ford France; PSA Peugeot Citroën; Renault

• Agriculture: Association pour le Développement des Carburants Agricoles (ADECA); Association Générale des Producteurs de Blé et Autres Céréales (AGPB); Association Générale des Producteurs de Maïs (AGPM); Confédération Générale des Planteurs de Betteraves (CGB); Diester Industrie; Esterifrance; Fédération Française des Producteurs d'Oléagineux et de Protéagineux (FOP); Fédération Nationale des Syndicats d’Exploitants Agricoles (FNSEA); Ineos Enterprises; Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA); Saria Industrie; Syndicat Général des Constructeurs de Machines Agricoles (SYGMA); Syndicat de l’Industrie Française des Coproduits Animaux (SIFCO); Syndicat National des Producteurs d’Alcool Agricole (SNPAA)