Valero Energy Corp., Marathon Oil Corp. and Tesoro Corp. said they would refuse to sell E15, a mix of 85% gasoline and 15% ethanol, at their gas stations, because it could harm older automobiles or void their warranties. They and most other refiners now sell a mix of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline.
Their refusal could [image-nocss] dampen the ethanol lobby's ability to convince the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to go beyond its existing approval of the fuel blend for vehicles made since 2007. The EPA is currently weighing whether to expand its approval to older cars and light trucks despite opposition from auto makers and some environmentalists.
"While some government agencies may believe differently, Tesoro isn't convinced that E15 is ready for prime time," a Tesoro spokesperson told the newspaper.
The three companies own or license their names to a combined 12,700 U.S. gas stations, about 7.8% of the total as of 2008, according to the report. Other refiners, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC, declined to comment.
None of Valero's 1,000 wholly owned retail gas stations will sell the fuel blend, while the 4,800 stations that license the Valero brand name could sell E15 only if they market the fuel under a name other than Valero's, said spokesperson Bill Day. Valero is the largest independent U.S. refiner. Selling E15 is "not practically possible" because of the danger of drivers putting E15 into unapproved vehicles, Day told the paper.
Although ethanol advocates cite research saying E15 will notdamage vehicles, auto makers hold that E15 could harm car and light truck engines and void their warranties. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp., and other auto companies, filed a petition with a U.S. appellate court in Washington on Monday challenging the EPA's approval for the sale of gasoline containing 15% ethanol.
"There's no warranty protection from engine and equipment manufacturers for E15," Day said. "We're not going to sell a product we can't guarantee."
To help meet the EPA's goal of having 12.6 billion gallons of ethanol blended into the U.S. fuel supply in 2011, Valero will instead install more E85 pumps to serve "flexible-fuel" vehicles specifically designed to use fuel containing 85% ethanol, Day said.
Marathon Oil said it will notsell E15 at the 6,000 stations it either owns or licenses its name to until the company feels sure that the fuel will notharm engines, said company spokespersonAngelia Graves. "Before a new product like this is brought onto the market, the research needs to be complete," Graves told the paper.
The Renewable Fuel Association, an industry group representing ethanol makers, said that despite the EPA's approval of E15 its arrival at gas stations nationwide is still "a bit of waiting game."
"There is that concern for sure," RFA spokesperson Matt Hartwig told the Journal. "I don't know of any [refiners] that have said no, but I don't know many that have said yes, either."
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