By Steve Scherer

ABOARD THE USS MASON, June 16 (Reuters) – A U.S. warship took its first supply of Italian-made biofuel on Thursday as a part of the Navy’s program to make use of extra various vitality.

The USS Mason was refueled alongside an Italian vessel, the Andrea Doria, within the seas off of Italy’s southern coast with a combination produced by Italy’s Eni that has 5.5 % palm oil biofuel blended into marine gasoline.

The two destroyers traveled at about 5 knots facet by facet with a provide ship, the Etna, between them pumping the gasoline to each ships via giant black tubes.

“It’s a first today,” U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus advised Reuters aboard the Mason. “But it’s the new normal. It’s what you’re going to see – refueling after refueling after refueling.”

Mabus has championed the “Great Green Fleet” initiative since 2009, saying it should give a strategic benefit to the United States by decreasing dependence on fluctuating oil costs and producers who could not have America’s finest curiosity in thoughts.

“Fuel can be used as a weapon,” Mabus stated. “All you have to do is look at what Russia did to Crimea, what Russia did to the Ukraine. Look at what Russia tried to do to Europe before the price of oil went down.”

The price of the gasoline was $2.20 per gallon, which Mabus stated was “very competitive” for Europe.

Many environmentalists say palm oil manufacturing damages the surroundings as it’s usually grown in plantations the place rainforest has been cleared. Biofuels will also be constituted of different biomass or from by-products corresponding to waste cooking oils.

The U.S. Navy now has 30 % of its fleet, the world’s largest, working on various vitality – which incorporates nuclear energy – and goals to extend that to 50 % by 2020, Mabus stated.

Italy goals to have 50 % of its fleet utilizing various vitality by 2020, Italy’s Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi, additionally aboard the USS Mason, advised Reuters. About 10 % of vessels are already working on various vitality and Italy’s submarines ought to begin utilizing biofuel this yr, he stated.

Italy had eight vessels current throughout the refueling, together with a submarine, and a number of other ships from the U.S. Sixth Fleet had been additionally there, together with the nuclear-powered USS Dwight D. Eisenhower plane service. (Additional reporting by Gabriele Pileri; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016.