Picture caption : (From right to left) Brian Kletscher, President of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association presents the 2016 Distinguished Retailer award to Abdalla Tobasi, owner of Tobasi Stop.

Minneapolis, Dec 15 – The Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association presented the 2016 Distinguished Retailer award yesterday to Tobasi Stop, which owns three E15 stations in the Twin Cities.

“This award recognizes Tobasi Stop’s commitment to offering its customers a clean and locally-produced fuel that is also cheaper than regular unleaded. E15 has been made available in all three Tobasi Stop stations in just 12 months,” said Brian Kletscher, President of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

Tobasi Stop first began offering E15 at its station on Selby Avenue in St Paul in December 2015. It later began offering E15 at its other two stations which are located in New Brighton and on Minnehaha Avenue in St Paul respectively.

“We decided to offer E15 as it’s a fuel that provides customers a great product at a great price. It also helps our local economy and farmers who are the backbone of our country. Since we began offering E15, more than 60 percent of our sales have been E15,” said Abdalla Tobasi, owner of Tobasi Stop.

Tobasi received the award at the launch of Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association’s 2016 Annual Report in Bloomington yesterday.

The 2016 Annual Report details the efforts Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association undertook throughout the year to grow ethanol consumption in Minnesota.

“In 2016, the ethanol industry in Minnesota faced new opportunities and challenges. We were well positioned to seize those opportunities and defend the industry from new regulatory challenges.

“We also saw E15 acceptance grow exponentially this year. As at end-October, 4.09 million gallons of E15 has been sold, which is a million more gallons than the volume sold for the whole of 2015. This is a positive development and with more E15 stations coming on board in the coming months, we expect Minnesota's E15 consumption to continue increasing,” said Tim Rudnicki, executive director of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

Picture caption : Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association (MBA) board of directors launch the MBA 2016 Annual Report. From left to right: Dodi Matti (CFO of Guardian Energy), Steve Christensen (MBA Vice President and CEO of Granite Falls Energy), Chad Friese (CEO of Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company), Steve Drew (MBA Secretary and CEO of Heartland Corn Products), Randall Doyal (CEO of Al-Corn Clean Products), Brian Kletscher (MBA President and CEO of Highwater Ethanol) and Tim Rudnicki (MBA executive director).