China’s new national fuel standard to officially launch in July

Starting from next month the minimum quality of diesel fuel sold across China will be lifted to “National Standard III” (国三标准), the equivalent of Euro III standards, according to a report in Beijing News.
The paper reported that most refineries owned by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Sinopec have the capacity to produce diesel fuel that are compliant with the new standard and that the companies are prepared to meet the July 1 switch over.
Privately owned refineries, however, might find it difficult more difficult to meet these more stringent and costly requirements, the report said.
Diesel fuel sold by the two state-owned oil giants to most provinces in the country already meet the new national standard, but some regions in the northwest and southwest are still supplied with lower quality diesel fuel. Much of this diesel fuel is used in industry, infrastructure, mining and thermal power generation.
Diesel fuel sold in Beijing and Shanghai already meets National Standard IV and National Standard V.
One of the main differences between National Standard III diesel and the current standard is the level of sulphur in the diesel fuel. The latter has a sulfur content of 2,000 parts per million (ppm), while the former’s sulfur level cannot exceed 350 ppm. Reducing the sulphur content helps lower emissions and improve air quality.
Beijing News also reported that the price of diesel did not go up in places like Fujian province, which has already adopted the new standard.
(June 6, 2013)