Despite government waiver, Thai refiners continue to supply Euro 4-equivalent gasoline

Thai refiners have been supplying mostly Euro 4-equivalent gasoline to Bangchak Petroleum despite a government waiver allowing them to redirect less stringent export grades back to the domestic market. The temporary waiver on benzene, olefins and vapor pressure parameters for gasoline was meant to allow refiners to divert surplus gasoline exports that do not meet the country’s Euro 4-equivalent standards to offset the supply shortfall following a fire and an unplanned shutdown at Bangchak’s 120,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Bangkok refinery on July 4.
A source at a Thai refinery said that his company had been exclusively supplying Euro 4-equivalent gasoline to Bangchak to avoid the operational strain of having to supply both the Euro 4-equivalent grade for its own domestic system and the less stringent specification to Bangchak, as this would mean additional steps such as the flushing of its pipelines and tanks. Consequently, refiners will not be asking for an extension of the waiver, which went into effect on July 13; the waiver for refineries expired on September 30; the waiver for the retail sector will expire on November 30.
Refiners have already been advised by the government to stop pumping Euro 3 gasoline to the tap-line by September 15, and had said that the remainder of the month will be used to flush out the systems, to prepare them for the complete switch to Euro 4-equivalent gasoline on October 1. (September 19, 2012)