Russia extends use of Euro 2 gasoline

The Russian government has extended the production of Euro 2-compliant gasoline from September 5 until at least mid-2012, Deputy Director of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) Pavel Subbotin said. Subbotin said that an extension will be given to oil companies which had earlier signed agreements with the antitrust service, the Federal Ecological, Technological, and Nuclear Oversight, and the Federal Technical Regulation and Metrology Agency to upgrade their refineries to produce higher quality oil products. These include Russian oil majors Lukoil, Gazprom Neft, TNK-BP, Rosneft and Surgutneftegas. The government had planned to ban the production of Euro 2 gasoline beginning 2012. (July 20-22, 2011)