Policy update
Breakthrough timeline for China ULSF standards
China’s State Council announced a detailed timeline for upgrading nationwide motor fuel quality to the “China V” standards, with maximum sulfur content of 10 ppm for both gasoline and diesel.
The short announcement specifically issues these decisions. China’s nationwide fuel quality should be upgraded as follows:
- The nationwide “China IV” diesel fuel quality standard (maximum sulfur content of 50ppm) should be issued as soon as possible and fully phasedin by the end of 2014.
- The nationwide “China V” diesel fuel quality standard (maximum sulfur content of 10ppm) should be issued before the end of June 2013 and fully phased in by the end of 2017.
- The nationwide “China V” gasoline fuel quality standard (maximum sulfur content of 10ppm) should be issued before the end of December 2013 and fully phased in by the end of 2017.
China’s state-owned oil companies, PetroChina, Sinopec, and CNOOC, should urgently complete the refinery upgrades required to guarantee the supply of ultra-low sulfur fuels by the deadlines. Fiscal incentives or fuel pricing policies may be used to compensate for the increased costs of cleaning up the fuels. Fuel quality supervision—including industry self-supervision—should be improved, penalties should be increased, and oil companies should publicly commit to product quality.
Download a full update here.