China to roll out fuels meeting Euro III in January

China plans to implement the National III emission standard, which is equivalent to Euro III, for gasoline and diesel fuel across the whole country from January 1, 2010, according to the National Standardization Administration’s web site. Eight cities in southern China’s Guangdong province already follow this standard. Most of China still follows the National II emission standard except for Shanghai and Beijing which have adopted National IV. Beijing implemented Emission IV standard from March 1, 2008 and Shanghai from November 1, 2009.  Sinopec said its refineries will be able to meet the new standard by December 15. The sulfur content in gasoline for National III is 150 parts per million (ppm), compared to 500 ppm for National II, which will  lower sulfur emissions by 23,000 tons annually. Production costs of such fuels are higher, but prices will remain unchanged. Similarly, all of PetroChina’s refineries are prepared to produce fuel capable of meeting these standards before year-end, the company said. In fact, most of PetroChina’s refineries in the northeastern and northern regions, including Jinxi Petrochemical, Jinzhou Petrochemical, Dalian Petrochemical, and WEPEC, have been producing fuels meeting the National IV standard since 2008 for the Beijing Olympic Games. (November 23, 2009)