Nine provinces to delay adoption of state-standard III

Nine provinces in China have decided to postpone the implementation of the new state-standard III gasoline due to a price differential of more than 300 yuan (US$43.93) between state-standard II and III gasoline products, according to China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec Group). The nine provinces and autonomous regions are Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, and Liaoning. (December 31, 2009)