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WHAT SPECS WILL CHANGE IN 2006?
Engen supports the decision made by Cabinet to approve the introduction of cleaner
fuels for South Africa from 01 January 2006.
As of January 2006, all petrol will be free of lead and low sulphur diesel fuel
will also be introduced as part of a process of aligning South African Fuel Standards
with International Fuel Specifications and Vehicle Emission Standards.
A demand management levy will be introduced, resulting in the price of
95 ULP being relatively higher than the other octane grades in the inland regions
in order to encourage motorists not to use an octane grade that is higher than necessary
for their vehicle. This levy will be 10 cpl to start with and DME expects that it
will vary from 0 to 50 cpl depending on the demand for 95 ULP.
Government has identified the need to manage the inland uptake of
95 octane petrol in order to limit octane wastage in these regions. This will avoid
the additional costs to the country of producing octane grades that are higher than
actually needed by motorists and to avoid potential refinery capacity problems.
Less than 10% of the cars inland require 95 ULP. Inland areas are considered to be
areas greater than 1200 metres above sea level. The effect of altitude is that most
vehicles can use a lower octane petrol inland than they do at the coast.
The following specification changes are expected to become effective on 01 January
2006:
Petrol
- No lead will be allowed in petrol.
- Metallic additives will not be allowed in unleaded petrol (ULP).
- Lead replacement petrol (LRP), which provides protection against valve seat recession,
will be allowed to be sold until the end of 2009.
- During 2006 and 2007, the unleaded octane grades permitted, both at the coast and
inland, will be 91, 93 and 95. This means that we may no longer make or sell Dynamic
97 ULP (which has, in any event, already been discontinued). At a later stage a
decision will be taken by DME (Department of Minerals & Energy) as to which
of the two lower octane grades (91 or 93) will be allowed from 2008 onwards.
- The permissible octanes for lead replacement petrol will be 95 at the coast and
93 inland.
- The maximum permissible sulphur content of unleaded petrol will officially reduce
to 500 parts per million (ppm) - in fact this change was implemented in February
2005 by agreement between the oil and motor industries. The maximum sulphur content
of lead replacement petrol will remain at the level of 1500 ppm presently applicable
to leaded petrol.
Diesel
- The maximum sulphur content of the standard grade of diesel will reduce from 3000
ppm to 500 ppm.
- Oil companies will be permitted to market a second premium or 'niche' grade
of diesel with a maximum sulphur content of 50 ppm on a voluntary basis.
There is also a possibility that from 01 January 2008 the maximum permitted Benzene
content of our petrol will be 3% and the maximum permitted Aromatics content will
be 42%. Government has yet to take a firm decision on these changes.
The European and US specifications are significantly more stringent than ours, and
it is envisaged that at some stage in the future, but not before 2010, there will
be further changes to fuel specifications. This will present challenges but also
exciting opportunities for us.
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