HIGHER quality gasoline similar to Euro IV Standard used in Europe started selling at city service stations Saturday, after a delay of months.
The National IV Standard gasoline is now being sold at prices equal to the National III Standard fuel, which had a much higher sulfur content, Chinese-language media reported.
A pricing policy for the cleaner fuel is yet to be approved by the Guangdong provincial pricing department, said Gao Jun, an official in charge of the city s automobile emission supervision office. The National IV Standard gasoline will be priced the same as National III fuel until a new price is approved.
According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, fuel prices of the higher quality gasoline would rise by 200 yuan (US$31) per ton if the pricing policy was approved. The approval would mean that No. 90 gasoline of National IV Standard would be 0.14 yuan more expensive than the No. 90 fuel of the III Standard, while the No. 93 would be 0.16 yuan and No. 97 would be 0.17 yuan more expensive.
The No. 90 gasoline of the National III Standard was being sold for 6.54 yuan per liter, while the No. 93 was 7.05 yuan per liter and No. 97 was 7.63 yuan per liter.
The introduction of the new gasoline was approved in June, when supply contracts were given to Sinopec, CNOOC and PetroChina.
But the implementation of the higher quality fuel was delayed twice because of a supply shortage. Another reason for the delay was said to be the pending approval of the pricing policy.
Shenzhen submitted a pricing policy for the National IV Standard gasoline to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) early last year. The NDRC said in a reply Oct. 26 that the policy would be approved by the provincial pricing department.
The cleaner gasoline would greatly reduce vehicle sulfur dioxide emissions, bringing total emissions down to 95,000 tons per year.
Guangzhou implemented National IV Standard fuel standards on Aug 1 while Beijing introduced Euro IV fuel before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Shanghai adopted the cleaner fuel in November 2009, ahead of the Shanghai Expo.
(SD News)
