Gasgoo.com (Shanghai February 1) - According to a status report issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection yesterday, smog over Chinese skies now covers 1.43 million square km. The country's national weather forecasting service, the National Meteorological Center of the CMA, regularly issues haze and mist warnings.
In a National Business Daily report appearing today, Sinopec Group Chairman Fu Chengyu attributes poor air quality problems in China to the fact that Chinese gasoline contains 15 times the amount of sulfur found in European countries. However, Mr. Fu adds that oil refining companies should not be held directly responsible, bur rather that the country needs to increase its emission standards.
Sinopec Media Spokesman Lu Dapeng points out that, although the recently announced Fifth National Emission Standards or on par with European standards, they are still not implemented universally throughout the country. The majority of China still uses the now antiquated Third National Emission Standards, which restrict the amount of sulfur in fuel to 150 ppm, allowing for 15 times the sulfuric content that the Fifth Standards permit.
Fuel with high sulfuric content is a leading cause behind nitrogen oxide emissions and fine particulate matter pollution. One of the aims of the Fourth and Fifth National Standards is to reduce sulfur in fuel, with each set of legislation limiting sulfur content to 50 ppm and 10 ppm, respectively. The Fifth National Standard has been officially implemented in Beijing this year, with sales and registration of automobiles that don't meet the standards to be completely halted by March.
Outside of Beijing, other cities have also implemented policies to increase fuel quality. In January 2011, Nanjing implemented legislation to ensure that all of the gasoline and diesel fuel sold in the city adhered to the Fourth National Standards before within the year. However, by the end of 2011, there were still found to be several stations selling substandard fuel.
SCI Analyst Wang Neng attributes the slow speed with which the emission standards are being implemented to limited resources, as well as the high costs that come with improving oil refinery. According to him, China's three largest oil enterprises–the China National Petroleum Corporation, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Sinopec–have announced their intent to refine their products to match Fourth National Standards. However, he also pointed out that it will cost them at least 50 billion yuan ($7.58b) to do so.
