Reuters: U.S. Switch To New Low-Sulfur Diesel Going Well: EIA
By Chris Baltimore
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The switch-over to new ultra-clean diesel fuel is going smoothly and supplies should be readily available at retail pumps when the rules take effect on Sunday, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
In a move to cut precursors to smog and tiny particles spewed by diesel-burning engines, the government has required U.S. refiners to make fuel with less than 15 parts per million of sulfur for use in on-road vehicles beginning October 15.
That's 97 percent less sulfur than current rules, which allow up to 500 parts per million of sulfur.
"From all accounts, (the transition has) been going extremely well," said Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Information Administration and the government's top energy forecaster. Caruso projected a "relatively smooth availability of supply at retail outlets."
There are about 8 million diesel-powered trucks and buses in the United States. As a part of the regulations, big diesel engine makers like Cummins Inc. are producing engines capable of handling the new fuel.
"We expect wide availability of (clean diesel fuel) across the country at numbers significantly higher than we had expected," said Margo Oge, director for the Environmental Protection Agency's transport and air quality office.
U.S. refiners currently produce about 2.4 million barrels per day of the new diesel, enough to satisfy some 90 percent of on-road demand, Oge said.
The new rules will add less than 5 cents per gallon to diesel prices, which averaged about $2.54 a gallon nationwide last week, the EIA said.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson called the new standard "the single greatest achievement in clean fuel since lead was removed from gasoline" in the 1970s and said it would provide about $150 billion in health benefits every year.
Article available at: today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx
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