Oil Refiners Warn of Fuel Price Runups if EPA Mandates Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel
Diesel prices in 2006 could be 52 cents more per gallon than they are today if the proposed standard for reduced sulfur in diesel fuel becomes law, according to a study conducted for the American Petroleum Institute.
That price estimate is more than twice as high as what the oil industry originally thought and more than 15 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s prediction of “several cents a gallon” more.
EPA wants the sulfur content of diesel fuel for on-road vehicles significantly reduced to 15 parts per million. That compares with the current standard of 500 ppm, which has been in effect since 1993 and is labeled “low-sulfur” fuel.
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The study by Charles Rivers Associates of Boston for API bases its price estimate on a shortage of 320,000 barrels of crude oil a day and an unwillingness of some refiners to produce the quality of fuel envisioned by the standard.
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