Seven years after announcing a R38bn investment programme for SA’s petroleum industry to produce clean fuels, government still appears unclear how to make it happen.Officially, the industry is meant to start producing low-sulphur fuels from 2017. The original policy gazetting has never been revoked. But investment hasn’t taken place and refineries are still producing “old” fuels.Now the talk is of a new target: possibly 2022, or perhaps 2025. No-one knows.Pollution levels in most SA fuels are several generations behind standards in developed countries and a growing number of emerging economies. The common measure is of sulphur content, in parts per million, or ppm. Most diesel produced in SA is 500ppm; 50ppm is becoming increasingly available, and imported 10ppm can be found in very limited quantities.Most petrol is 300ppm.In developed markets, the norm is 10ppm for both petrol and diesel, with movement towards 5ppm.Paul Morgan, energy technology senior manager at Sasol, says it’s p...
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