The South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) has confirmed that government has communicated a delay to the July 1, 2017 compliance date for the introduction on new cleaner fuels standards, owing to a lack of finality relating to the cost-recovery mechanism. However, details of a new deadline have not yet been made known, despite some reports suggesting a shift to 2020.

“We have been informed by the Department of Energy (DoE) in February 2014 that the July 2017 deadline is off the table. [The] DoE will initiate a process of setting up new timelines,” Sapia executive director Avhapfani Tshifularo told Engineering News Online in response to questions.

Sapia, which represents domestic liquid fuels producers, stressed that it had not requested the delay. However, Tshifularo acknowledged that some of its members had informed the DoE of their inability to meet the Gazetted deadline.

The amendments to the regulations regarding petroleum products specifications and standards were published in Government Notice R421 of May 31, 2012.

The upgrade to a Euro V-type specification level is being pursued under the so-called ‘Clean Fuel 2’ banner, with earlier cleaner fuels initiatives having raised fuel specifications levels to the Euro II-type level as from 2008.

The proposed improvement from current specifications is expected to involve collective investment by petroleum companies of around R40-billion and, besides the environmental benefits, automotive companies have argued that cleaner fuel is required for modern, fuel-efficient cars.

Current high sulphur levels are seen as the main problem with South African-produced fuels, with the Clean Fuels 2 programme designed to reduce this to 10 parts per million or less.

The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) has indicated the introduction of cleaner fuels would enable vehicle manufacturers to market high technology, highly fuel-efficient and low-emission new motor vehicles in South Africa.

In April last year, global energy group BP announced that it and Shell had sanctioned a Clean Fuels 2 upgrade of the Sapref joint venture refinery, in Durban.

Group CEO of refining and marketing Iain Conn said at a briefing in Johannesburg that the group would go ahead on the basis that the cost-recovery mechanism was expected to be “finalised shortly”.

However, BP told Engineering News Online that it had emerged that there could be “changes to the government policy on Clean Fuels, which may include a revision of the legislated compliance date”.

“In response to these developments, execution of the Sapref Clean Fuels project will be realigned with the revised legislative timeline, when that is agreed, in order to deliver the new clean fuel products into the South African market on schedule.”

The company reaffirmed its commitment to the project, noting that, together with Shell, the upgrade plan had been progressed to the end of the front end engineering design stage. “With this stage now completed, a detailed design and engineering package has been compiled, which is the final major project milestone prior to project execution at the refinery.”

Tshifularo said he could not comment on the status of cleaner fuels upgrades announced by other refineries, which would have to decide independently on the approach they would adopt. Sasol and Total have announced that they intended pursuing a multibillion-rand Clean Fuels 2 project at their Natref refinery, which is located in the Free State.

Regarding mitigation actions required to deal with the incompatibility of the current fuels specifications with newer cars, Tshifularo indicated that the industry would need to collaborate with Naamsa on the issue “so that solutions can be found to enable such vehicle technology”.

The DoE failed to respond to questions posed to it on the Clean Fuels 2 schedule and the cost-recovery mechanism.