Pakistan needed around $133 million investments for the installation of new de-sulphurisation facilities for high-speed diesel (HSD) in all the three refineries.
The new facilities for hydro-cracking and delayed cooking for HSD will immensely help in curtailing sulphur emissions in air and the country could meet the environment standard of Euro-2.
This was stated by Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) General Manager Syed Naushab Sarwar, while speaking at the second Pakistan Oil, Gas and Energy Exhibition, "POGEE-2004" on the topic of 'Cleaner fuel a viable option for better air quality and investment opportunities for production of clean fuels here on Wednesday.
He said the government should change fuel specifications on priority basis as clean production of energy were affordable options for existing refineries of the country.
The investment in clean fuels productions is a financially viable option and we should act collectively because our future is at risk.
Annually, Pakistani refineries produced around 2.5 million tonnes of diesel which emits 10,000 parts per million (PPM), which was very high as compared to the United States, which stood at 500 PPM only, he added.
The estimated cost of de-sulphurisation of high-speed diesel (HSD) at all the three refineries stood at $ 110 million to bring down the conversion from 10,000 to 500 PPM in 'Sulphur' in HSD, he added.
Naushab said that the primary requirement of the country stood at 47.6 million tonnes of energy (TOE) in 2003, which was 40.1 TOE in 1998. The country refining capacity has increased from 6.52 TOE in 1998 to 11.33 TOE in 2003.
The petroleum consumption remained virtually stagnant from 16.84 TOE in 1998 to 16.73 in 2003, this is due to the replacement of furnace oil with natural gas in power generation and industrial sectors and replacement of gasoline with CNG in transport sector, he added.
He said the quality of petroleum products was an area of concern for improved ambient air quality, which was posing a real threat to health, especially in urban areas.
Naushab said, "Our duty for the sake of public health that we urgently improve the quality of petroleum fuels in terms of lowering sulphur, benzene and aromatics in gasoline, sulphur and 90 percent distillation point in diesel, lay down emission standard to at least Euro-2 standard, which is 500 PPM, to safeguard public interests through change in fuel specifications.
"We have to import environment-friendly fuels," he said, adding that the return on investment to produce environmentally better quality fuel is also very attractive.
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