California governor orders CARB to immediately allow winter-grade
gasoline
Los Angeles (Platts)--7Oct2012/720 pm EDT/2320 GMT
California Gov Jerry Brown Sunday ordered the state's Air Resources
Board to "immediately" undertake "whatever steps are necessary" to allow
the state to transition immediately to winter-grade gasoline.
However, the problems in the state that have caused spot and retail
prices to spike are occuring against a backdrop of refinery and pipeline
problems, but refineries have largely shifted already from making
summer-grade gasoline to winter-grade gasoline, raising a question about
whether Brown's mandate will have any impact.
CARB released a letter Sunday sent from Brown to Mary Nichols, the
chairwoman of the Air Resources Board.
"In light of the tight gasoline supplies and resulting price spikes, we
should not wait until the end of the month to start production of our
winter-blend gasoline," Brown said in the letter. "Allowing refiners to
make an early transition to winter-blend gasoline could quickly increase
fuel suppply and provide a much needed safety vale with negligible air
quality impacts."
According to Brown's letter, the transition date for summer-grade to
winter-grade gasoline--which is easier to make, as it has less
restrictive RVP requirements, among other things--is October 31. But
observers have noted that the transition at the refinery level occurs
long before that date.
--John Kingston,
john_kingston@platts.com
--Hil Anderson, newsdesk@platts.com
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