Beijing to impose near Euro V fuel standards

Beijing will introduce new fuel standards on May 31 that municipal officials say are nearly on a par with the European Union's Euro V, the first Chinese city to do so.

All fuel sold by retailers in the Chinese capital will be required to adhere to the new standards, which are expected to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from 50 to 10 milligrams per kilogram, according to the Beijing environmental protection bureau.

 "The new Beijing V standard fuel, once implemented, will greatly reduce the amount of pollutants in the air, including the PM 2.5 and improve the city's air quality," Kunsheng, director of the bureau's vehicle management department told the China Daily.

Li said Beijing's new standards will be close to the Euro V fuel standards. The European standards are the strictest in the world, according to Zhao Lijian, a researcher with the Energy Foundation.

"The exhaust emitted by automotive vehicles has replaced the coal-boilers to become the biggest source of air pollution in Beijing," Du Shaozhong, former deputy director for the Beijing environmental protection bureau said in February.

Beijing has more than 5 million vehicles and 10 million registered drivers.

The production of low-sulfur fuel will increase costs, said Fu Xingguo, an engineer at Sinopec Corp, China's largest oil refiner. However, the price of fuel will not be raised in the coming half year.