02.10.2018 (Stratas Advisors) - Within the Latin American region, the countries in the region have continued to progress with the advancements to their policies related to fuel quality, use of biofuels and sulfur reductions in diesel and gasoline.  

The 14 Latin American countries covered in the full report include: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. Information provided in the report takes into account recent developments for gasoline, diesel and biofuels specifications which have occurred since the last report. 

Over the past year, the countries in the region have been progressing towards the use of use of biofuels, while other countries have been working towards improving fuel quality monitoring in the region.

Since the last report, Bolivia has introduced a new gasoline grade into distribution in the country. The RON 91 grade will accompany the RON 85 and 95 grades already in distribution, and will eventually integrate the use of ethanol into the RON 91 grade. With regards to diesel fuel, Peru now distributes 50 ppm sulfur diesel into 19 regions within the country. The country has indicated in the past that the ultimate goal is to distribute 50 ppm sulfur diesel nationwide, thus finally including the remaining six states into the distribution system.

Brazil has continued to make progress into advancing the use of biodiesel in the country. Since the last report, the country had plans to move up to a B8 blend in 2017, which was accomplished successfully. The country had originally planned to move to B9 in 2018, and then implement B10 in 2019. However, Brazil bypassed the B9 level and implemented the use of B10 one year ahead of schedule in 2018. Mexico, on the other hand, continued to move towards the use of biofuels in the country. In Mexico, the Federal Commission of Regulatory Improvement issued official guidelines for establishing fuel quality specifications and characteristics for anhydrous ethanol (bioethanol), biodiesel and biojet fuel to be used within the NOM-016-CRE-2016 fuel specifications.

Moving into vehicle emission standards, the National Council of Environment (CONAMA) from the Ministry of Environment in Brazil made progress towards the next stage of the Program for the Control of Air Pollution by Motor Vehicles emission standards for controlling harmful air pollutant emissions and noise emissionsfrom new on-road heavy-duty vehicles (HDV). Under a draft resolution released on Oct. 11, 2017, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources proposed the PROCONVE P-8 standards which aim to implement Euro 6/VI equivalent emission standards in 2023.

Although Brazil is among the region’s leading countries in terms of fuel quality monitoring, the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) issued a Notice of Public Consultation and Public Hearing No. 16/2018 to gather information from industry stakeholders and the public on a draft resolution to revise the Fuel Quality Monitoring Program and establish the requirements for the accreditation of laboratories and the bidding process for regional selection of the laboratory. As the energy market in Mexico continues to open to foreign fuel distributors, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has approved 107 laboratories to evaluate fuel samples collected throughout the country. The laboratories will evaluate the fuel quality against the NOM-016-CRE-2016 fuel specification at distribution plants, storage terminals and the 11,927 service stations throughout the country. In an effort to support the initiative behind the move to improve fuel quality monitoring in Mexico, the Mexican Accreditation Entity and the CRE will aid in the accreditation and approval process.