AM-14-37 Tier 3 Capital Avoidance with Catalytic Solutions

Description:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new regulations designed to reduce air pollution from passenger cars and trucks. The regulations (commonly referred to as Tier 3) would set new vehicle emission standards and lower the annual average sulfur content of gasoline from 30 to 10 ppm. Additionally, the EPA is proposing to either maintain the current 80 ppm refinery gate and 95 ppm downstream caps or lower them to 50 and 65 ppm, respectively. The current implementation date is January 1, 2017. These Tier 3 gasoline sulfur specifications are similar to levels already being achieved in California, Europe, Japan, South Korea and several other countries. Furthermore, the EPA also has proposed a three-year delay for small refiners and small-volume refineries processing 75,000 barrels of crude oil per day or less.