Shell Philippines to launch Euro 4 fuels by Jan. 1, 2016

**numbah5** · December 14th, 2015 08:40 PM

Some good news for everyone. Shell will produce and supply Euro 4 fuels starting Jan. 1, 2016. The Big 3 oil companies are already Euro 4 compliant!

Shell completes PH refinery upgrade, will make Euro IV fuel

Reuters
Posted at 12/14/15 6:12 PM

SINGAPORE - Shell Philippines has completed the upgrade of its 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in the province of Batangas and will be able to produce Euro-IV compliant fuels by January, the company said on Monday.

That is in line with a government requirement for oil companies in the country to be ready to produce the more environmentally friendly Euro-IV compliant diesel and gasoline fuels by Jan. 1, 2016. The fuels have a sulphur content of 50 parts per million (ppm) compared with 500 ppm at present.

"(The company) has successfully completed its refinery upgrade and is ready to supply Euro IV-compliant fuels by Jan. 1, 2016," a Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L spokeswoman told Reuters.

The Philippines' Petron Corp. finished upgrading its 180,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in Bataan to produce Euro-IV compliant fuels earlier this year, industry sources said.

Link: Shell completes PH refinery upgrade, will make Euro IV fuel | ABS-CBN News

**jut703** · December 14th, 2015 10:19 PM

Shell is already Euro IV compliant for most of Metro Manila and North Luzon.

They get their supply from Petron in these areas, which, as we know, already sells Euro IV across the board. I just checked the latest COQ (certificate of quality) of diesel from Petron's Limay refinery and sulfur content is really just 0.005%.

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**numbah5** · December 14th, 2015 10:57 PM

Originally Posted by jut703

Shell is already Euro IV compliant for most of Metro Manila and North Luzon.

They get their supply from Petron in these areas, which, as we know, already sells Euro IV across the board. I just checked the latest COQ (certificate of quality) of diesel from Petron's Limay refinery and sulfur content is really just 0.005%.

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How do you know that Shell sources out its fuels from Petron? Is it even allowed?

**jut703** · December 14th, 2015 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by numbah5

How do you know that Shell sources out its fuels from Petron? Is it even allowed?

Because it's my job to know. I'm from the oil industry.

Yes of course it's allowed - all oil companies do it. It's very expensive if oil companies build depots in each area they operate in. Hence, there's a lot of product-sharing going on.

Examples:

1. Petron has the biggest refinery in the Philippines, located in Limay, Bataan. Shell does not have a depot in that area. Instead of incurring exorbitant freight costs (not to mention horrible turnaroudn time) if products are sourced from their refinery in Tabangao (Batangas) and then delivered to Bataan/Pampanga, they get their products from Petron instead.

2. Shell has a huge depot in Bicol (Pasacao, Cam Sur). Petron and Caltex have stations in the region, but no depot. What's the most sensible thing to do? Buy from Shell.

3. Total's depot is located in Manila North Harbor, and was unaffected by the closure of Pandacan's depots. Shell, instead of having to source their products from Batangas, decide to withdraw from Total instead.

Take note though, they only share base products. The additives unique to each company are added later on after loading the base product. So they're still not 100% the same. But additives are only a very small portion of the total volume, so they're still more similar than different.

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**Jiggs** · December 14th, 2015 11:53 PM

And that's folk is the reality of Oil Market, Jut703 tiga Retail ka ba? pero no worries sa mga brand loyalists, the additives really is still true to individual brand. This as well applies to Lubes, only few have base oils refineries, most of the diff brand are what we call blenders, adiing their own proprietary additives then canning/labeling.

**numbah5** · December 14th, 2015 11:56 PM

Originally Posted by jut703

Because it's my job to know. I'm from the oil industry.

Yes of course it's allowed - all oil companies do it. It's very expensive if oil companies build depots in each area they operate in. Hence, there's a lot of product-sharing going on.

Examples:

1. Petron has the biggest refinery in the Philippines, located in Limay, Bataan. Shell does not have a depot in that area. Instead of incurring exorbitant freight costs (not to mention horrible turnaroudn time) if products are sourced from their refinery in Tabangao (Batangas) and then delivered to Bataan/Pampanga, they get their products from Petron instead.

2. Shell has a huge depot in Bicol (Pasacao, Cam Sur). Petron and Caltex have stations in the region, but no depot. What's the most sensible thing to do? Buy from Shell.

3. Total's depot is located in Manila North Harbor, and was unaffected by the closure of Pandacan's depots. Shell, instead of having to source their products from Batangas, decide to withdraw from Total instead.

Take note though, they only share base products. The additives unique to each company are added later on after loading the base product. So they're still not 100% the same. But additives are only a very small portion of the total volume, so they're still more similar than different.

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I'm just curious because I know that each oil companies get their own supplies from their own refineries and depots

**jut703** · December 15th, 2015 12:01 AM

Originally Posted by numbah5

I'm just curious because I know that each oil companies get their own supplies from their own refineries and depots

Only Shell and Petron have refineries, and they only have 1 each.

For areas far from the refinery, they either have their own depots, or borrow from other companies' depots. And even for those companies with their own depots (but no refinery), the supply doesn't always come from abroad.

With Petron's refinery upgrade, they can actually supply to other companies at a price that's competitve with imported fuel, so Petron partly supplies these companies' fuel demand.

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**cardict** · December 15th, 2015 05:14 AM

*jut,newbie question here,will this be the end(euro4) for those old (engine) dilapidated jeepneys and buses?:wink:

**CVT** · December 15th, 2015 10:29 AM

Bro.,- since the suppliers are generally Euro IV-compliant,- in your expert opinion, is there a definitively significant technical advantage of using Nitro Diesel/Turbo Diesel vs. the regular diesel of Shel and Petron respectively?

Difference is approx P3/L (At the current pump price of P24/L,- that is a 12.5% delta)

Or, just Marketing blah blah ?

TIA.

"The measure of a man is what he does with power" LJIOHF!

28.3K _/_/_/_/_/:santa:_/_/_/_/_/

**jut703** · December 15th, 2015 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by CVT

Bro.,- since the suppliers are generally Euro IV-compliant,- in your expert opinion, is there a definitively significant technical advantage of using Nitro Diesel/Turbo Diesel vs. the regular diesel of Shel and Petron respectively?

Difference is approx P3/L (At the current pump price of P24/L,- that is a 12.5% delta)

Or, just Marketing blah blah ?

TIA.

"The measure of a man is what he does with power" LJIOHF!

28.3K _/_/_/_/_/:santa:_/_/_/_/_/

Bro, the only difference between premium diesel (VPD, Turbo Diesel, Excellium Diesel) and regular diesel is that premium diesel uses better additives with more cleaning agents. But in terms of sulfur content (0.005), cetane index (50-52), and other tech specs, they're exactly the same.

Unlike ordinary unleaded (FuelSave, Silver, etc), which has a different base fuel compared to premium unleaded (V-Power, Excellium, etc), ordinary diesel and premium diesel use exactly the same base fuel - they come out of the very same tank in the depot, and the additives are only added afterwards.

Do the additives matter? Yes they do, but not all that much. Depending on your vehicle and driving conditions, you might feel better responsiveness. However, from my blind testing and objective FC measurements, the difference is hardly noticeable unless you psyche yourself to look for it.

You might be asking, if the difference is only because of additives, why the huge price difference? The simple answer is because people are paying for it.

When VPD and TD were launched a few years back, the price difference was only about P2.00/L. However, with the prevalence of CRDi SUVs, coupled with heavy marketing, the year-on-year volume growth of premium diesel was consistently spectacular. Shell and Petron tested a larger gap between premium and regular diesel (2.50-2.75) and volume was still growing. Finally, they found equilibrium in terms of volume/margin at around P3.00/L.

So if you want lower VPD prices, just boycott it. [emoji16]Personally I don't think it's worth it. But if your fuel allowance is based on liters rather than peso value, then premium diesel is the way to go. [emoji4]

Originally Posted by cardict

*jut,newbie question here,will this be the end(euro4) for those old (engine) dilapidated jeepneys and buses?:wink:

Definitely not. Those old vehicles will still run with Euro 4 diesel. Only properly implemented government policies can fully revamp the transpo system.

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