Nige
Senior Member
Another point to ponder here ......... the locally-available fuel.
Where I am currently working the local fuel is based on Venezuelan (high-sulphur) crude oil. When refined to produce diesel fuel the result is a fuel containing up to 2000ppm of sulphur compared to 500ppm in low-sulphur (LS) diesel and 15ppm in ULS diesel. There is no way this fuel can ever be burned in a way that produces emissions to the standards demanded by the authorities in developed countries, but in this case it's the only fuel available at a competitive price. Even then the pump price is US$5 a gallon. How can a country with very little in the way of resources and even less money be expected to modernize if they can't even get the basic building blocks (the fuel in this case) to help them start on the path of cleaning up their environment if they are saddled with even higher fuel cost per gallon than a developed country ...? How much is a gallon of diesel at the pump these days in the US ..?
I know that initially we looked at importing our own supply of ULS diesel so that we could use the latest generation of emission-certified engines in our equipment & vehicles. The cost was so high it would make your head spin. At the end of the day we bought equipment with engines in it that were designed to run on the best quality of locally available fuel. It was all we could do if we wanted to remain competitive.
Believe me I don't have all the answers, maybe I don't have any answers. Just trying to put a different viewpoint on it.
Where I am currently working the local fuel is based on Venezuelan (high-sulphur) crude oil. When refined to produce diesel fuel the result is a fuel containing up to 2000ppm of sulphur compared to 500ppm in low-sulphur (LS) diesel and 15ppm in ULS diesel. There is no way this fuel can ever be burned in a way that produces emissions to the standards demanded by the authorities in developed countries, but in this case it's the only fuel available at a competitive price. Even then the pump price is US$5 a gallon. How can a country with very little in the way of resources and even less money be expected to modernize if they can't even get the basic building blocks (the fuel in this case) to help them start on the path of cleaning up their environment if they are saddled with even higher fuel cost per gallon than a developed country ...? How much is a gallon of diesel at the pump these days in the US ..?
I know that initially we looked at importing our own supply of ULS diesel so that we could use the latest generation of emission-certified engines in our equipment & vehicles. The cost was so high it would make your head spin. At the end of the day we bought equipment with engines in it that were designed to run on the best quality of locally available fuel. It was all we could do if we wanted to remain competitive.
Believe me I don't have all the answers, maybe I don't have any answers. Just trying to put a different viewpoint on it.