Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The Azerbaijani government is keen on applying the Euro 3 environmental standard on fuel, but this transition is expected to take some time.

Azerbaijan started enforcing the Euro 2 standard on July 1, 2011.

Ramiz Hasanov, who heads the state body in charge of standards and patents, said Tuesday that at present the Euro 3 environmental standard in the country applies to vehicles and their spare parts.

"Each transition to [a new] euro standard -- for example, from Euro 3 to Euro 4, requires approximately $1 billion," Hasanov added.

Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR's vice-president for refining, David Mammadov, said earlier that Euro 3 standard gasoline production is planned for 2014, when the reconstruction of existing refineries will be completed.

SOCAR's commissioning a new oil and gas refining and petrochemical complex to be constructed in the Garadagh district of Baku will make it possible to further make a transition from Euro 4 to Euro 5.

The only gasoline producer in Azerbaijan, SOCAR, has two oil refineries - the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery and Oil Refinery Azneftyag. The total processing capacity of both refineries is 20 million tons per year.

81 percent of gasoline produced in the country is used to meet domestic demand, while the rest is exported. Most of diesel fuel is exported abroad and only 35 percent is sold in the domestic market.

According to the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patents, a new AZS 636-2012 "Vehicles. Ecological Classes" standard for fuel and harmful emissions from vehicles, which envisions the Euro-3 standard implementation, went into force in Azerbaijan from August 1, 2012.

In accordance with this standard, vehicles are divided into six environmental classes depending on the level of emissions envisaged by the design. The standard does not apply to vehicles which have already passed customs control and have been delivered to the country.

European emission standards define the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in European Union member states.

Currently, the limits for emissions are regulated for most vehicle types, including cars, trucks, trains, tractors and similar vehicles. For each vehicle type, different standards apply.