Azerbaijan preparing to reach Euro-4 eco standard
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan has bypassed Euro-3 ecological standards for vehicles preparing to reach the next standard.
Director of the Azerbaijan Standardization and Certification Institute Sabig Abdullayev made the remark at a press conference on January 15.
He went on saying that the application for Euro-4 will be made on April 1, 2014. Earlier, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade had signed a decree on the country's transition to the Euro-4 standard from April.
The Euro-4 ecological standard will be applied to the vehicles imported and manufactured in Azerbaijan to reduce the emission of vehicle pollutants into the atmosphere and improve the environmental situation in the country. Restrictions on the import of cars may insignificantly affect the cost of cars in the domestic market.
The introduction of Euro-4 standard for vehicles bypassing Euro-3 is related to the high development rate of the country. Strengthening of ecological standards for vehicles is expected to contribute to the improvement of the environment and public health in the country.
Abdullayev said, the processing capacity of the Azerbaijani State Oil Company SOCAR is able to produce gasoline and diesel fuel meeting Euro-3 ecological standard, which became possible as a result of the work carried out in the units of refineries.
"Euro-3 standard applicable to fuel will be worked out jointly with the SOCAR and will be approved in the near future," he said.
The transition to higher standards applicable to fuel will be implemented in stages. Each transition to the next Euro standard requires approximately $1 billion.
"Negotiations are also held with various centers on the implementation of the mechanism of gradual retirement of older cars, the use of which affect the environment and public health," Abdullayev said.
The quality of fuel produced in Azerbaijan is expected to be brought up to Euro-3 standards by late 2014. The diesel fuel produced by SOCAR already meets the Euro-3 standard. These standards are currently applied to vehicles and related spare parts in Azerbaijan and the fuel produced in the country.
On January 9, at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, said the country focuses on improving the environmental situation yearly.
"Comprehensive measures are already adopted but we need to take even more serious measures. In particular, it is necessary to inspect once again the factors that pollute the air. Of course, we need to speed up the transition to the "Euro-3" standard. "Euro-3" is not the limit either. We need to do more work in connection with the "Euro-4" and "Euro-5" standards," he said.
SOCAR has been taking steps to improve the quality of its fuel since 2004 under this program, which consists of several stages. A great role in transition to the more modern standards belongs to the refineries operating in Azerbaijan.
While works are under way to reconstruct old refineries, the construction of a new refinery has been planned in Baku. Further improvement of the quality of Euro-4 and Euro-5 gasoline standards will become possible after the commissioning of a new oil and gas processing petrochemical complex by SOCAR, which is planned to be operational in late 2020.