http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10964 Planet Ark Navistar unit calls on Pemex to clean up diesel
MEXICO: May 25, 2001 MEXICO CITY - U.S. truck and bus maker International called yesterday for Mexico's state-owned oil monopoly to begin producing a lower-sulfur diesel fuel so that it can introduce its new low-emissions diesel engines here. "The only piece missing is the diesel. We are pushing so that these changes come about faster," said Jose Manuel Canal, vice president for the company's international operations. International, a unit of Chicago-based Navistar International Corp. , said it will introduce its so-called green diesel technology in buses in California in September this year. But Canal said the company cannot begin to make and sell buses or trucks using this technology in Mexico until Petroleos de Mexico (Pemex) the government-run producer and refiner of oil, begins making a diesel fuel with 15 parts per million of sulfur or lower. International said the lowest sulfur diesel currently available in Mexico is 500 parts per million. Canal said the company has had no indication from Pemex when it could begin to produce low-sulfur diesel. Roughly half of Mexico's oil is Maya crude, the world's third heaviest in terms of metals and sulfur content. It therefore requires more processing at the refinery end. Pemex is slowly upgrading refineries to increase Mexico's capacity to process Maya. But budgetary constraints mean the upgrades will take years. It is unclear when low-sulfur diesel could be produced in any sizeable quantity. INCREASED MARKET SHARE International has one factory in Mexico, opened in 1998 in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, which manufactures 45 units a day of trucks, trailers and buses. Most are sold on the domestic market. Canal said in the first four months of the year, International increased its market share to 34 percent compared with 24 percent in the same period last year. In the first three months of 2001, International sold 2,500 units - including trucks and buses - in Mexico. Canal did not provide a comparative figure for last year. Earlier this year, Mexico's Association of Bus, Truck and Trailer Manufacturers (ANPACT) said that heavy vehicle sales in Mexico fell 6 percent during the first quarter, to 7,504 units. Canal said the reasons International was doing well compared with its competitors here were financing plans and products. NEW TECHNOLOGY TOUTED International executives said yesterday that their low-emission diesel engines last longer, are more powerful, and have a greater operating range than natural gas engines with comparable emissions. They said low-emission diesel engines will cost only 10 percent more than current diesel engines. Mexico City, part of an urban area of some 19 million people, is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and the local government is currently trying to replace tens of thousands of buses for safer, less-polluting models. Canal said on average its new low-emissions buses pollute only 1 percent as much as the tens of thousands of buses currently on the road in Mexico City. He also said International has adapted the technology on the new engines so it could work well in the high altitude of Mexico City, which is more than 7,000 feet (2,200 meters) above sea level, worsening the emissions of some engines. Story by Fiona Ortiz REUTERS NEWS SERVICE Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
