While Sternfels said the industry has conceded that decreasing the sulfur content to 30 parts per million is inevitable, he said a slower-paced approach would be more feasible. Unfortunately, we are losing the war. Catherine Barnard, manager of state regulatory issues for Koch, said the difference with this proposal is that it involves taking the sulfur out of gasoline, a core part of the crude oil makeup. When gas went unleaded, for example, refiners only had to stop blending lead additives to enhance octane. It affects more of the refinery processes.
Crude oil has so much sulfur in it.
It's very different to change the raw materials. Capital costs Local refiners are taking a keen interest in what the details of that regulatory rule might bring. If the EPA regulates taking the sulfur content down to 30 parts per million, as some say is inevitable, the cost to refiners would be in the hundreds of millions. That money would be spent on capital costs that will see little or no return on their investment, said Joe Coco, vice president and refining and manufacturing manager at Koch Petroleum Group. When crude oil comes into the Koch refinery, it has a sulfur content of about 1,300 parts per million.