Quality of petrol and diesel fuels

In accordance with the requirements of Directive 98/70/EC, the Commission presents its annual report on the quality of petrol and diesel fuel used for road transport in the European Union, covering the year 2011.

The monitoring of fuel quality in 2011 shows that the specifications for petrol and diesel laid down in Directive 98/70/EC are in general met and very few exceedances were identified.

Petrol reporting: in 2011, most Member States provided full information about petrol sample compliance. In order to determine compliance, it is necessary to know which test method has been used to test for some parameters (because reproducibility and tolerance levels differ according to test method). Provision has been made for Member States to give this information within the reporting template – although this is not a mandatory part of the reporting it is vital to determine compliance levels.

The parameters found to be out of specification most frequently within the EU in 2011 were:

• Summer Vapour Pressure was exceeded 106 times in 2011. However, it is becoming apparent that many exceedances are the result of transitional periods, when suppliers swap the summer specification fuel for winter specification fuel and vice versa.
• RON/MON samples found to be out of specification in 2011 totalled 38 samples.

Some Member States did not provide full details of samples found to be out of compliance with tolerance limits.

Diesel reporting: in 2011, some Member States did not provide full details of samples found to be out of compliance with tolerance limits. Of the 6 parameters required to be tested for diesel in 2011, parameters found to be out of specification were:

• the sulphur content maximum of 10ppm was exceeded by a total of 126 samples. However the average sulphur content for all Member States remains below the mandatory limit of 10ppm at 5.8 ppm.
• in total, 19 samples tested for distillation limits were found to be out of specification.

The revision of standard EN 14274 will provide further clarification to the Member States, which will lead to greater consistency in the data available for assessment of the various fuel quality parameters.

There is also a recognized will by the Member States to make an effort to improve their understanding of reporting requirements and of their fuel quality monitoring systems (FQMS).

As exceedances are relatively rare and most Member States take action to remove non-compliant fuel from sale, the Commission is not aware of any negative repercussions on vehicle emissions or engine functioning due to these exceedances. However, the Commission urges Member States to continue to take action to ensure full compliance so that such problems do not arise in the future.