Chile: Fuels: Diesel and Gasoline

Overview

 * Standard type: Fuel quality
 * Regulating body: Ministerio de Energía
 * Current standard:
 * Diesel: 15 ppm sulfur content nationwide
 * Gasoline: 15 ppm sulfur content nationwide
 * Applicability: All gasoline and diesel sold for motor vehicles

Diesel
Fuel quality standards in Chile are regulated by the Ministry of Energy and include both transport and non-transport fuels. Standards in Chile vary between the Metropolitan Region of Santiago and the rest of the country. Hence, there are two grades of diesel fuel currently available in Chile:


 * Grade A1—the only on-road diesel fuel legally available to the public in the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Beginning July 2004, grade A1 diesel (D.S. No. 58/04) was required to have a maximum sulfur limit of 50 ppm and lubricity requirement (D.S. No. 222/04). In April 2010, new fuel requirements for Grade A1 diesel were introduced to limit sulfur to 15 ppm mass by September 2011. The new requirements also relaxed the polyaromatic and nitrogen contents and increased the density and distillation ranges (D.S. No. 66/10).


 * Grade B—the diesel fuel intended for the rest of the country. Starting in 2007, Grade B diesel fuel (D.S. No. 133/04) sulfur was limited to 350 ppm. In 2008, the cetane number of Grade B increased to 50 to match Grade A1 and in March 2012, new fuel requirements for Grade B diesel were introduced to limit sulfur to 50 ppm (D.S. N° 60/12). These sulfur limits for Grade B diesel were tightened to 15 ppm as of September 2013. The most recent diesel specification requirements are summarized by the Compania de Petroleos de Chile COPEC S.A.

Gasoline
Unleaded gasoline was introduced to the Chilean market in 1991 and was nationally mandated since April 2001. There are currently three types of gasolines sold in Chile with research octane numbers (RON) of 93, 95 and 97. In addition, there are different specifications requirements for gasoline in both the Metropolitan Region of Santiago and the rest of the country. For the Metropolitan region, unleaded gasoline must not exceed 15ppm of sulfur in accordance with (D.S. No. 66/10). Beginning on 1 Sept 2012, new fuel requirements for gasoline limited sulfur to 15 ppm for the rest of the country, down from the previous maximum limit of 30 ppm as stipulated in DS N° 60. These most recent gasoline specification requirements are summarized by the Compania de Petroleos de Chile COPEC S.A.

Regulatory Documents
Diesel standards
 * Grade A1, D.S. No. 66/10
 * Grade B, D.S. N° 60

Gasoline standard
 * DS N° 60

Regulatory Agencies

Ministerio de Energía