13th February 2004

PETROL AND DIESEL SEEN AS DOMINANT ROAD FUELS IN THE MEDIUM TERM CAPABALE OF SUPPORTING NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO DELIVER CLEANER AIR AND REDUCED CO2 EMISSIONS

In its evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Transport’s enquiry into “Cars of the Future”, the UK Petroleum Industry Association (UKPIA), the trade association representing refiners and marketers of fuels in the UK, confirmed its view that up to at least 2030, petrol and diesel would continue to supply the bulk of the road transport fuel market. The combination of new cleaner fuels and new more fuel-efficient vehicle technologies was capable of meeting reduced CO2 emissions targets from road transport, as well as delivering cleaner air, over the same period.

UKPIA forecasted that CO2 emissions from road transport would fall over the next two decades, despite forecast traffic growth. However, it cautioned that the road transport sector in the UK accounted for 21% of CO2 emissions, so all sectors would have to make efficiency gains to meet Government targets.

In their evidence, UKPIA emphasised that a range of alternatives were starting to emerge, including biofuels, hydrogen fuel cells and power from biomass.

Malcolm Watson, Technical Director of UKPIA commented “ Petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles are capable of delivering reduced CO2 in the medium term. The industry is keeping an open mind on a range of alternative fuels and many of our member companies are involved in producing them or engaged in collaborative research on new fuels and technologies. Key factors for the introduction of new fuels include ease of use for customers, minimal or no modification to vehicles and the ability to accommodate the fuels into the existing supply infrastructure or, in some cases, to blend them with conventional petrol and diesel. For these reasons we favour alternatives which are liquid fuels.”

UKPIA also reiterated that it was not against the use of fuels derived from energy crops but considered that conversion of conventional crops to liquid fuels was not the most efficient route for saving CO2. Biomass applied in the production of primary energy such as heat and electricity provided a better CO2 saving.

Responding to the Committee’s concerns about security and diversity of supply of crude oil and gas, UKPIA was of the view that forecast reserves were adequate for the projected demand for at least the next few decades. In addition, these could be supplemented by less conventional sources such as heavy tar sands or conversion of gas to liquids.

Finally, it considered that legislators should allow the market to decide the best solutions for achieving targets, thus avoiding the risk of prematurely picking technology winners through the use of other mechanisms.