GM, BP Going With Low-Sulfur Gas

DETROIT--General Motors will be using British Petroleum’s low-sulfur gasoline to fuel mid-sized vans rolling off the line at GM’s Baltimore Assembly Plant. BP has introduced low-sulfur gas to petroleum retailers in the oil company’s Mid-Atlantic sales region.

Each year, GM’s Baltimore plant pumps more than 400,000 gallons of gasoline into the tanks of new vehicles. The facility builds Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari passenger vans, and it was recently cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as having the “best” fuel economy rankings within their vehicle classification for the 2001 model year.

“We are gratified by the decision to use BP's low sulfur gasoline as factory-fill at the GM Baltimore Assembly Plant,” said Raymond Brasser, senior vice president of the BP Atlantic Business Unit. “This action shows that our voluntary step toward a cleaner environment is noticed and welcomed.”

By introducing low-sulfur gasoline in its Mid-Atlantic sales region--which includes the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Va., and Philadelphia metropolitan markets--BP said it will bring a substantial reduction of vehicle emissions, including oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbons, which contribute to ozone formation. Low-sulfur fuel allows catalytic converters to operate more efficiently to reduce these pollutants by as much as 98 percent.

In particular, GM’s development of more efficient lean burn direct-injection engines will require sulfur-free fuels. Such engines would give consumers a 10 percent increase in fuel economy. Very low-sulfur diesel fuel will also allow light-duty diesels to be fitted with the same sort of pollution controls now found on gasoline vehicles, dramatically decreasing particulate emissions--or soot--and other pollutants.

The factory-fill program at GM’s Baltimore Assembly Plant is one of several business initiatives GM and BP are pursuing “based on the shared value of environmental responsibility,” said Dennis Minano, GM’s vice president for environment and energy, and its chief environmental officer. The relationship includes using ultra low sulfur diesel fuel from BP in hybrid electric transit buses with propulsion systems designed by GM’s Allison Transmission Division in New York City and Southern California, as well as developing fuels and infrastructure for advanced automotive technology.

“It’s especially impressive that BP will be offering this clean fuel in many markets across the country a full three years ahead of the EPA’s proposed national mandate for sulfur reduction,” said Minano. This “is indicative of how business will be conducted in the future so that communities, business, and the environment will be winners,” he observed.