California Reformulated Gasoline
Transition Subcommittee
Final
Meeting Summary
August 2, 1995
California Air Resources Board
-FINAL-
II. Introduction
The California Reformulated Gasoline Transition Subcommittee held a
meeting on August 2, 1995 in Sacramento, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.
The key issues discussed were:
o Variance Guidelines Status Report
o California RFG Balance Update
o "What If" Scenarios - Robert Brown Refinery Model
o RFG Assessment Center
o Compliance Plan Update
Attached for your information are copies of the presentations which were
made to the subcommittee, and a copy of the meeting attendance list.
Inquiries about this meeting summary should be directed to Mr. Greg Allen,
Transition Subcommittee Secretary,
at (916) 327-5599.
III. Variance Guidelines Status Report
ARB staff presented a brief summary of their August 1, 1995, workshop
regarding final guidelines for variances from the standards in the
California reformulated gasoline regulations. The guidelines are intended
to clarify policy regarding variances and to promote efficient
consideration of any applications. Staff is recommending a fixed
mitigation fee of $0.15 per gallon be required of variance recipients
while marketing non-complying gasoline. Although there has been interest
expressed in establishing a flexible fee schedule which gives
consideration to overall quality of variance fuel, operating costs, and
other market factors, most workshop participants favored the fixed fee
approach. Staff believes a fixed fee provides an element of certainty
which is desired by industry, provides for equitable treatment of
applicants, and encourages potential applicants to first look to the
market for solutions to short term production problems rather than seek
a variance.
The final draft of the guidelines should be completed by the end of
August, at that point the document will be presented to the Air
Resources Board as an informational item. There currently is pending
legislation which may require formal adoption of variance guidelines.
If not mandated, formal adoption is not anticipated and the guidelines
would simply be issued as a final draft.
Contact: John Courtis (916) 322-6019
IIII.California RFG Balance Update
On October 18, 1994, California Energy Commission staff presented an
initial assessment of the RFG supply/demand balance to the Transition
Subcommittee. As additional information becomes available staff updates
their analysis and presents results to the subcommittee. Today, CEC staff
presented the latest of these updates dated August 2, 1995 (copy
attached). This update is based upon new information obtained from the
CEC/CARB Joint RFG Survey forms, updated CARB RFG Compliance Plans, and
ongoing communications with industry representatives.
The primary finding of this evaluation is that California refiners have
the ability to provide adequate volumes of RFG during the first full
year of the regulation, even under a worst case high demand scenario.
The analysis indicates that gasoline demand has been relatively flat
since 1992 and is not expected to approach the worst case high demand
scenario growth rate of two percent by 1996.
Contact: Gordon Schremp (916) 654-4887
IIV. "What If" Scenarios - Robert Brown Refinery Model
Robert Brown, of Robert Brown Associates (RBA), presented an overview of
a refinery model which he developed and recently enhanced under contract
to the CEC. The model is a feed-forward logical simulation of a typical
modern refinery providing step-by-step volume, weight, and heat balances
including subroutines for vapor equilibrium, phase separation, and
distillation. Presentation materials were distributed (copy attached)
which describe the model in further detail. Enhancements included
making the model more user friendly, accommodating reformulation,
incorporating utility variables, and providing for economic analysis.
The CEC intends to use this model to improve energy forecasts, perform
in-depth impact analyses (yields, energy, emissions, and economics) of
changes in crude input or product specifications, identify conservation
opportunities, and evaluate unplanned process unit outages.
For demonstration purposes, RBA attempted to use a base case
configuration of the model to evaluate the ability of a typical
California refiner to make RFG during an unplanned outage of a key
process unit. Several members of the subcommittee expressed concern
that the base case configuration provided too much operational
flexibility, resulting in an ability to produce greater volumes of RFG
than would be expected by individual refiners.
Contact: Tom Glaviano (916) 654-4874
VV. RFG Assessment Center
CEC staff presented an overview of the RFG Assessment Center (RAC) being
developed to assist both industry and the public in a smooth transition
to the production, distribution, and use of reformulated gasoline. The
mission of the RAC is to obtain RFG related information, analyze the
information to determine potential impacts, and provide state decision
makers with accurate and timely assessments. The presentation (copy of
presentation materials attached) addressed issues of confidentiality,
time period of operation, general structure and function, type and
sources of information to be collected, and method of data collection.
There was concern expressed by several subcommittee members regarding
the dissemination of the data collected. It was quickly pointed out
that there will be very little, if any, dissemination of data. The
results of the data collection and analysis will primarily be used to
keep ARB program management abreast of developing problems in the
system and to brief the Governor when necessary during emergency or
crisis situations.
Contact: Tom Glaviano (916) 654-4874
VVI. Compliance Plan Update
ARB staff provided a brief update on the status of California Refinery
Compliance Plans. Since the quarterly submittals in March, the only
significant item of change is the unfortunate loss of Pacific Refining
and Powerine Oil Company as expected producers of RFG. The last
Quarterly submittals in June indicate that all refiners have obtained
most of the required permits and the various modifications necessary to
produce RFG are on schedule.
Contact: Mike Jaczola (916) 327-1515
CBG Program Advisory and Subcommittee Activities