Despite the still ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon, the fuel sector will have to comply before the end of December with three new standards concerning gasoline and diesel imported and distributed in the country.
These standards were adopted by the Council of Ministers in a decree dated September 12 and published a week later in Official Journal. Developed by the Lebanese Institute of Standards (Libnor), they aim to align Lebanon with European standards.
“Their application will help improve the quality of fuels distributed in Lebanon and reduce environmental damage, which will have a positive effect on public health,” explains to The Orient-The Day Lena Dargham, CEO of Libnor. She adds that “the Ministry of Energy as well as all national stakeholders contributed to the drafting of the standards led by Libnor.
“We have been waiting for this for at least six years. The outgoing Minister of Industry George Bouchikian, as well as the management of Libnor, played a crucial role in the adoption of this decree,” underlines Sélim Saad, advisor to the Association of Automobile Importers ( AIA), who participated in the discussions.
According to Maroun Chammas, president of the Association of Fuel Importers in Lebanon (APIC) and also part of the debates, this transition “should not pose great difficulties for importers, and the financial impact for consumers will be limited”. The spokesperson for the union of gas station owners, Georges Brax, considers this to be good news. He specifies that the change in standard will not have an impact on the operation of distributors and considers that the measure is “positive” for motorists.
The price of the affected fuels, currently regulated by the Ministry of Energy and Water, varies between $14 and $17 per can.
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What standards are these?
The three new standards are identified as follows: NL-753:2016 for 98 octane gasoline; NL-254:2016 for 95 octane gasoline; and NL-484:2016 for diesel.
According to Libnor, these standards define “the general requirements and test methods to be adopted” in order to guarantee the quality of unleaded gasoline and diesel intended for vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines. The fuel is therefore relatively “cleaner”, both for the air, for those who breathe it, and for the vehicles which consume it.
For gasoline, the maximum copper content was drastically reduced, from 1,000 ppm to 10 ppm (parts per million, a unit used to measure pollution levels). This reduction helps reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and limit metal corrosion in vehicle fuel tanks and pumps.
The two standards that concern gasoline also impose maximum limits on the content of manganese, used to increase the octane number without the need to use lead (there was none before) and benzene ( a fifth of the current limit and replaced by less harmful substances), explains Lena Dargham. The presence of lead is no longer permitted at all.
The standard dedicated to diesel concerns fuel whose fatty acid methyl ester content does not exceed 7% by volume (also called Diesel B7), intended for vehicles which consume it. It requires that the copper content be reduced from 350 ppm to 10 ppm, which contributes to the same virtuous effects as for gasoline. A maximum limit for manganese has also been specified, as well as for polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC).
According to Lena Dargham, these three standards are modeled on the European standards EN 590:2013 (for diesel) and EN 228:2012 (for unleaded gasoline) with most of their requirements taking into account those of the European standard d Euro 6 emissions, which have been required of car manufacturers since September 2015 (with several variants). Note that the Euro 7 standard was approved in 2024 and should come into force in 2026.
The impact on supply chains
The decree which imposed these three standards requires fuel importers to comply within three months following its publication in Official Journali.e. by December 19.
The fuel, of better quality than that imported into Lebanon until now (corresponding at least to the Euro 3 standard), will lead to a slight increase in the price at the pump, explains Maroun Chammas. “For gasoline, the additional cost will be around 9 to 12 dollars per kiloliter, depending on the suppliers, or 0.18 dollars per 20 liter can (around 16,110 LL at the rate of 89,500 LL per dollar),” he estimates, specifying that the difference will be similar for diesel. Sélim Saad remembers that the price difference amounted to around 300 LL, or 0.20, at the time when the old official parity of 1,507.5 LL per dollar was still in force.
Maroun Chammas adds that the change in fuel will not force service station owners to modify their equipment, as the new standards do not provide for specific measures regarding the storage of gasoline and diesel. He also believes that this change should not cause disruptions in the country’s supply chains, even if it mechanically restricts the compatible supply, “given that it will be necessary to favor refineries deployed in the European Union”. According to him, some importers could nevertheless be forced to change suppliers. The tests carried out on fuel shipments arriving in Lebanon will remain the responsibility of teams from the oil installations directorate, attached to the Ministry of Energy and Water.
For importers of European cars in Lebanon, which represent 24% of the total vehicle fleet (according to the AIA), the implementation of these standards will offer Lebanese motorists a fuel that is less harmful to the environment and public health. This fuel will also optimize the performance of vehicles and limit their wear, underlines Sélim Saad. He adds that the adoption of these new standards will make it possible to import into Lebanon certain brands and models of vehicles that manufacturers did not wish to ship to Lebanon because their engines were only produced in compliance with Euro standards. 6.
Despite the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon, the fuel sector will have to comply before the end of December with three new standards concerning gasoline and diesel imported and distributed in the country. These standards were adopted by the Council of Ministers in a decree dated September 12 and published a week later in the Journal…
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