Sunday, Jun 05, 2016 at 11:44
Well, I could have worded it better and gone into another 3 paragraphs, I suppose - but what I should have written, is that OPAL is ALMOST the only REGULAR ULP (RULP) available in the
Alice Springs AREA.
There are apparently 2 roadhouses near
Alice Springs that refuse to stock OPAL, undermining the Govts subsidised efforts (it costs taxpayers $4M annually to supply OPAL) to reduce petrol-sniffing, by introducing the low-aromatic OPAL fuel.
These 2 roadhouse owners claim OPAL damages engines, against all the known research and oil industry testing.
PULP is available, is sniffable, and is not low-aromatic, as OPAL is - thus, the entire low-aromatic petrol programme has never been thought-through properly, as is typical of many Govt programmes.
The Govt has never legislated for COMPULSORY stocking of OPAL by fuel suppliers in Central Australia and Aboriginal Lands - fearful of being taken to court over any compulsion in the legislation, by businesses claiming to have suffered losses via the compulsion.
The refining cost of OPAL (produced only by the BP refinery at Kwinana) was an additional 27c a litre back in 2006. It is no doubt costing more today.
OPAL requires separate refining processes, separate storage at fuel farms, and incurs additional transportation costs.
If the OPAL scheme had been extended to all fuels and made compulsory, it would have had increased benefit.
I don't know if any research or study has been done on the overall success of the OPAL scheme - but it certainly has had some effect on reducing petrol-sniffing.
The gaps in the OPAL scheme need to be plugged for it to have maximum effect.
Low-Aromatic Fuel Bill 2012
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