Arco Set to Introduce 2nd Lower-Emission Gasoline

Atlantic Richfield Co., which introduced a lower-emission gasoline last year, will unveil another new gasoline later this week, the Los Angeles-based company said Tuesday.

Industry observers have been expecting Arco to introduce sometime this year a lower-emission gasoline for cars that use unleaded fuel. Arco’s EC-1 was designed to replace leaded gas used in older cars.

Company officials declined to provide further details until a Thursday morning press conference with Arco Chairman Lodwrick M. Cook. In a statement, the company would only say the news conference “will deal with another clean-air advance.”

Since Arco introduced EC-1 in August, 1989, several other oil companies have followed suit with their own reformulated gasolines. But while EC-1 is intended for cars that use leaded fuel, many of the other reformulated versions are intended for newer cars that used unleaded gasoline. Some of these include Shell SU 2000E, Chevron Supreme Unleaded and Exxon Plus.

A shortage of a key ingredient and instability in energy markets recently forced Chevron to temporarily postpone the late-summer introduction of its reformulated gasoline in Houston, Baltimore and Washington. Chevron’s lower-emission fuel was introduced in Southern California earlier this year.