Gas Is as Clean as Methanol, New Study Says : Energy: The research by an oil and auto industry group ranks emissions roughly equal. Air-quality officials call the conclusions skewed.

Methanol and gasoline are roughly equal in emissions but gasoline is cheaper, according to research released Friday by an oil and auto industry group seeking to promote reformulated gasolines as the best way to meet tighter air pollution standards.

The conclusions were strongly criticized as skewed by officials of the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission, which regulate state clean air efforts.

The study is likely to increase debate over what fuels will be used to meet California auto emission standards, which become stricter beginning in 1994.

The report is part of ongoing research by the Auto/Oil Air Quality Improvement Research Program, sponsored by the Big Three U.S. auto makers and 14 oil companies.

“Methanol fuel is going to cost up to 70 cents more per gallon than today’s gasolines, and it clearly does not contribute to solving our emissions problem,” said James W. Kinnear, president and chief executive of Texaco Inc.

The U.S. oil industry generally supports meeting near-term air emissions standards by switching to reformulated gasolines rather than such alternative fuels as methanol.

Critics of the study charge that it loaded costs into the methanol example that even auto makers don’t expect.

“The economic analysis, once you get into it, is simply not credible,” said Charles R. Imbrecht, chairman of the California Energy Commission.

Part of the purported economic advantage to gasoline comes from an estimated $400 premium charged for “flex fuel” vehicles that can use either methanol or gasoline.

Imbrecht also noted that the study used a price for natural gas--the raw material for methanol--that is more than twice the price now.

Others said the study used outmoded methanol vehicles that produce much higher emissions than improved models.

However, the next phase of the study will include advanced vehicles, countered William H. Leney, manager of special projects in the strategic planning division of Chevron U.S.A. And Leney said comparable technologies were judged fairly.