Abu Dhabi: All oil companies and corporations operating in the United Arab Emirates will use litre as a unit of measurement for the fuel, instead of the gallon, in all service stations across the UAE from January 1, 2010. However, this will not result in any change in the selling prices of fuel at service stations.
Mohammed Saleh Badri, Acting Director General of Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology announced the conversion of unit sales used in the service stations from gallon to litre by all oil companies & corporations operating in the country from the first of January 2010 for a period of 4 months in order to implement the UAE Cabinet Decision No. 31 of 2006 on the national system of measurement, which mandates the use of International System of units (SI) as a basis for the legal units of measurement in the country.
Accordingly the UAE Cabinet has issued the Decree No. (270 / 3) in 2009 stating that new unit sale price for gasoline will be based on litre instead of gallon effective from January 1st 2010. One imperial gallon equals to approximately 4.5 litres.
Badri also mentioned that the main aim of ESMA is to build quality infrastructure for the country through traceable and reliable measurements, which enhance our national economy and facilitate the UAE products to compete in global market.
He also focused on the importance of changing the units of measurement used in service stations from a gallon to liters in line with international practices and a consolidation of the units of measurement with the world and also reduces the possible margin of error in measurements, pointing out that fuel dispenser meters is one of the legal measurement tools which will be legally controlled in future in accordance with ESMA strategic plan and in cooperation with oil companies in the country.
Retailers begin switch to metric:
Dubai: Petrol under ‘special' (95 grade) will be retailed at around Dh1.38 and ‘super' (98 grade) is expected to be retailed at Dh1.5 per litre from January 1, 2010, according to an official, as the country moves towards the metric system.
Special-grade petrol is retailed at Dh6.25 per gallon while super-grade is sold at Dh6.75 currently. The new price will reflect the conversion. A British gallon equals 4.54 litres.
All the petrol pumps in the UAE will be brought under the new conversion mechanism in four months.
Petrol retailers have begun the process of re-calibrating the equipment to measure in litres. Enoc/Eppco is launching an advertisement campaign in local media to create awareness on the new pricing and measurements.
