Seaoil Philippines Inc. recently launched its latest ‘clean fuel’ variant – the Extreme 97 premium gasoline.

Seaoil president and CEO Francis Glenn Yu said: “Extreme 97 is packed with the latest technology additive to control deposit formation on fuel injectors, carburetors, intake valves and combustion chambers. This reduces tailpipe emissions since it uses ethanol as a booster, instead of lead and other harmful additives, which are common in regular gasoline.”

“The new fuel promises extreme performance made possible by its 10-percent ethanol content that functions as booster to the engine. Conventional gasoline uses lead and other additives as booster, which promotes tailpipe emissions that are harmful to the environment,” said Yu.

The Seaoil official said that Extreme 97, with 97+ octane level, has the highest octane level in the market today. It will initially be available in Metro Manila and will be launched in the provinces in succeeding months.

He explained that the octane rating allows the Extreme 97 to operate at maximum output, improving combustion and reducing engine wear. Higher octane also translates to increased horsepower and better burning characteristics. It prevents unstable ‘knocking’ or ‘pinking’ combustion, which produces an unpleasant mechanical engine noise and can cause engine damage when severe, the Seaoil executive said.

It took Seaoil two years and P10 million in investment for the research, development and product testing of the Extreme 97. The formulation was tested to perform under extreme conditions by actual racers who participated in the 2007 and 2008 Philippine Touring Car Championships.

The company is considered a pioneering independent oil company in the country – with several fuel breakthroughs under its cap.

“We were the first to launch unleaded fuel in 2001, and first to make ethanol-blended fuels available in 2005,” said Yu.

The Filipino-owned oil firm pioneered the country’s use of ethanol as a gasoline blend. It recently introduced another breakthrough in the local petroleum industry with the development of its E85 fuel – a predominantly ethanol-blended fuel product widely used in other countries such as Brazil and Sweden.

Yu added that the Extreme 97 can be used for car models as old as 1990, assuming the spare parts of the vehicle are genuine. All 1997 models and above can use the new variant.

He explained that since all engines have octane appetite that increases over time due to internal deposit accumulation (carbon, dirt, gums and varnishes), the use of fuel with higher octane is necessary to ignite the accumulated deposits, consequently bringing cars back to their optimum performance level.