Fake Petrol On the Market!

The management of Tema Oil Refinery Company (TOR) has confirmed the adulteration of premium fuel, popularly referred to as petrol or super with other petroleum products by most of the oil marketing companies.

A survey conducted by TOR recently in Greater Accra, Central and Volta regions of 51 stations, revealed that about seven out of ten filling stations are guilty of using premix gasoline to adulterate petrol.

The companies involve giant ones like Mobil, Total, Shell Goil, Fraga Oil, Allied Oil, and Glory Oil among others.

"We can confirm that the test results do indicate that there is some adulteration of the good fuel that we supply from here to the market", the Chief Executive Officer of TOR, Dr K. K. Sarpong told journalists yesterday at Tema.

He said at the Mobil filling station at Pedu junction in the Central region for instance, pure premix gasoline meant for fishermen was being sold to customers as petrol.

"So you realize that the premix fuel that is priced cheaply for our fishermen are being used to adulterate the good quality premium fuel just to create illegal benefit for these marketing companies", he said.

He emphasized the management of TOR is convinced beyond every reasonable doubt that the problem is not from their end. He said: "We want to assure the general public that, we at the refinery are doing everything possible to maintain our quality standards". He said every fuel that leaves the borders of the refinery is tested to see that it is within specification.

Even though he conceded that the problem has been there for some time, he noted that, it has risen to this level in "the wake of the deregulation of the sector, which has brought many players in the system".

Dr. Sarpong described the situation as worrying. This is because the mixture reduces the specification of the minimum of 91 octane required for vehicular engines in Ghana to as low as 86, and that destroys automobiles' engines.

He said the unfortunate aspect is that, when the fuel leaves the refinery, TOR has no control over it again, therefore the management of its quality is in the hands of the oil marketing companies.

The Chief Executive Officer said the result of the test has been communicated to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), and promised that TOR would liaise with the appropriate authorities to deal with the issues.

He made a passionate appeal to the fuel dealers to do the right thing to complement the efforts of TOR.

The test was prompted by complains from automobile dealers and some consumers about problem they were having with their fuel pumps.