Unioil pumps padlocked

The Department of Energy (DOE) ordered yesterday all 36 fuel stations of Unioil Petroleum Corp. nationwide padlocked for selling low octane gasoline.

Energy Secretary Vincent Perez issued the order following a spot inspection of a Unioil station at Plaza Dilao in Paco, Manila.

Perez said the premium gasoline being sold by the Unioil dealer failed the octane level as prescribed under the Clean Air Act. He said this is the first time that a gasoline station was penalized for violation of the CAA.

Perez said the octane level displayed in the pumps of Unioil was misleading since tests showed it went below the prescribed limit or only 88.2 percent in first test and 89.4 percent in second test. Unleaded gasoline has a 93 percent octane level while premium has a 95 to 96 percent octane level. 

But other than the octane level, Perez said Unioil passed the tests on the benzene content of its gasoline at 0.82 percent compared to two percent limit; and aromatics at 22.6 percent as against the CAA-prescribed limit at 35 percent.

Unioil corporate secretary Raymond Zorilla said they will protest the findings made by DOE.

"We will comply in protest because we have records to show that out products have been tested and analyzed by SGS (Societé Generalé Surveillance) and the DOE laboratory," he said.

Zorilla said they will comply with the DOE order to pay P10,000 fine and padlock all the gasoline pumps of Unioil until after the violation is corrected.

Zorilla stressed the gasoline products shipped and distributed at their gasoline stations passed the octane level. 

He said the first shipment was last Aug. 9 which has been tested to have 94.8 octane level and at Sept. 6 with 94.1 level.

"We have certification from the SGS to prove this," Zorilla said. 

"We will also question the testing procedure since we believe that on-site testing normally yields discrepancies," he said.

Zenaida Monsada, director of DOE’s Oil Industry Administration Bureau, said Unioil can correct the violation by adding more additive to the product.

"It is a possibility that Unioil had blended lower value products," she said.

Unioil was one of the first five new players that claimed to have met the CAA requirement. Unioil and other oil firms Eastern Petroleum Corp. (EPC), Seaoil Petroleum Corp., City Oil and Jetti Corp. launched on Aug. 26, 2003 the first ever "Pure Diesel" which they said is compliant to the 0.05 percent sulfur content under the CAA.

The oil companies signed a covenant with the DOE to voluntarily accelerate the use of low sulfur diesel in all their service stations and retail outlets in Metro Manila by Nov. 1, 2003.

As mandated under Republic Act 8749 or the Clean Air Act, oil companies are directed to reduce the sulfur content of automotive diesel by 75 percent from 0.2 percent to 0.05 percent effective Jan. 1, 2004.

The implementation of the CAA related to the energy sector has been in full swing. The implementation of the Jan. 1, 2004 mandated low sulfur content for automotive diesel was accelerated to November 2003.

Stringent fuel specifications for unleaded gasoline have also been in place since last year. Effective Jan. 1, 2003 unleaded gasoline sold in the market contains 35 percent aromatics content from 40 percent and two percent benzene from four percent.

The phaseout of leaded gasoline was made nine months ahead of the Jan. 1, 2001 deadline.

Oil companies like Petron, meanwhile, recently raised their diesel and kerosene prices by 35 centavos while there was no increase in gasoline prices.

This is lower than 45-centavo increase implemented by other oil firms last week, Petron said.