Sinopec apologizes over bad fuel
By Wang Xiang |
April 28, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S largest oil refiner apologized yesterday for a quality lapse in its gasoline products that damaged thousands of cars in central China and said it would come up with a compensation package for affected motorists.
The company suspended staff members responsible for the defective 93-octane alcohol gasoline.
The defective-oil scandal was caused by lax supervision and work practices in quality-check departments, the Henan Province office of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, said at a press conference yesterday.
Tian Zhongshan, head of the company's Henan office, bowed deeply when apologizing for the damage the below-par gasoline had done to vehicles.
He said the company would give vehicle owners discounted oil-product prices in the city of Anyang, the worst-affected area.
Tian said a detailed compensation plan would be revealed within 15 days. He denied accusations that there was 9.8 percent of manganese additive in some Sinopec oil products, 97 times higher than the national standard.
He said the defective oil had 0.022 grams of manganese per liter, only slightly higher than the national standard of 0.018 grams. A high level of colloidal substances in the substandard fuel caused engines to run roughly, Tian said.
Vehicle owners have lined up at the Henan Sinopec office demanding compensation since complaints first emerged late last month.
They said the oil they bought was unnaturally red and made their cars shake, rattle and stall and spout red and black fluid.
A manager with a Hyundai 4S outlet, Li Hongyu, said his repair shop received about 1,200 such cases and tests showed 9.8-percent manganese additive in the oil. Li said manganese was notorious for its corroding effect on engines.
Sinopec Henan is now offering a free cleansing service in a designated repair shop for damaged vehicles.
The apology is a sharp about-face by Sinopec.
The company said in a statement last week that the stalling was "a normal reaction" to gasoline containing a new kind of environmental-protection additive.
In Hong Kong in January, more than 6,000 taxis and mini buses suffered faults that included stalling after using Sinopec gasoline.
The company insisted that the Hong Kong case was not its fault but promised to launch an investigation. No results of this inquiry have emerged.
An official with Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co said yesterday no oil problems had been reported by motorists in the city to date.
The company suspended staff members responsible for the defective 93-octane alcohol gasoline.
The defective-oil scandal was caused by lax supervision and work practices in quality-check departments, the Henan Province office of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, said at a press conference yesterday.
Tian Zhongshan, head of the company's Henan office, bowed deeply when apologizing for the damage the below-par gasoline had done to vehicles.
He said the company would give vehicle owners discounted oil-product prices in the city of Anyang, the worst-affected area.
Tian said a detailed compensation plan would be revealed within 15 days. He denied accusations that there was 9.8 percent of manganese additive in some Sinopec oil products, 97 times higher than the national standard.
He said the defective oil had 0.022 grams of manganese per liter, only slightly higher than the national standard of 0.018 grams. A high level of colloidal substances in the substandard fuel caused engines to run roughly, Tian said.
Vehicle owners have lined up at the Henan Sinopec office demanding compensation since complaints first emerged late last month.
They said the oil they bought was unnaturally red and made their cars shake, rattle and stall and spout red and black fluid.
A manager with a Hyundai 4S outlet, Li Hongyu, said his repair shop received about 1,200 such cases and tests showed 9.8-percent manganese additive in the oil. Li said manganese was notorious for its corroding effect on engines.
Sinopec Henan is now offering a free cleansing service in a designated repair shop for damaged vehicles.
The apology is a sharp about-face by Sinopec.
The company said in a statement last week that the stalling was "a normal reaction" to gasoline containing a new kind of environmental-protection additive.
In Hong Kong in January, more than 6,000 taxis and mini buses suffered faults that included stalling after using Sinopec gasoline.
The company insisted that the Hong Kong case was not its fault but promised to launch an investigation. No results of this inquiry have emerged.
An official with Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co said yesterday no oil problems had been reported by motorists in the city to date.
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