KINGSTON, Jamaica – With recent reports in the media of contaminated gas in the petrol station distribution network, Petrojam Limited is assuring the public that the gasoline supplied by the refinery to marketing companies meets the Government’s Petroleum Quality Control Act and its regulations.

According to a release from the company today, high unwashed gum content, which exceeded prescribed levels, was detected at the 87 and 90 pumps at the Montego Bay Industrial Loading Rack (MILR) on Thursday, December 31.  

General Manager of Petrojam Howard Mollison explained that last Thursday, Petrojam was issued a Stop Order by the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) to cease sales of motor gasoline from the MILR, pending completion of their investigation into the alleged high unwashed gum content in fuel taken from two tanker wagons at the facility.

“I wish to highlight that Petrojam is not exempt from the requirements of the laws of Jamaica and as such we complied with the Stop Order. We, however, contested the order on the grounds that the samples were not taken from Petrojam source tanks, but from the two tanker wagons that were previously loaded at the rack and afterwards manually additised by the petroleum marketing company,” Mollison noted.

He said that on completion of BSJ’s investigation, there were no adverse findings and the Stop Order was withdrawn.

The Petrojam general manager reiterated that the company’s certification protocols are in accordance with Government’s requirements and international industry best practices – the American Society of Testing and Materials.