PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA) Leonard Green says the ongoing turmoil over the bad gas saga in the petroleum industry, which has left motorists pointing fingers at service stations and marketing companies in a defensive mood, has shattered confidence in the trade.

“People don’t know where to go,” Green said in an address at a Rotary Club of Downtown Kingston luncheon meeting at the Hotel Four Seasons in Kingston yesterday, where he gave members a detailed account of developments surrounding the controversy.

But he said that despite the tensions there could yet be some light at the end of the tunnel, based on the work that the petrol trade reform committee set up by the Government is expected to do.

“We are very confident at this time that based on the composition of the committee and the terms of reference, that we will see some sweeping changes to the regulations that govern the trade. We are also assured that we will see, in short order, a definitive position regarding compensation [and] I suspect that before the end of the week something will come up because there has been a recommendation to the Attorney General’s Department,” Green stated.

“We feel that if it is even 200 persons and they can qualify the claim to be authentic, they must be able to deal with these people,” he stressed.

Green insisted that a compensation mechanism must be put in place and that receipts were not necessarily critical to motorists proving their case, as there are other ways of validating claims.

One motorist told the Jamaica Observer that within minutes of receiving petrol at a particular gas station in the Liguanea area the vehicle’s ‘check engine’ indicator came on and diagnostics later identified an issue with the gas tank. He said he is now forced to take the vehicle to the dealer and pay an upfront cost of $40,000.

The motorist said among the Government, the gas stations and suppliers there was culpability, and somebody needs to pay.

However, Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell has already made it clear that this is a matter which the consumers will have to thrash out with the service stations.

Green said that at a meeting with stakeholders yesterday samples were displayed of burnt-out and clogged fuel injectors. He said invoices of up to $240,000 to replace injectors have also been presented.

“We don’t have to go into the science (of how it happened). The JGRA’s position is very clear; we stop at who supplied us. We are contracted to you, you supplied us bad product, and that’s how the motorist feels,” he stated.

Green said marketing companies which may have abused the fact that there were no specifications in law for an upper limit for the amount of additives that can be mixed into their base product, will no longer have that leeway with the implementation of a standard by the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) this week.

He remarked that the companies had protested “vehemently” the bureau’s advice to the energy minister to implement the intermediate standard until one can be formulated for the industry. According to Green, in some instances there was mixing of up to 70 milligrammes (of additives) per 100 millimetres of base product. The agreed specification is now 35 milligrammes (of additives) per 100 millimetres of product.

Green said the marketing companies are all now sourcing their stock from the state oil refinery, Petrojam, which is the only BSJ-approved source as there is no importation at the moment, although no restriction had been formally articulated. “I am confident that we have solved that problem in terms of the risk to the consumer,” he said.

Pumps at four of the 17 stations which were identified carrying substandard fuel, still remain closed up to yesterday.