This year, Petrojam Limited celebrates 40 years of dedicated service to Jamaica. Throughout this period we have reliably and consistently provided high-quality and competitively priced petroleum products to the Jamaican market.

Over the past few months there have been some motorists who have questioned the current mileage received from their petrol purchases. While Petrojam is not the only supplier of transportation fuel to the market, we wish to assure the motoring public that all petroleum products distributed by our company adhere to very stringent industry standards.

Stringent Testing Processes

Petrojam Limited strictly adheres to the Government of Jamaica Petroleum Quality Control Act (PQCA), ensuring that all products released to the market meet the specifications as per the Petroleum Quality Control Regulations. These are similar to the specifications used by jurisdictions and governments in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Central and South America for E10 gasoline. The Bureau of Standards Jamaica oversees the testing of all motor gasoline and automotive diesel and the National Compliance and Regulatory Authority gives the final approval for all products to be released to the market.

Our newly built laboratory, which was commissioned in 2019, is comparable with other international petroleum testing laboratories. The design includes consideration for staff welfare, safety, work flow and environmental conditions. There is observance of good and safe laboratory practices, which are industry-accepted best practices. We are in the final stages of the process of obtaining ISO 17025 quality management certification for this operation.

As the only fully equipped petroleum and ethanol laboratory in Jamaica, Petrojam laboratory offers facilities for product testing and analyses to Jamaican businesses as well as the scientific community. Our lab also strictly conforms to ASTM International (formerly American Society for Testing & Material), IP (formerly Institute of Petroleum) and other internationally accepted standard methods used for measuring and testing petroleum products.

Highly Trained Personnel

Our laboratory technicians are expertly trained in all aspects of laboratory testing processes, including mandatory internal training programme for all technicians, overseas training with original equipment manufacturers and on-site training by overseas equipment suppliers for new analytical testing equipment. The equipment includes, but are not limited to, infra-red technology, gas chromatography and rheometry.

Quality Assurance

Beyond training and adherence to national and international standards and best practices, Petrojam also utilises a Laboratory Quality Management System to ensure that we supply only products that meet the required quality standards to the Jamaican market. This system includes a calibration, verification and maintenance programme for instruments used in testing products. All the standards used in calibrating and verifying these instruments are traceable to international standard bodies.

A Statistical Quality Control programme is also used to monitor the compliance and performance of our test methods, equipment and personnel. Additionally, our laboratory participates in an inter-laboratory Proficiency Testing Programme, which facilitates testing of the same samples by several international laboratories. This programme allows the laboratory to monitor its strengths and weaknesses, compare test results with laboratories worldwide, and assess its capability in performing test methods, thereby leading to improved competence.

As we commemorate 40 years of service to the nation, Petrojam Limited remains committed to providing only the highest quality petroleum products to the Jamaican market, in full compliance with both local and international standards.

— Winston Watson is general manager of Petrojam Limited.