Bad fuel complaints on the rise - COPEC urges NPA to fish out bad OMC quick or be sued

Complaints by car owners about bad fuel are on the rise, the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana has observed.

In a statement, COPEC said the past few days have seen a "surge in complaints by largely users of gasoline across the country of having been served by one oil marketing company or the other, with some suspected bad fuel".

COPEC indicated that what began as the usual suspicions by consumers of not receiving the expected quality or quantity at the pumps, has now, "sadly grown increasingly louder over the days, with users of particularly Honda vehicles complaining the most, though some other cars have also complained one way or the other over suspected bad fuel, which for a good number of consumers, had led to them ultimately replacing their car plugs and forced maintenance rountines even on vehicles whose dates for going for maintenance were clearly not due".

"A good number of gasoline users have complained of delayed acceleration, delayed changes in the gears, jerking, and misfiring of plugs, leading to very poor performance of these engines altogether".

COPEC said it has received "a good number of such complaints over the period and have largely referred same to the appropriate quarters, particularly the regulator of the petroleum downstream (the NPA) while helping a couple of others with handy solutions that seem to have averted the apparent changing of spark plugs and maintenance which are undue".

'We are also aware of strenuous efforts by the NPA to follow every single one of these complaints by going to pick samples from the stations named by the affected consumers, some of whose complaints have been officially documented and addressed'.

"This notwithstanding, the complaints seem not to subside as expected.

While commending the National Petroleum Authority for their swift response in getting to promptly investigate the menace, we are also appalled by the seeming unending phenomena as complaints by consumers affected by the situation continue to come up on a daily basis".

"We are, by this, demanding of the NPA to expedite their efforts in addressing the issue and ensuring whatever the probable cause(s) of this menace is, is promptly nipped in the bud latest by or before the end of this week", COPEC urged, warning: "Failing of which will lead to a suit on the Authority for reneging on their core mandate of ensuring every litre of petroleum product being sold at the various pumps, meets the minimum standards."

"Our findings on the issue, so far, point to a possible high count of manganese in the fuel which, in itself, could be dealt with by the application of some additivations to counter any adverse impacts it could have on the rather few vehicles so far affected and are, thus, entreating the public to seek for these additives that could help correct the issue as opposed to resorting to rather expensive plug changing and undue maintenance routines".