“We
are quite clear that we have a responsibility to protect our consumers, and
once it is determined that players in the industry are involved wittingly or
unwittingly in contaminated products being put on the market, we're going to
ensure that we stop it and there are a number of things that we can do
[including] revoke licences”
Minister of Science,
Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell during a meeting that was
hastily arranged at the New Kingston headquarters of the Ministry
Well
it looks like I was wrong about nothing coming out of the BSJ and Petrojam Bad
Gasolene Report. Then again, I might be right and this is all just a charade.
Seventeen
(17) Gas Station have been closed as of 12 am on Wednesday December 29th
2015 as reported in the article “Police
Called In; 17 Gas Stations Ordered Shut Down By Midnight Yesterday”,
Published Wednesday December 30, 2015, by Neville Graham, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell made this disclosure during a hastily arranged meeting at the New Kingston headquarters of the Ministry on Tuesday December 29th 2015 at 5 pm.
Good
to note here that the PCJ (Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica) did not close the
seventeen (17) gas stations. That was done by the BSJ under the authority of
the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining as noted in the tweet by
PCJ @PetroleumCorpJa:
@LindsworthDeer
MSTEM is the Govt entity with authority in this matter. PCJ has no authority 2
order gas stations closed. @StandardsJa
—
PCJ (@PetroleumCorpJa) December
31, 2015
Also
PCJ & Petrojam are not the same company; PCJ owns 51% of Petrojam in a
joint venture with Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) as per the tweet by PCJ
@PetroleumCorpJa below:
@LindsworthDeer
> PCJ owns 51% of Petrojam in a joint venture with Petróleos de
Venezuela (PDVSA) 2/2.
— PCJ (@PetroleumCorpJa) December
31, 2015
These
Seventeen (17) Gas Stations are located in the parishes that I'd specified in
my blog article
entitled “BSJ
and Petrojam Bad Gasolene Report – Who was selling Bad Gasolene, the
contaminant and its source”.
The
number of Gas Stations in each of those parishes that were selling contaminated
Gasolene as listed in the article “Gov't
Orders Closure Of Petrol Pumps At 17 Stations Over Bad Gas”, Published
Tuesday December 29, 2015, The Jamaica
Gleaner is as follows:
1.
7 in Kingston and St Andrew
2.
3 in St James
3.
3 in Clarendon
4.
2 in Manchester
5.
2 in St Catherine
6.
1 in St Thomas
The
names and locations of these Seventeen (17) Gas Stations has not been disclosed.
But as these Gas Stations are being closed by the Jamaica Police, by the
morning motorists all over of Jamaica will know which Gas Stations were in the
report. This might lead to some altercation at these Gas Stations, so expect
the employees to not only not report to work at these Gas Stations but
protestors to start gathering, seeking compensation.
The
service station operators will also be facing criminal investigation from the
Jamaican Police to quote Minister Paulwell: “The Major Organised Crime and
Anti-Corruption Agency of the Jamaica Constabulary Force has been contacted and
they were present today in our briefing, and they will be engaged to do further
investigation in terms of illegal trading of petroleum products and to ensure
that the law is properly enforced”.
This
as the number of closures could increase as the BSJ inspectors are still
conducting tests, to quote Minister Paulwell: “The inspectors of the Bureau of
Standards will now intensify their testing across the island. The dispensing of
contaminated E10 90 and E10 87 gasolene will be prohibited where they have been
found”.
However,
reopening seems to be a possibility as soon as they can prove that they are on
the level it seems, as Minister Paulwell points out: “The Bureau will be
utilising the powers that it has to ensure that these stations will not be
selling those products for the time being, until the proprietors can indicate
to the Bureau of Standards, which will have to be verified by further testing
that the products meet specifications”.
More Gas Stations to be
closed as tests ongoing – Gum named as a possible contaminant
So
aside from not revealing who the service station operators are or their
location, there is also no word on the contaminant or its sources, as this was
not revealed!
Instead
it appears they collected forty five (45) samples so far. Of that number, only
(30) samples had been tested and according to the BSJ Chairman Dr Winston
Davidson, the majority of them were contaminated, quote: “Of the 30 samples, 25
- or 83 per cent - were found to be non-compliant or, in fact, contaminated”.
Assuming
one (1) sample per Gas Station, the Seventeen (17) Gas Stations are among the
twenty five (25) or 83% that tested positive for this as-yet named contaminant.
That means eight (8) have not been listed to be closed tonight.
No
reason was given for why this was so. So far BSJ testing of Clarendon,
Manchester and Westmoreland Gas Stations is complete, with Kingston, St Thomas,
St Mary, St Ann and Hanover are to be finished by Wednesday December 30th
2015. Testing of the major importers would not be completed until Saturday
January 2nd, 2015.
Also
a gel adhesive or gum is being identified as one of the contaminants as
reported in the article “Gas
pumps ordered closed at 17 service stations”, published Wednesday, December
30, 2015, The Jamaica Observer.
However,
the composition of this gel adhesive was not revealed, or how it managed to get
into the service station operators storage tanks without being noticed by BSJ
Inspectors. This suggests that the contaminant
could have been introduced at any point in the Gasolene Trade, making it
difficult to assign blame.
Government
seems to be protecting service station operators – Tighter regulation of
Gasolene Trade coming
So
now we have a mystery; Seventeen (17) out of twenty five (25) Gas Stations
closed, their names cannot be revealed, most likely for legal reasons and the
contaminant is unknown.
I'm
still saying its homemade gasolene made via vacuum pyrolysis of rubber and
plastic that has too much sulphur or other gasoline soluble salt contaminants
in it as explained in my blog article
entitled “BSJ
and Petrojam investigating contaminated Gasoline in Jamaica - Why Homemade
Gasoline is to blame”.
Even
more troubling is that the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining,
BSJ or Petrojam is not revealing how to make the contaminated gasolene usable
again as well as compensation for damaged vehicles. However, he’s promised traceability
of the Gasolene trade i.e. tracking devices on tankers, computerized receipts at
ever point, from importer to Gas Station.
Seems
like the Government, for some strange reason, is trying to protect the service
station operators, as no word seems to be emerging as to how Jamaica motorists are
to be compensated for damage to their vehicles!
No comments:
Post a Comment