Source of contaminated fuel

If you recall, I wrote a post on contaminated petrol in the UK on Friday, March 02. Well they have finally found out that there was indeed a contamination. It sounds stupid but silicon meant for diesel fuel was added into the unleaded petrol. This occurred in four tanks at a terminal in West Thurrock, east of London, owned by Dutch company Vopak. Harvest Energy shares the facilities with Greenergy, which supplies both Tesco and Morrisons. Asda buys fuel from Harvest Energy.

The problem arose because when the unleaded petrol containing silicon burned, it formed a thin layer of silicon-dioxide on the sensor, which controlled the fuel - air mix. I can see that the immediate result is an increase in the fuel prices overnight.

Petrol contamination in UK

Surprised to hear over the news today that contaminated fuel has affected thousands of cars in the UK - mostly in London and parts of east and south-east England.

Most of the blame has been directed at supermarkets that sell petrol. Both Tesco and Morrisons have said that their tests indicate that there is nothing wrong with their oil.

Of course it's the oil. Hundreds of drivers cannot be lying?

Asda also reported that they received several complaints.

It seems that most of the vehicles affected are those from the higher end with fuel management systems. These high tech equipment compose of sensors that are attached to the exhaust and they determine the oxygen and petrol mix supplied to the engine.

Most of the complainants say that their cars suffered from power loss and misfiring.

Several workshops have run out of replacement parts and costs range from a few hundred pounds and more than £1000 for a few.

I filled up at Tesco last week and fortunately our car is OK.

Tags: Asds Morrison Petrol Tesco

Different petrol prices

Unlike Malaysia where petrol prices are fixed by the Government, Petrol prices in the UK depends on the market. For example, the prices went down for a while around November but it went back right up soon afterwards. It also varies from place to place and between companies.

Given below are the prices of unleaded petrol at various petrol stations near our locality:

1. Tesco: 84.9p
2. BP: 85.9p
3. Jet: 86.9p
4. Texaco: 87.9p

Mind you, these are prices for 95 Octane unleaded Petrol. 97 octane petrol is costlier (as much as 4p more at some stations)

The nearest to our house is a Texaco station but have never filled up there because it is the costliest. I usually fill up at either the BP station along Lockhurst lane (2nd cheapest in my area and I also get Nectar points there). My favourite is of course the Tesco station - the cheapest + Tesco points. The full address is Tesco Filling Station, Pheonix Way, Coventry Arena, Coventry. CV6 6EN.

What is your favourite station?

UPDATED: (19 Jan 2007) Just found out that the petrol prices fell overnight.

Tags: Petrol octane Tesco BP