The Organisation for the Protection of Consumer Rights states that the 92 Octane Petrol being distributed country wide, is not up to standard. This has been determined by sample testing.
The Chairman of the organisation Ranjith Withanage said that in February 2019 they had lodged a complaint with the Consumer Affairs Authority that the petrol being sold to consumers by Lanka IOC is substandard.
Accordingly, the CAA had sent several samples of petrol being sold by LIOC to the lab at the Petroleum Corporation Refinery for testing on March 23rd and it was confirmed that the Octane percentage of the petrol being sold by IOC was only 90.5%.
The report issued by the Petroleum Corporation on March 23rd 2019 on tests carried out on the IOC 92 Octane petrol is shown below.
final report 92 oct
However, he points out that although these samples had been obtained from IOC sheds, the petrol had been distributed to them by a Sri Lanka Petroleum Corporation distribution centre.
He noted that as the LIOC storage facility is located in Trincomalee, the IOC sheds in Colombo receive their petrol stocks from the Petroleum Corporation.
In return the LIOC distributes petrol to the Ceypetco petrol sheds in Trincomalee.
Prior to this instance, as the 90 Octane petrol was found to be sub-standard, the 92 Octane petrol was introduced to the market.
However, it has been found that the consumers have been misled and they are being sold the same 90 Octane fuel.
Addressing a media briefing Ranjith Withanage had this to say;
(Mirror)