46 gas stations tagged selling harmful blend

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) has found 46 gas stations using methanol blend in their gasoline products, which can harm car engines.

The DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau (DOE-OIMB) inspected 924 gas stations and several retail outlets/gas stations around Metro Manila and the provinces of Cavite, Rizal, Batangas and Quezon last month.

Following the inspections, 46 gasoline stations were found to have methanol blend ranging from 1-16 percent per volume—three belong to major players, 18 to independent players and 25 are white stations or retail outlets/gas stations that only have one to five existing service stations.

“We have to protect our consumers from buying and using adulterated petroleum products, hence we are conducting onsite inspections,” DOE Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said. “We cannot allow the oil players, especially illegal peddlers, to short-change our people by selling them adulterated petroleum products.”

According to the DOE-OIMB, the methanol content as an innate component in bioethanol does not mean allowing the methanol to be blended in finished gasoline products.

The Philippine National Standards (PNS)/DOE QS 007:2014 standard for Bioethanol (E100) specifies the limit for E100 at a maximum of 0.5 percent per volume or an expected maximum allowable methanol content of 0.05 percent per volume in E10.

As provided in the Biofuels Law, E10 blended gasoline is currently being sold in the market.

“We are strictly monitoring the components of biofuels, because we have specific standards for them. As a blend to raw gasoline products, E10 has a very minimal methanol content, because it is inherent to the fuel but it is not intentionally blended,” Cusi said.

“Oil companies cannot use the methanol component in E10 as their leeway to replace ethanol with methanol in their products, because that’s a different scenario already,” Cusi added.

In September, the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA) raised concerns over methanol blending in gasoline products.

Cusi said illegal blending of methanol with gasoline is prohibited because “it can harm motor engines due to its corrosive characteristics.”

Since methanol is not a regulated substance, regulatory bodies such as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Philippine National Police, do not monitor its importation and sale.