Company denies importing substandard petrol

A company whose fuel was blocked from entering the country has denied reports that its products are of low quality.

A ship with 75 million litres of super petrol, imported by Asharami Synergy Ltd, was turned away from the Mombasa port on April 1 when its fuel was rejected by Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).

A source at KPC said that after tests, the quality of the fuel did not match the paperwork presented by the firm.

While the records indicated that the cargo was within the required parameters and met the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) final boiling point of 200 degrees Celsius, KPC tests showed 204 degrees Celsius.

Another test, by Kebs, reportedly returned similar findings.

In a statement, Asharami insists that its cargo met the required standards and demands a retest by an independent ISO-certified agency.

REQUIRED CERTIFICATION

“Such a test will provide an outcome that will be acceptable to all,” Asharami says.

“Asharami Synergy affirms that the product … was sourced from the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco), one of the world’s foremost trading firms with an acclaimed reputation for quality and global standards, thus lending credence to Asharami’s unwavering commitment to impeccable standards in all aspects of its operations. We note that the product is on-specification for all parameters, right from the loading port where the test by Bureau Veritas recorded a final boiling point of 199 degrees Celsius.”

The tests upon which the decision on the specification of the cargo were made, Asharami said, were carried out by agencies “without any certificate of international calibration”.

“In addition, the facilities did not have the required certification to perform the stated test for gasoline, requiring calibration deductions to be applied to the final result,” it says.

“As a result, a correlation was made between automotive gas oil and mogas, which does not meet global standards as every product exhibits different properties.”