Caveat emptor: Methanol found mixed with gasoline

By Riza Lozada

The Department of Energy (DOE) has found that some gas stations are using methanol or methyl alcohol, which is corrosive, instead of ethanol in the blended fuel they sell.

A subsequent crackdown on the adulterated gasoline products resulted in sanctions against 46 gas stations, which in extreme cases will result in their closure, according to En­ergy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

Until last month, a total of 924 retail outlets and gas stations were inspected, he said.

While consumers laud­ed the crackdown, some gas-station owners said the the DOE’s surprise visits to various retail stations were ineffective since they did not establish the source of the di­luted petroleum products, as gas stations only sell what they are supplied with.

Cusi said that of the sta­tions inspected, three belonged to major oil distributors, 18 to independent fuel sellers, while 25 were “white stations” or re­tail outlets or gas stations that have no more than five exist­ing service stations.

The Biofuels Act of 2006 requires gas companies to use 10 percent biofuel for all oil products sold for use of ve­hicles. Biofuel or those that are generated from plants are more expensive than refined oil products.

The inspections found that some gasoline stations mix methanol of up to 16 per­cent with the gasoline they sell.

Cusi, nonetheless, said the DOE campaign is meant to protect consumers from substandard petroleum prod­ucts. He ordered the Oil In­dustry Management Bureau, an agency under the DOE, to conduct a series of inspections on several retail outlets and gas stations in Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Batangas, and Quezon.

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

The DOE said it will con­tinue to monitor gas stations; he urged the public to be vigi­lant and report any irregularity to the appropriate authorities, Cusi said.

The DOE said while methanol content is a natural component of bioethanol, it should not automatically be mixed with gasoline products without the buyers knowing it.

“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 an altogether different scenario,” Cusi added.

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

Methanol, however, is not a regulated substance, and is­freely available.

The DOE said it will meet with the Samahan sa Pilipi­nas ng mga Industriya Kimika (Spik) or the Chemical Indus­tries Association of the Philip­pines to identify the sources of the adulterated fuel.