Motorists fill up their tanks at a Shell service station in St Andrew. - File

The decision to move to E10-87 and E10-90 gasolene is continuing to be a source of contention with gas retailers and former president of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers' Association (JGRA) being the latest to trade words on the issue.

Trevor Heaven, the JGRA's immediate past president, while endorsing the use of E10 like other important players in the sale of gasolene, said he was concerned with the way marketers were mixing the fuel.

"The problem I have is with marketers such as Chevron, Shell, Cool and others who don't have the regulatory system to ensure consistency and quality," Heaven told The Gleaner.

What they do is splash-blending, wherein they load the 90 per cent petrol then add the remaining 10 per cent ethanol," Heaven had said in an interview with The Gleaner recently.

Heaven's comments have become important because motorists have already begun to complain about the cost of the gas on their engines.

60 per cent dissatisfied

In a survey that is currently being carried out on go-jamaica.com, The Gleaner's online arm, 60 per cent of users have complained there is a problem with E10 gas. The sample size so far is from 201 drivers.

Of that 201, the same 60 per cent agrees that their vehicles have become less efficient since they began using E10 gasolene.

Heaven suggested that there could be problems associated with improper mixing of the E10, saying Petrojam was the only company that consistently does the blending of nine-to-one ratio of gas to ethanol as the company has the automated system to do so.

As such, argued Heaven, the ratio quality, and hence the product quality, is questionable.

However, the problems motorists are facing might not come from Heaven's concern over the splash-blending technique, as Cool Petroleum, which controls over 50 outlets under the Cool and Shell brands, representing nearly a quarter of the island's network of dealers, has denied using the method, saying the company's procedure is similar to that of Petrojam's.

An emailed response from Winston Ormsby, general manager, operations, stated:

"Shell/Cool Petroleum uses a similar method to Petrojam for the mixing of base gasolene and ethanol. We do not use the splash-loading method at either of our two depots (Newport West and Kingston). At our depots, both products are fed simultaneously through a blending vessel, and it is the finished product that is loaded into the tanker wagon for delivery."

Ormsby further explained that the blending vessels used are calibrated to ensure accuracy of delivery of both products (gasolene and ethanol) and every compartment of every tanker that is loaded is sampled and checked to ensure that standards are maintained.

Highest level of quality

Joe Issa, chief executive officer of Cool Corporation, seemed in agreement with Ormsby.

"Cool Petroleum would like to reiterate that we have consistently maintained the highest level of quality of all our products that we offer to consumers," said Issa.

The CEO went on to explain that the standards his company followed were those set by the Bureau of Standards Jamaica and that the organisation would continue to pay keen attention to the mixing process.

Heaven and the current president of the JGRA have said E10 by itself was a good thing and was more helpful than harmful.

More benefits

"We do endorse it. The E10 is something good and the benefits far outweigh the little challenges that are being experienced," Heaven said, pointing out that "it presents an excellent opportunity for the country to be self-sufficient, as 10 per cent of the product is supplied locally, and this makes us better off".

Efforts to get a comment from Chevron, which markets under the Texaco brand, were unsuccessful as David Sterling, retail district manager, was said to be in a meeting.

Roy Adams, terminal manager at the Montego Bay-based Jamaica Petroleum Terminals Limited (JPT), said he was unable to speak to the issue yesterday.

JPT is a facility jointly owned by Chevron, Esso and Shell and serves gasolene retailers in western Jamaica.