Giorgi Kotrikadze, the head of Oil Product Importers Union declares, that non-standard fuel gets into the market by smuggling or oil mixing, then the mixture is distributed to the petrol stations, as a result customers get low-quality products.
As the Chairman of the Association of Oil Importers explains, such violations are recorded only at non-branded petrol stations. According to Giorgi Kotrikadze, unscrupulous business operators are mixing the fuel. Such fuel is of poor quality and does not meet the standards.
"The problem of fuel quality is not new, it has existed for years. In this direction, important steps have been taken by the state and the fuel quality standard has been tightened. The imported fuel actually meets European standards, although there are still relapses in this direction. Non-standard fuel also enters the network, which causes problems. We think that additional steps should be taken by the state. Monitoring is important and it should be carried out more frequently. I can say that companies operating under the brand meet those requirements by 100%", - Kotrikadze said.
The Georgian Environmental Protection Ministry’s Department of Environmental Supervision on Wednesday revealed it had inspected 100 petrol stations across the country to check fuel quality and issued $746,362 in fines for violations of environmental standards.
The body said 80 diesel and 20 gasoline units were inspected in the effort, with violations detected in 28 of the samples collected.
It said fuel quality had been found to be below legal requirements in 25 diesel and three gasoline samples, while 12 samples had shown failures to meet sulphur content regulations, and norms on explosion temperatures had not been met in 10.
It added other samples had shown simultaneous violations of “several parameters”, with the materials handed over to “relevant courts for further consideration”.
