CPC Should Compensate for Subpar Petrol:CFCT|95無鉛突槌 消基會籲:中油主動補償

The state-owned petroleum company, CPC Corporation has found quality issues with its unleaded 95 petrol, which has affected multiple gas stations in northern Taiwan. The subpar petrol could cause corrosion problems in the user's vehicles. To salvage the situation, CPC has set up a special section on their website to inform the public of the latest development. The consumers' foundation has also called on the CPC to proactively propose a compensation plan for those affected.


The official website of state-owned petroleum company, the CPC Corporation, has announced the gas stations that are temporarily not providing unleaded 95 petrol. The website also published information on compensation for the consumers who suffered damages due to problematic petrol. The CPC recently detected a 12 percent failure rate in the oil supplied by the company's Taoyuan refinery. The problematic petrol, mostly transported to gas stations in northern Taiwan, could cause corrosion problems with copper and bronze parts in the fuel system. The issue has drawn complaints from the consumers since the petrol could trigger the sensor in their vehicles gas tank.
We will continue publish the latest development of incident on our website, since there will be opinions coming in from all directions.

One key measure for petrol's quality is how well it mixes with air. Experts said that if a given type of petrol is of low volatility, it would not mix well with air, which in turn causes loss in engine power.

If the petrol doesn't mix well with air, it would affect the engine's combustion efficiency, which means whether the combustion was complete. Also, if the petrol's heat value is affected (by the quality issue), it would affect the output power of the vehicles.

Consumers' Foundation said that it is very difficult to find evidence for vehicle damage caused by subpar petrol. The foundation calls on the CPC to propose a reasonable compensation plan so that the consumers won't have to go through the troubles themselves to find evidence of the petrol's damage.

(The CPC should) calculate the amount that's need to repair the vehicles or to replace the parts that are damaged by the subpar petrol. They would propose a formula, so that the consumers could calculate the amount of damage. We believe that would be a better way of handling the matter.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has demanded the CPC to submit a review report within the week, as well as a list of staff members responsible for the incident. The ministry said it will punish those responsible in accordance to the law.