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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 CPC halts some 95-octane gas sales
A scooter rider fills their tank at a CPC, Taiwan gas station in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA
By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter
An inspection on Thursday of the No. 2 catalytic reforming unit （CRU） at its refinery in Taoyuan’s Gueishan District （龜山） found problems with fuel additives, the state-owned refiner said.
Gasoline supplied by the refinery to three CPC pumps in northern Taiwan failed to pass quality tests during spot checks at gas stations nationwide on Tuesday, it said.
Fuel additives are blended into gasoline to raise the octane number and help enhance the combustion performance of vehicle engines.
The problematic additives were produced at the No. 2 CRU on Oct. 1, 9 and 10, the company said in a statement on its Web site.
The refinery primarily supplies fuels to 577 gas stations in northern Taiwan, including Keelung, Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu city and county and Miaoli County.
The additive problem affected an estimated 8 million liters of its 95-octane unleaded gasoline, but no other products, CPC said.
The refiner said it has had contingency plans to deal with the incident and had been working since Friday to test the fuel tanks at its stations in the north of the nation and replace the gasoline at the affected stations, whether directly owned or franchised.
Some stations were able to resume sales 95-octane unleaded gasoline after the fuel in their tanks was replaced, it added.
As of 12:30pm yesterday, CPC had completed testing at 394 stations and tests at the rest, mostly in Taipei and Keelung, were expected to be completed by midnight last night, it said.
Internal tests showed that the problematic gasoline would not harm vehicle engines and there were no safety concerns, but it has established a task force to handle refund claims from customers and handle claims from franchisees’ for losses as well as vehicle checks requested by motorists, which would begin today and continue through the end of the year.
In other news, CPC said it would lower fuel prices by NT$0.1 per liter this week, its first reduction since Aug. 20, as major oil producers have stable inventories, which depressed global crude oil prices last week.
CPC on Oct. 7 said it would cap its fuel prices if global oil prices continued to rise.
Privately owned Formosa Petrochemical Corp （台塑石化） yesterday announced identical cuts.
The new prices from the two refiners take effect today.
Additional reporting by CNA
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
Quality problems forced CPC Corp, Taiwan （CPC, 台灣中油） yesterday to suspend sales of 95-octane unleaded gasoline at some of its stations in northern Taiwan.
