Honda Atlas, in 2017, filed a complaint to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) accusing oil companies of adulterated petrol that was affecting its cars’ engine. Honda told OGRA that oil manufacturing companies were adding manganese to increase the Research Octane Number (RON) to meet OGRA’s standards.
It seems now that Honda’s claims were valid as test reports conducted on oil samples have been made public. The reports show that oil importers and refineries are using chemicals to increase the “quality of petrol”.
The tests were carried out by OGRA and Hydrocarbon Development Institue of Pakistan (HDIP) which showed an excessive presence of chemicals in petrol.
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In the report, the content and amount of chemicals have been deemed harmful to vehicles and environment as well as human health. The reports further state that chemicals are being used by importers and oil companies to increase the RON value at a low cost.
The complaint was filed by Honda after the company halted the booking of the latest variant of Honda City. The company told that fuel was causing engine knocking and sensor failure in Honda Civic 1.5L Turbo.
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Hascol petroleum also supported Honda’s claims. The company told that many refineries were using harmful chemicals to increase RON value. However, the accused companies claimed that Hascol was trying to get a competitive advantage out of all this and the company itself uses the same methods as well.
OGRA and HDIP found the following chemicals after conducting tests on petrol samples with RON value of 90 and 92;
The report shows that in order to increase RON number, companies were using MMT and Ferrocene. These chemicals cause the catalytic converter to choke after reacting with it. These metallic particles are also harmful very for the environment and human health.
