Honda Atlas has filed a complaint with the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) with regards to the fuel being sold by Shell, PSO, and Total. Honda claims that fuel is below par. They claim the fuel carries higher-than-recommended levels of manganese additive which damages the engines of Honda automobiles.
However, auto assemblers and oil industry executives expressed confusion over the complaint.
“We have received no complaints along these lines,” said Ali Asghar Jamali, CEO of Indus Motor Company. “Our company has four different engine classes that are all Euro II-compliant and none has reported any such issue,” he added.
Honda engines are categorized as Euro IV class, meaning their fuel requirements are more refined. Dawn reported a senior official at Honda who disagreed that the engine class is the issue. “We have been rolling out Euro IV engine vehicles for the last one decade,” he said. He also clarified that the fuel causes problems not in the engine but in the catalytic converter.
The official added that his company sent its engines for testing to Japan, and samples of petrol available in local markets to a lab in Germany, “and that is where the high levels of sulphur and manganese were found.”
“The high levels of manganese and sulphur in the fuel cause the converter to choke. All cars with a catalytic converter can experience this problem in days to come. We suspended the production of the 1.5L Turbo Civic a few months ago for this reason.”
The model in question was launched in July 2016 after much hype, being a potential flagship offering in its engine size.
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The official added that his company sent its engines for testing to Japan, and samples of petrol available in local markets to a lab in Germany, “and that is where the high levels of sulphur and manganese were found.”
The Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), a representative of all oil marketing companies and refineries, issued a vague response to the complaint by Honda. “We would like to state that all fuel being sold in the country is strictly in accordance with the approved specifications issued by the Ministry of Energy, Petroleum Division. Therefore, the question of the sale of poor quality fuel does not arise.”
The release made no mention of the specific complaint advanced by Honda that higher-than-recommended quantities of manganese have been found in samples of petrol available in the Pakistani market.
“Manganese is used as an octane-booster all over the world. It is a normal product to find in any vehicular fuel,”
OCAC President Aftab Husain has only said: “We are in the process of gathering the data (related to manganese quantities) and will have more to say once that data has been studied.”
But reportedly, oil executives have vehemently denied the allegation of below-par fuel.
“Manganese is used as an octane-booster all over the world. It is a normal product to find in any vehicular fuel,” said one when queried regarding the levels of the additives.
“Up to 70 percent of our fuel is imported while the rest is locally produced. Both are mixed with each other in depot storage. So you tell me: if the local fuel is high in manganese, wouldn’t its impact be diluted when it enters the depot?” he concluded.