Press Release                       1st March 2007

Petrol problems reported in parts of London, SE and E England

UKPIA, the trade association representing the nine main oil refining companies operating in the UK, is aware of reports of exhaust sensor failure in a significant number of petrol-engined cars in a geographic area covering London, and parts of east and south east England.  This failure gives rise to rough running of the engine or shut-down of the engine management system.

The problem is not thought to be widespread and we have no reports of  quality issues with petrol or diesel supplied from UK refineries.

Reports received from motoring organisations and other sources, indicates that the source may be a batch of fuel supplied to some large independent retail sites during the week commencing 26th February.

UKPIA does not believe that this problem emanates from UK refineries but its members are providing technical advice to car manufacturers and Trading Standards to assist in identifying the cause.

Enquires to:     Nick Vandervell Tel. 0207 632 9880

        Notes to editors:

 1.      UKPIA represents nine oil refining and marketing companies operating in the UK. They include:

BP, Chevron (Texaco), ConocoPhillips (Jet), Esso, Ineos Refining, Murco, Petroplus, Shell and Total.

They also own approximately 2,500 of the UK's 9,764 service stations, and own and operate the nine crude processing oil refineries in the UK. Some independent filling stations are also supplied by our member companies and carry their brand name. 

2.      All petrol and diesel sold in the UK has to meet the requirements of BS EN 590 for diesel and BS EN 228 for unleaded 95 petrol.