Chevron 3rd Big Retailer To Say It Got Tainted Gas

June 3, 2004
By MICHAEL SASSO msasso@tampatrib.com

TAMPA - As many as 94 local Chevron gas stations last week may have received gasoline with high levels of sulfur, which can cause automobile fuel gauges to read full even when the gas tank is empty.

Chevron is at least the third major gas company that inadvertently sold the tainted gas, along with Shell and Texaco, Chevron acknowledged on Wednesday.

Also, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services on Wednesday said it is finishing an emergency rule that would regulate the level of sulfur in gas sold in Florida. The "elemental sulfur'' found in the tainted gas is believed to corrode the silver inside fuel gauges, and cause them to malfunction.

The state government and oil companies are continuing to investigate how widespread the tainted fuel problem is in Florida. Houston-based Motiva Enterprises delivered shipments of gas to the Port of Tampa and Port Everglades in South Florida early last week, and Motiva initially said the problem in the Tampa Bay area was limited to Shell and Texaco stations. Motiva is jointly owned by Shell Oil and the Saudi Arabian Oil Co.

However, Chevron spokesman David Sander said Chevron also bought gas from Motiva's shipment last week, and that gas may have been sold at Chevron's 94 stations in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. Chevron believes that all of its area stations have been selling safe gas since Friday, Sander said. The company will cover the cost of repairs to Chevron customers' fuel gauge systems and has a consumer hot line at 1-800-362-8900.

Shell also has its own complaint line at 1-888-502-7323, and customers may file a claim at www.interactclaims.com/shell. Shell spokesman Johan Zaayman said his company will only cover the repair costs of Shell and Texaco customers, but customer service representatives will accept claims from customers who bought the tainted gas elsewhere. Shell will pass those customers' complaints on to their respective gas companies, Zaayman said. At least 9,000 motorists in Florida and the South have filed claims citing malfunctioning fuel gauges. Repairing the systems can run $200 to $600, depending on the amount of work required, according to local repair shops.

Chevron learned of the problem last Thursday, Sander said, but did not notify the media until this week. The company initially thought it was unaffected by tainted gas, which turned out to be untrue, Sander said.

This week, many Tampa Bay motorists have been watching their fuel gauges carefully and wondering whether their cars' fuel gauge glitches were caused by bad gas.

Diana Kennedy of Ruskin said she filled up at a Ruskin Chevron station late last week and felt she had nothing to fear, because, ostensibly, the problem was limited to Shell and Texaco stations. On Monday, as the nurse was heading to work in Tampa in her 1995 Eagle Vision, she ran out of gas and needed a tow home. Her fuel gauge said she had a half- tank of gas left, Kennedy said.

"My car has 160,000 miles on it, and it could be that it's just old and broke down,'' Kennedy said, "but it's just kind of funny that it all happened at this particular time. It just makes me mad that [Chevron] didn't let people know that they got bad gas too.''

It was unclear Wednesday if any other gas brands received the high-sulfur gas other than Chevron, Shell and Texaco. Zaayman said Shell has four trading partners at the Port of Tampa that it exchanges gas with: Chevron USA; Valero Energy Corp. of San Antonio; Colonial Oil of Savannah, Ga.; and ConocoPhillips.

A spokeswoman for Valero, which sells gas retail and wholesale across the country, said her company was unaffected by the tainted gas. Officials with Colonial Oil and ConocoPhillips did not return calls Wednesday.

Terence McElroy, a spokesman for the Florida Agriculture Department, said the elemental sulfur found in the tainted gas may be a byproduct of a process used to make gasoline cleaner burning and more environmentally friendly. Currently there is no state standard for elemental sulfur, McElroy said.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.

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