The Automobile Association has called on the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources to test petrol for a chemical additive banned in Europe, China and Russia after motorists paid for paint repairs on damaged cars.

The call follows an amaBhungane investigation published in September into dealings between state-owned PetroSA and junior fuel trader Nako Energy. The publication reports that Nako applied to the Western Cape Division of the High Court for an order placing PetroSA under provisional liquidation. PetroSA confirmed it will oppose the application, according to Moneyweb on 18 September.

The AA takes no position on the merits of the dispute but says three issues affect motorists, fleet operators and taxpayers regardless of how the litigation ends: how fuel quality is regulated, how public liabilities are transferred, and who holds the country’s fuel stock.

Petrol damaged vehicles but nobody tested for chemical

The amaBhungane investigation reports that an internal PetroSA investigation found petrol had “reacted to car paint”. Affected vehicles were repainted by panel beaters in Mossel Bay. The publication also reports that Sasol and Astron Energy found more than 6% of N-methylaniline in the product, against a recommended level of around 1.2% cited by the Fuels Industry Association. The additive is banned as a fuel additive in Europe, China and Russia. In South Africa it is neither banned nor tested for.

“A specification that does not test for a substance is not a specification. It is a document,” says Bobby Ramagwede, chief executive officer of the AA. “Motorists on the Garden Route bought petrol at ordinary forecourts, watched the paint come off their cars, and paid the panel beater for the repairs themselves.”

The AA calls on the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources to add N-methylaniline to the national petrol standard and publish the sampling protocol. The organisation wants the department to announce when the first test will be run and who will run it. If that cannot be done this financial year, the department should say so and say why, according to the AA.

PetroSA owes billions to tax collector and fuel traders

AmaBhungane reports that PetroSA owes SARS R4 billion and more than R700 million to fuel trader Addax. The state-owned company closed the 2023 financial year with R3.5 billion in unpaid trade payables. The publication further reports that Plane Tree Capital, which now holds Nako’s claim, has demanded R620 519 979 plus interest.

“Before a single liability is transferred, we also call for a full audited schedule of what the public is absorbing to be tabled,” Ramagwede says. “A motorist who pays the fuel levy is a creditor in this story, and creditors are entitled to a statement.”

Storage capacity at risk, not refining

The AA cautions against describing the matter as the end of domestic refining. The Mossel Bay gas-to-liquids plant stopped producing as far back as 2020.

“Liquidation would not close a working refinery. It would formalise a closure that happened six years ago,” Ramagwede says. “The live exposure is storage capacity, import terminals and custody of national fuel stock. Those are the questions fleet operators should be asking this week. Nobody has answered them in public to date.”

The AA wants N-methylaniline added to the national petrol specification with a published test method and a date for the first test. It also wants a published national fuel quality testing regime showing who samples, at which depots and forecourts, how often, with results published quarterly.

The organisation is asking for a full audited schedule of PetroSA’s liabilities tabled before Parliament votes on the South African National Petroleum Company Bill. It wants a clear route to redress for motorists whose vehicles were damaged, showing who is liable and how to make a claim. The AA also wants monthly publication of national days of cover for petrol and diesel.

Fleet operators should demand fuel certificates

The AA is asking fleet operators, logistics companies and independent retailers to require a certificate of analysis with every bulk fuel delivery and to keep a retention sample of each load.

“I would rather work with industry than around it,” Ramagwede says. “Any fleet buying fuel in bulk in this country should insist on a certificate of analysis tomorrow morning. It costs almost nothing. One large operator doing it makes it the norm for everybody else.”

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