A recent under-cover journalist investigation into the secret world of adulterated petrol production in Ho Chi Minh City coincided with rising public concerns over the quality of fuel following a spate of unexplained vehicle fire incidents nationwide.

According to regulations, 16,000 litre capacity oil tankers are only authorised to transport petroleum directly to petrol stations for sale to consumers. However, in Ho Chi Minh City, after collecting petroleum from PV Oil Nha Be, trucks stopped to have their fuel adulterated with other substances.

The ‘mysterious stations’ are located in thinly-populated residential areas in streets such as Hoang Quoc Viet, Dao Tri and Huynh Tan Phat in District 7. All of these stop-off points carry no forms of identification or signage.

At 8 am every day tankers rush into the illegal points and carry out their operations over less than half an hour.

As soon as the trucks leave, a group of people carrying empty plastic cans and buckets collect the deposited fuel and leave with full buckets of petroleum for selling.

During the two-week inspection, the reporters detected that the trucks stopping at these points included tankers from major petroleum companies such as Vietnam National Petroleum Corporation (Petrolimex) Petrolimex and those hired by petrol stations.

Mystery stations

Reporters managed to access one of these stations and discovered hundreds of square metres filled with oil drums, tubs, plastic cans and water pumps.

After a Petrolimex truck with the number plate 57K-8275 entered the station, men discharged the fuel from the tanker into the plastic cans. The decanted tanker was then topped up with an unidentified transparent liquid to make up for the siphoned fuel stolen at the stop-off point.

The stolen fuel was then illegally sold on to those buying directly from the stop-off point.

Trinh Ngoc Giao, General Director of the Vietnam Register, said cities and provinces nationwide had recorded a total of 89 vehicle fires in 2011, leaving two dead and two others injured.

Hanoi has seen at least 42 vehicle fires since December, 2010 through to mid-December of 2011, Giao noted.

Although the reasons for the spate in vehicle fires had been ascertained, it is speculated that substandard fuel may have been a contributory factor.

Dr. Dao Quoc Tuy, Head of the Hanoi University of Technology’s Department of Organic Synthesis and Petrochemical Technology told DTiNews that, “If petrol is improperly blended with additives such as acetone or methanol, it can cause damage to engines and maybe even start fires.”

The Prime Minister has ordered the Ministry of Science and Technology to deliver their results on the inspection of petrol quality, following recent vehicle fires.

Opening the valves of the tanker

Pumping liquid into the tanker