Petron and Caltex have begun offering goodwill payments to vehicle owners whose engines were damaged following complaints over contaminated RON95 petrol.
Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said both fuel companies had started addressing complaints that had been verified, while detailed investigations into the issue remained ongoing.
He said the companies had introduced customer recovery programmes involving goodwill payments based on predetermined criteria, without admitting fault or liability at this stage.
“Payments will be made to customers who have submitted complete complaints accompanied by valid supporting documents,” he said during the Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.
Armizan was responding to Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (PN-Kuala Krai), who sought updates on the Chemistry Department’s analysis of RON95 samples from five states and fuel depots, as well as immediate measures to restore consumer confidence and compensate affected vehicle owners.
On the investigation, Armizan said preliminary Chemistry Department analysis of 43 petrol samples had found no evidence of water contamination so far.
He said an initial report dated October 29 found that water content was below 0.05%, which was beneath the minimum reporting detection limit.
“The remaining samples are still being analysed, and the full report will be released once the Chemistry Department completes testing on all samples.
“Immediate attention was given to detecting water, and so far, no evidence of water has been found. We are now looking further into the possible presence of other foreign substances and the supply formula during certain periods,” he said.
Armizan added that a total of 262 RON95 petrol samples had been collected from eight states and three oil company depots since complaints were first received on October 3.
Apart from local testing, both fuel companies had also sent samples to their respective laboratories, including those overseas.
Although the findings were not yet conclusive, he said the issue did not appear to involve the entire fuel supply chain but rather supplies distributed during specific periods.
He stressed that the incident could not be dismissed as an isolated case, despite being concentrated in certain locations and periods, particularly in Kedah and Penang. Some petrol stations were also still forced to remain closed.
To prevent similar incidents from recurring, the ministry is benchmarking quality standards and monitoring practices across the entire fuel supply chain against those adopted in countries such as Singapore, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Meanwhile, Armizan said vehicle owners dissatisfied with the compensation offered could pursue other legal avenues.
These include lodging formal complaints with the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN), filing civil lawsuits or bringing their cases to the Malaysian Consumer Claims Tribunal (TTPM).
