00:00An investigation is now underway into activities captured on camera
00:04said to have taken place in the Harmony Hall, Gasparillo area.
00:09In the video, a man and a woman are seen filling and carting away buckets of fuel
00:13from a fuel transport truck known as a road tank wagon.
00:18Energy Minister Rudal Monilal confirms that National Petroleum has taken action
00:23against the company and the personnel involved.
00:27However, the Owner Dealers Association says the issue goes much deeper.
00:57Wholesaler. If it's short, that's your problem. You've got to pay.
01:02And that is how they go throughout the entire industry.
01:06The Association says the absence of a proper regulatory, monitoring and operational framework is to blame.
01:14The road tank wagons, as best as I know, are not calibrated by the Bureau of Standards.
01:23However, it is calibrated by National Petroleum.
01:28If National Petroleum is an authority upon themselves, who is doing the checks?
01:35So let's talk in terms of the retailer, you or the person who's buying gas.
01:41Bureau of Standards go to each and every gas station every six months to measure and make sure
01:48that the consumer gets the volume that they pay for.
02:10Gas station owners and dealers are said to face numerous other challenges, resulting in decreased profit margins.
02:17They're calling for urgent reform.
02:20The Ministry of Energy have allowances for what you call shrinkage.
02:26Shrinkage, in this case, might be evaporation.
02:29So they say, OK, they allow you, based on international industry standards,
02:35it is OK if for the month you lose X amount of fuel.
02:39The irony behind that, that is the only international industry standards that they follow,
02:46because our operation cost is not industry standard.
02:50Our taxation is not an international industry standard.
02:55Our utilities and cost is not an industry standard.
03:00So our whole operation part of our P&L is very much different.
03:05The recommendation is a complete overhaul of the industry.
03:08This is why we continue to ask for a reform.
03:12Runa Sakateng, TV6 News.
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