The fuel company said the service station had been closed until further notice and the retailer in-charge terminated/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 21 – A fuel attendant at the Shell Ridgeways station is in police custody following reports of ATM card skimming at the outlet, according to Vivo Energy Kenya.
The fuel company said the service station had been closed until further notice and the retailer in-charge terminated.
“Vivo Energy Kenya is aware of reports of an ATM card details skimming with the purpose of performing fraudulent activities at Shell Ridgeways by a fuel attendant. We sincerely apologise to all our customers for this unfortunate incident,” the firm said.
The move came hours after the firm also announced that it would stop the sale of kerosene at Shell service stations from midnight Monday to minimise chances of fuel adulteration.
The firm said the matter of adulterated fuel had been discussed, resolved and finalized with the Energy Regulatory Commission and any affected stations are now operational after complying with the regulator’s instructions.
“Given that kerosene is the main component of adulteration in both super and diesel, Vivo Energy Kenya has with effect from midnight tonight stopped selling kerosene at all Shell service stations in order to minimise any chance of fuel adulteration,” Vivo Energy said in a statement.
The firm apologized to its kerosene customers for the sweeping action.
According to the regulator over 96 percent of petroleum outlets in the country were free from contaminated fuel according to the.
Data gathered by the Energy Regulatory Commission across the country between September 2015 and February 2016 indicates that 96.2 percent of the 1,493 petroleum outlets tested were found to be complaint with 56 stations recording non-compliance.
A total of 8,945 tests were carried out in 1,493 petroleum outlets with the purpose of singling out non-compliant traders.
The petroleum outlets that failed the tests were “required to upgrade the adulterated petroleum where applicable and also to pay penalties and taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) before they were allowed to resume business,” ERC said on Monday.
