SHELL TO TEST FOR QUALITY • Last year we were
Page 41
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
very pleased to see our name at the head of the list in your annual winter diesel quality survey. It would clearly be inconsistent therefore for us to cry "foul" this year, when the result is not so favourable, (CM 5-11 January issue).
As you know, the specified CFPP for Shell Advanced Diesel, is —15°C during the winter. Using our quality control systems, and with your help in identifying the source, we have traced the sample of fuel used in your survey right back to the refinery. We have checked the test data on the batch of fuel from which your sample was taken, and have retested a parallel sample which was saved from the batch. The data indicates that the product was on-grade when it left the refinery.
Clearly there is a variation between our data and that published in your survey. However, the CFPP test is known to be imprecise, and the two different results lie within the reproducibility of the test. The test reproducibility is such that a fuel testing as low as —18°C. CFPP in one laboratory could be tested to be out of specification in another.
We are currently considering whether we need to reduce the target CFPP to which we blend Shell Advanced Diesel in order to be sure that any reliable test will show that it meets the Shell specification, and British Standard, even allowing for test reproducibility.
To help us with this decision, and to demonstrate our confidence in the quality of Shell Advanced Diesel, we propose to commission, at our expense, a series of independent laboratory trials. The trials will be administered and monitored by a respected professional association and will encompass samples of Shell Advanced Diesel selected by them at random from 25 sites around the country.
The results of these trials will be made available to Commercial Motor and to anyone else interested in seeing them.
J C Henderson,
General manager, commercial,
J N Bamberg,
General manager, retail, Shell UK Oil.
Strand, London WC2.