Five government agencies recently joined hands in an effort to curb illegal lubricant trading in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The group, which was also assisted by state-owned Emirates National Oil Co., is trying to root out engine oils that do not meet the recently adopted minimum standards, API SL and API CH-4.
The standards were an update to the nations technical requirements for engine oils. SL was adopted by United States-based American Petroleum Institute for gasoline-powered passenger cars manufactured in 1998 and earlier, while CH-4 was developed for diesel-powered heavy-duty trucks made in 2004 and earlier.
ESMA now also requires lubricants sold in the U.A.E. to be registered. This allows the organization to monitor the product quality and standards of any lubricant sold in the country. The same agencies also monitor fuel quality.
The Dubai agencies involved in the initiative are the Dubai Police Department, the Dubai Civil Defense, the Dubai Municipality, the Department of Economic Development in Dubai and the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization.
In a press release about the program, ENOC said agencies have already conducted six inspections and an unspecified number of trading companies and agents were penalized for numerous violations ranging from the use of unsafe fuel and lubricants storage facilities to illegal trading of off-spec products.
Many of the companies inspected were either unable to present the required certifications from ESMA or violated environmental preservation laws and were subsequently fined by the Dubai Municipality, the press release stated. The Department of Economic Development was in charge of fining those in direct violation of any federal law.