On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:08:27 -0700 (PDT), gliderguynj
wrote in
:

The news reported that over 30 cars were stranded on the side of the
road after they filled up at a Lukoil station and received "Bad
Gas".




http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/200...nds_gsp_m.html
...
Lukoil has said it is responsible for the problem and will pay for
affected motorists' repairs, according to Orlando, who advised
them to call the company's toll-free helpline at (877) 858-9962.

"The most important thing for me is they've acknowledged it, and
they're going to do the right thing for people," Orlando said.

George Wilkins, spokesman for Lukoil Americas Corp., could not
immediately be reached for comment. ...

"Apparently it was contaminated gas, but we don't know how or
why," Tamayo said. By 8 p.m., all of the vehicles had been towed
from the highway, the sergeant said.

Joe Amodeo, a service adviser for Westchester BMW in New York,
said the problem last night could have been that the motorists
filled up with gasoline contaminated by water.

"If we're talking about water, the car's just not going to run,"
Amodeo said, explaining water injected into the combustion
chambers will cause the spark plugs to misfire.

He said the water would pass through the engine without causing
damage, but the motorists would have to have it removed from their
fuel tanks.

"The tank has to be dropped and the fuel drained," he said.
"Whatever service station we're talking about is in for a lot of
money."

Lukoil, Russia's largest oil company, entered the U.S. gasoline
market in 2000 when it acquired Getty Petroleum Marketing. Since
2005, it also has taken over some 800 Mobil stations, including
all the former Mobil stations in service areas along the Parkway,
after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ordered Mobil to sell its
stations between Virginia and New Jersey in the oil company's
merger with Exxon.