Alleged Reporting Violation Settled By Alaskan Oil Firm

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety commission today announced that MAPCO Alaska Petroleum Inc. of Tulsa, Oklahoma has paid the Commission $175,000 to resolve Commission staff allegations that the company failed to report a defect in its number two fuel oil in the fall of 1983 as required by the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). MAPI denied the existence of a substantial product hazard or that it violated the reported requirements of the CPSA.

The staff has alleged that a change in the formulation of MAPIts number two fuel oil resulted in more than 2,100 incidents of smoke and soot damage, and was associated with at least three house fires. MAPI never reported these incidents to the Commission. The Commission has no knowledge of any injuries or deaths associated with the use of the number two fuel oil.

The number two fuel oil was sold to distributors who delivered the fuel to households in the Alaska interior.

Following complaints in September and October of 1983 of furnace problems associated with its number two fuel oil, MAPI promptly and voluntarily investigated and remedied consumers complaints concerning the number two fuel oil and resumed production of its original number two fuel oil formulation.