Opal fuel warning

If the picture is his current vehicle I'd guess a petrol 80 series Land Cruiser.

Cheers
Pop

He is a member, no guessing needed to know what type of 4x4, look at his profile , it reads 80 series Land Cruiser.

Why would you be able to claim on the makers of Opal fuel - it is like claiming engine repairs when you use E10.

Good luck with that.

Garry

Ask BP how much it cost them to fix up diesel fuel pumps a few yrs ago the average price per vehicle from memory was over $1,000

Sorry not following.

If the fuel was contaminated with something for sure but if it is not contaminated then no. It is up to owners to ensure the grade of fuel is suitable for their purpose.

In Aust the common grades of petrol are Opal (low aromatic 91 made by BP), E10, 91, 95.98 so if an engine used 98 and an owner put Opal in and it was not suitable then it is the owners fault.

Contaminated fuel then that is different.

certainly my RAC insurance covers "putting the wrong fuel in"

Sorry not following we'll put that in the to hard basket for you then I'll leave it.

It is quite simple what I wrote.
My RACWA insurance covers if the missus accidentally puts petrol in the diesel, so would also cover if accidentally put opal in the petrol car.
Savvy ???
Discussion was on claiming damage

Fisho - I believe Batt was addressing my comments not yours.

If RACWA insurance covers putting in petrol in a diesel then I would stick with it as virtually no other insurance cover will cover this - contaminated fuel yes but not putting the wrong fuel in.

AAMI has STOPPED handing out cash to customers putting wrong fuel into their cars, they feel that the driver is not being a responsible driver

Where did you get that Opal is the only ULP available in Alice Springs?

That is NOT factual.

Well, I could have worded it better and gone into another 3 paragraphs, I suppose - but what I should have written, is that OPAL is ALMOST the only REGULAR ULP (RULP) available in the Alice Springs AREA.

There are apparently 2 roadhouses near Alice Springs that refuse to stock OPAL, undermining the Govts subsidised efforts (it costs taxpayers $4M annually to supply OPAL) to reduce petrol-sniffing, by introducing the low-aromatic OPAL fuel.

These 2 roadhouse owners claim OPAL damages engines, against all the known research and oil industry testing.

PULP is available, is sniffable, and is not low-aromatic, as OPAL is - thus, the entire low-aromatic petrol programme has never been thought-through properly, as is typical of many Govt programmes.

The Govt has never legislated for COMPULSORY stocking of OPAL by fuel suppliers in Central Australia and Aboriginal Lands - fearful of being taken to court over any compulsion in the legislation, by businesses claiming to have suffered losses via the compulsion.

The refining cost of OPAL (produced only by the BP refinery at Kwinana) was an additional 27c a litre back in 2006. It is no doubt costing more today.
OPAL requires separate refining processes, separate storage at fuel farms, and incurs additional transportation costs.

If the OPAL scheme had been extended to all fuels and made compulsory, it would have had increased benefit.
I don't know if any research or study has been done on the overall success of the OPAL scheme - but it certainly has had some effect on reducing petrol-sniffing.
The gaps in the OPAL scheme need to be plugged for it to have maximum effect.

Low-Aromatic Fuel Bill 2012

Ron

I retired in Oct 2015. I worked for NT Dept of Health, Alcohol and Drug Services before that and I can tell you that Low Aromatic Unleaded Fuel has been very effective in reducing petrol sniffing.

The legislation exists to make LAF compulsory but the preference is not to use the legislation. Almost all service station proprietors are happy to stock LAF to assist in the reduction of petrol sniffing. Fear of legal action and compensation has nothing to do with this decision.

There is a cost as you mention that this is far less than the cost of petrol sniffing both in human and financial costs.

There have been a number of complaints. In only one was OPAL found to have caused damage. That was due to a person putting OPAL in a vehicle which was supposed to run on 98. If regular unleaded had been put in that vehicle it would have caused the same damage.

Most of the NT now has LAF. Darwin does not. It also extends into WA and QLD.

Kumanara, it appears the Greens have been successful in ensuring that stocking of OPAL fuel in the legislated OPAL fuel regions is now mandatory - and the Federal Govt is merely waiting for the individual states to pass their own legislation making it mandatory for all fuel sellers in those regions to stock only OPAL.

If the States don't pass the relevant laws to make stocking OPAL manadatory, the Federal Govt will step in with Federal control in those legislated OPAL regions.

Remote communities welcome (total) OPAL fuel rollout

I have since found all the relevant information relating to the OPAL fuel programme success, and it certainly does appear to have had a substantial success rate.
However, the mandatory stocking of OPAL fuel in the legislated regions, is certainly what is needed now, to complete the programme.